The Franklin Township Trustees held a special meeting Aug. 23 in the hopes of receiving state money to repave a portion of Brown Road.
Holding a public meeting earned the township points in the eyes of the Ohio Public Works Commission. The more points the township earns, the greater advantage it will have over other townships competing for OPWC grants, said Theodore Beidler, the Franklin County Engineer who directed the meeting for the Franklin Township Trustees.
Although repaved in the past, Brown Road has never been completely razed and rebuilt. The road will be excavated approximately two feet, and then nearly ten inches of recycled pavement will be laid covered by new asphalt.
“The intent is to essentially create a new road,” Beidler said.
The new road would run south from Frank Road 1960 feet to just beyond the entrance to the C and D Landfill. C and D Landfill, owned by Agg Rock Materials, Co., initiated the rebuilding of the road and committed to paying 45.1 percent of the total cost, said Franklin Township Trustee Tim Guyton.
The total cost of the Brown Road project would be $330,000.
“We hope to receive the balance of the money through grants and or loans through the OPWC application,” Guyton said.
The landfill only accepts construction debris. The township receives 3 percent of the total fees C and D charges for dumping at their site. The township’s portion, called a tipping fee, has averaged $35,000 a year.
“We have collected almost $70,000 over the two years of collection and have not spent any of the money,” Guyton said. “The intent of the collection was to help defray the cost of the Brown Road reconstruction first, then future projects deemed necessary by the Board of Trustees.”
The next step in the OPWC application process is to sign the forms and submit them.
“The County Engineers Office has been kind enough to assist us through this process,” Guyton said.
In other news, the trustees requested that the township’s salt barn be surrounded with warning tape.
“The salt barn roof has some holes in it from the salt in the air eating away at the underside of the exposed steel roof,” Guyton said. “One exterior wall is showing stress fractures from what we believe is the weight of the salt pushing against the inside of the wall.”
Currently the barn is filled to capacity with approximately 175 tons of salt.
“If that wall collapses, we’ll have major problems,” Trustee Cheryl Schrack said.
“Prairie Township just had a salt barn built that is similar in size to what we have. They paid $110,000. Ours would probably be a little smaller and thus a little less expensive,” Guyton said.
The township is currently receiving bids for repairing the roof and walls as an alternative to replacing the barn.
