(Posted Sept. 17, 2018)
By Kristy Zurbrick, Madison Editor
Improvements are coming to the village of Midway to the tune of $500,000.
Earlier this year, village leaders applied for a state-funded Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) through the Madison County commissioners. The Ohio Office of Community Development notified the county on Sept. 4 that Midway’s neighborhood revitalization grant was approved.
The funds will cover the following:
* Fire protection improvements–The village has four cisterns, two of which are inoperable. Two new 5,000-gallon cisterns will be installed. Additionally, a tornado siren will be installed on the Range Township firehouse.
* Drainage improvements–Due to the lay of the land, drainage is a problem in many parts of the village, especially on the east side of State Route 38 where water travels south into the park and floods the parking and play areas. Drainage improvements will be made to this area with the CDBG money. Long-term, the village likely will seek more grants to fix the other trouble areas.
* Sidewalk work–Approximately 650 feet of sidewalk between South and West streets will be replaced. The existing sidewalk is broken and heaved up in places, causing users to walk in the roadway. The sidewalk serves as the main way to get to the park.
* Street repair–North, South and Broad streets, deemed to be the streets in the village that are in the worst condition and bear the most traffic, will be milled, repaired and resurfaced. In total, 4,400 feet of roadway will be repaired.
* Park improvements–A walking path is going in where the old second ball field was, south of the parking area. Twelve handicap-compliant parking spaces are planned. Also planned are installation of riding toys, a swing set for ages 2-5 years old, benches, and a grill and picnic tables.
As part of the grant requirements, the village had to provide matching funds of $9,100. That money will cover installation of two flasher units at the intersection of routes 38 and 323 to replace a traffic light that dates back to the 1950s. The Ohio Department of Transportation supplied the flasher units.
About the news that the state approved the CDBG funding, Janet Ervin, Midway village council member, said, “We figured, if we got it, we got it and if not, it wasn’t because we didn’t try. Thank God we got it.”
As part of the application process, village leaders conducted a door-to-door income survey last December and January. Neighborhood revitalization grants are reserved for areas with populations that are at least 51 percent low- to moderate-income. Midway’s figure came back as 52 percent. During the survey, village leaders polled residents on the types of improvements they’d like to see.
“The state was very impressed with the amount of work the village did…They went the extra mile,” said Whitaker Wright of CDC of Ohio, the consulting firm that coordinates Madison County’s CDBG applications.
Once the grant agreement is finalized, the next steps are an environmental assessment and engineering work, primarily for the cisterns and drainage improvements. The goal, Wright said, is to send the project to bid by the fall of 2019, install playground equipment by the spring of 2020, and have all work complete by the end of August 2020.
