MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Commissioners met with people who are involved with the Danville Distress Grant on Thursday, and heard reports of progress in terms of planning on the project. A distress grant, according to Amy Schocken of the Community Development Consultants of Ohio, is federal money that is channeled through the Ohio Department of Development; Knox County received a $300,000 distress grant for the village of Danville.
Last fall, a new well was finished in Danville, and during the past several months, various tests have been carried out in order to comply with EPA regulations. Another well was built so Danville could continue planning for new water lines in the community; these new lines will be funded by the distress grant. The plan is to run a 6-inch water line along Market Street for residents to utilize; this line will replace the existing 3/4-inch line. The grant will also fund the construction of an extension of the community sewer line as well, which will serve eight to 10 more households upon completion, according to Charles Coghlan, Danville village engineer.
The third aspect of the project is the repair and construction of sidewalks in the village. A large part of these repairs will be on the east side of Market Street, but the sidewalks will only be repaired if needed; sections in good condition will remain untouched. Included in the plan is the construction of a new sidewalk along Richard Street to accommodate the needs of children who are forced to walk on the street. This will require some work on storm sewers as well.
“One of the things that the state is really trying to push now,” said Schocken, “is before and after pictures of projects.”
“[I have] tons of before pictures and I can’t wait ’til [the project] is done and we can show some after [pictures],” she said.
The village will advertise and accept bids for the different projects in the near future. In addition to Coghlan and Schocken, the meeting was also attended by Robert Shipley, Danville village administrator.
On Thursday afternoon, the commissioners met with Morrow County Commissioners Dick Miller and Rod Clinger, representatives from the village of Fredericktown, and representatives from the Ohio Department of Transportation to discuss improving Ohio 95 from the junction of Ohio 13, near Fredericktown, to the Morrow County line, or possibly to Interstate 71. All of the commissioners were in favor of the proposed plan, but further investigations must be pursued and applications must be filled out.
The final meeting of the afternoon for the commissioners was with two representatives with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission. Chester Jourdan Jr., executive director of MORPC, went over numerous tentative plans of the commission for working with the assets which already exist in central Ohio and how they can be developed for the future. The meeting was also attended by Amy Lowe, member services coordinator for MORPC.