MANSFIELD — City council approved a number of infrastructure-related legislation at Tuesday night’s meeting.
One piece authorizes the Ohio Department of Transportation to perform a bridge replacement on North Mulberry Street, near Sixth Street, over Touby Run.
Construction isn’t scheduled to begin until the summer of 2023. In the meantime, crews are getting a head start on design and planning, said city engineer Bob Bianchi.
No city funds are required for this project, except for any added construction items requested by the city that are not necessary for improvement as determined by the State and Federal Highway Administration.
Council also approved legislation allowing the Richland County Board of Commissioners to acquire certain parcels of land on Orweiler Road.
Bianchi said the county intends to replace the bridge on Orweiler Road by the Clear Fork Reservoir. The City of Mansfield owns land on both sides of this road.
“Consequently, (the county) needs property from the city via an easement to construct the bridge,” he explained.
The red line on the map below shows the area where the easement needs to be acquired for the county to build the bridge. In total, it’s about 1.6 acres.
“This legislation would authorize the city to donate this 1.6 acres as a standard highway easement for them to do their bridge work and also clean up the area on the north side of Orweiler Road,” Bianchi said.
“We have the option of being a willing participant to donate this property, so that means the county does not have to do an appraisal on the property and then pay us accordingly,” he continued.
“You might say, ‘Why would we pursue that?’ Because there are times when we need to go to the county. There are times when we collectively work together for the good of infrastructure in the county.”
Fourth Ward Councilman Butch Jefferson questioned this move, saying he’s not too happy with the county, making reference to the dog pound.
“I don’t know why we don’t use this to our benefit in some kind of way,” he said. “Is there any other way to approach this?”
Law director John Spon said the area in question would be used for the benefit of both the county and the city.
“I agree with Mr. Jefferson in terms of somewhere along the line, there’s got to be a little more cooperation from the county to try to deal with the city’s issues, one being the jail and the other being the dog pound, but I think we should be very careful with what battle we pick, and I’m not sure this would be the right one to pick,” Spon said.
Third Ward Councilman Jon Van Harlingen said he’s familiar with that stretch of road.
“That land that they’re asking for the easement for is absolutely of no value to the city of Mansfield,” he said. “As a matter of fact, it could be a liability because of the road.”
He said Orweiler Road is often used by Clear Fork Reservoir personnel.
“You take that bridge out and it’s going to be a huge inconvenience for the personnel,” he said. “So if they say this bridge needs replaced on their dollar, I am 100 percent for it.”
Council also approved the resurfacing of Lexington Avenue, which will be handled by ODOT.
At the previous council meeting, Bianchi discussed this project and said that the preliminary cost estimate for the city’s share would be about $750,000. Since then the figure has changed to $1.4 million.
“We will only pay the local share for the actual bid amount that comes in after it’s bid, so it’s probably going to be somewhere between $750,000 and $1.4 million,” he explained.
Van Harlingen asked if the storm drains would be included in this project, as they are currently in poor condition.
Bianchi said while they’re not a part of this particular project, they could be a future project.
There are about 150 storm drains along the stretch of Lexington Avenue that’s going to be resurfaced and they cost between $6,000 and $7,000 a piece to replace, according to Bianchi. They were constructed in 1965.
“Sewer repair has done some work on them to try to keep them maintained, but it could be a potential project in the future,” Bianchi said.
The city will be repaving several streets as part of the 2018 resurfacing program, which includes 16.67 miles of roads, costing $4,356,113.45.
Council also approved the demolition of 20 E. Prospect St., 333 2nd Avenue, 349 Bowman St., and 410 Wayne St.
