BELLVILLE — Two local companies submitted bids for a wastewater improvement plan designed to aid increased economic development near the Ohio 97/I-71 interchange.
Those bids from Driven Excavating of Crestline and Simonson Construction of Ashland were opened Tuesday morning by the Richland County Board of Commissioners.
The project was estimated at $4.2 million by Richland Engineering Ltd., which designed the project in a corridor that’s expected to be an emerging large growth area in the county.
Driven Excavating’s bid was $4,431,349 while Simonson offered to do the work for $5,079,555.
Both bids, while higher than the estimate, are within the 20 percent allowed under state law, according to Patrick Schwan, principal engineer for REL.
The Driven Excavating bid was 4 percent higher than the estimate and the Simonson offer was 19 percent higher.
Schwan said it will take about a week to review the bid proposals and return to commissioners with a recommendation.
Commissioners are paying for the project through the county’s share of American Rescue Plan Act funds.
That means contracts for the work must be approved and the money appropriated by the end of 2024 and the work completed by the end of 2026.
“The commissioners continue to be true believers in industry and business in Richland County. This project is foundational for the development and the growth that we expect in this corridor,” county administrator Andrew Keller said in August.
“We’ll (then) have two years to complete the project. Our engineer has designed this project so that substantial completion is in April of 2026. We believe that’s being generous, it’s just depending on contingencies,” Keller said.
The wastewater project will stretch along Ohio 97 from east of Bellville-Johnsville Road to Kochheiser Road on the west, near the site of the planned $22 million YMCA of North Central Ohio Sports Complex, a 100,000-square foot site on 35 acres on the south side of the state highway.
Officials hope the new complex is open by the end of 2025.
In February 2023, commissioners approved a $43,344 contract with REL to do the preliminary design phase of the project. Nearly two years ago, commissioners approved a “significant” sanitary sewer infrastructure proposal.
The actual agreement approved by commissioners in September 2022 was an addendum to a 1981 agreement between Richland County and the Village of Bellville that had the county-owned sewer system handling the sites near the interstate and sending it through the village’s wastewater treatment facilities.
The area was not incorporated into the village until 1995. The now plan calls for the sewage system, built by Richland County in 1980, to be improved and then transferred to the village’s control.
more coverage of economic development along ohio 91/I-71 corridor
In other action Tuesday, commissioners:
— approved a new two-year contract with Rumpke to handle trash container and trash hauling services for all county buildings, as well as Madison, Mifflin and Springfield townships at a cost of $4,454 per month. That price is a 13-percent increase over the prior rate with the company.
The decision came after a closed-door session to discuss companies which may have submitted proposals for the work. No other proposals were discussed when commissioners reconvened in public session.
The townships, which are allowed to participate in the county’s contract, pay for their own trash removal services, as do county government agencies outside of the general fund. Those are part of the $4,454 monthly fee paid to Rumpke.
— heard from Eric Miller, representing the North Central Ohio Land Conservancy District, about a proposal to purchased 14 acres from the Congregational Church that could allow for the extension of the Clear Fork Valley Scenic Trail.
— approved a $49,700 contract with Shaffer, Johnson, Lichtenwalter & Associates Inc. of Mansfield to design a new hard-surface road on a 2,000-foot section of Vanscoy Road in Jefferson Township.
Richland County Engineer Adam Gove told commissioners the township had received state funding for the project in the form of a $225,000 grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission and up to a $225,000 state loan which can be repaid over 20 years at zero percent interest.
Gove said the current road is a “farm lane” into an area that is being developed with a few houses.
“It’s not going to be a subdivision,” he said. “It’s large lot splits.”
