Oregon applies for funds for infrastructure project

By: 
Kelly Kaczala

The City of Oregon has applied for funding from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) for the Cedar Point Development – Parkway Road Infrastructure Improvements project.
“We’re going after federal dollars,” said Public Service Director Paul Roman at a council meeting on Monday.
The project consists of a new roadway, including storm sewer drainage, roadway resurfacing, a 12-inch waterline, a 15-inch sanitary sewer, and lighting conduit.
The right of way will also be used to install a new gas line by the new power plant, Clean Energy Future-Oregon, LLC, said Roman.
The estimated cost of the project is $3.4 million. The federal grant is for $2.71 million Oregon’s local share of the cost is $1.7 million.
“Any dollars we get from the state could also count toward our local match,” said City Administrator Mike Beazley.
“We did receive word from the Ohio Development Services Agency that we could receive up to $750,000 as a grant to go toward this project as well,” said Roman. “We already did a sewer agreement with the power plant where they would pay for the costs for the sewer and half of the purchase of the right of way to put the sewer in.”

New jobs
The project will create new clean energy jobs to replace the jobs lost at the Bay Shore generation plant that closed in 2016, according to the city’s application for funding from the EDA. The Bay Shore plant is located just north of the project site. The plant is scheduled to be fully decommissioned next year. The plant originally provided 156 jobs in the city.
The project is expected to improve the transportation logistics for industrial growth as well as provide potable water, fire protection, sanitary sewer collection and storm water infrastructure to the project beneficiary, Clean Energy Oregon-Future, LLC. The company is committed to creating 22 new permanent jobs and investing $900 million in private sector investment. Asphalt Materials, Inc. is also named as a project beneficiary. It is committed to retaining 15 jobs and investing $5 million to $10 million in the next five years.

Attract industry
The project will provide access to 42 acres of land owned by the Oregon on the Bay Regional Economic Development Foundation, Inc. The city will be able to attract new industry to the industrial site and continue to build on the emerging energy industry cluster. EDA’s investment in the project will diversify the local economy and allow for sustainable economic growth of the region, according to the application.
Oregon successfully completed a previous EDA funded project about 20 years ago. It has been successful in completing numerous Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and State of Ohio funded infrastructure projects.
The project is a collaborative partnership of public, non-profit and private organizations. Besides the City of Oregon and the Oregon on the Bay Regional Economic Development Foundation, Inc., the partners include the State of Ohio, the Regional Growth Partnership, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, and ODOT.
The project aligns with Assistance to Coal Communities (ACC) which supports communities and regions that have been negatively impacted by changes in the coal economy. Throughout the state, jobs in the coal industry are being replaced with Ohio’s shale product and gas industry, which is the fuel supply for the new gas energy facilities emerging across the state. The fuel demand for these new facilities is providing new jobs in the distressed Appalachian areas as well as providing new jobs in other areas where coal generation power plants have closed, such as the Bay Shore power plant in Oregon.

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