Genoa Council OKs study of sewer capacity

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After completing the annexation of about 230 acres west of the village, Genoa council has approved funding a study of the capacity of the village’s wastewater lagoons and the feasibility of a possible expansion.
Council last month approved spending $17,500 to retain CT Consultants for the study and the Ottawa County Community Improvement Corporation will fund approximately the same amount.
The village annexed the parcel last September. It sits south of State Rt. 163 along the village’s western border.
“There is no completion date for the study, as that will depend on what new questions we uncover,” Thomas Bergman, village administrator, said last week. “I’d like to have something in hand by the summer. The State of Ohio has communicated via the All Ohio Future Fund that it would like to know the sites with 500,000 gallons per day excess capacity. So we’d like to position ourselves to meet that benchmark.”
The 2024-25 state operating budget established the All Ohio Future Fund with a $750 million investment to support local communities with site-readiness and preparation to attract economic development projects.
“With our current excess capacity, we qualify for about half of the project leads that we see. And if we had unlimited sewer we’d only qualify for a handful more due to the other requirements that large users have. We are seeking a low-impact end user on State Rt. 163, so we really do not need or want millions of gallons of excess sewer capacity. Just as important, Ottawa County and the village want to see residential development and we need to explore capacity to accommodate potential housing as well,” Bergman said.
The annexed property is currently being used for agriculture and is located about five miles from the Ohio Turnpike exit with I-280.
Via a transmission line from the City of Oregon, the village purchases water under a contract calling for the city to supply 1 million gallons a day.
Bergman said it will also be useful for village officials to know the water capacity from an engineering standpoint as well. So the study will look at the capacities of the Oregon-Genoa waterline and the pumping station.
“The initial opinion is that the transmission line capacity could supply 95 percent of projects in the Genoa area,” he said. “But that is what the engineers need to assess and determine. We want to know what the upper limit is.”
When the annexation was being completed, Bergman and Mayor Brent Huston said the village would be selective in what types of businesses could locate in the parcel.
“Careful consideration is paramount,” Huston said at the time. ”We don’t want anyone to think that there will be numerous smokestacks or a stamping plant. That’s just not in the cards.”