WEATHERSFIELD — The Trumbull County Planning Commission has received word the county has been awarded a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant Residential Public Infrastructure grant from the Ohio Department of Development for the Crain Drive sanitary sewer project in Weathersfield Township.

Grants Coordinator Emily Moran submitted the grant request in April and was notified at the end of May that an award was forthcoming. The application process involved planning commission staff and the sanitary engineer’s office involved in drafting and editing content, requesting letters of support, conducting research, creating maps, producing cost estimates, compiling the environmental review document and coordinating the required public meetings.

Commission officials said the Crain Drive project will provide sanitary sewer to structures located on Anderson Morris Road, Bianco Avenue, Carl Street, Crain Drive, Forest Avenue, Gardenland Street, Oakwood Avenue, St. Francis Avenue and Wabash Avenue.

Officials said the county will utilize $520,000 of the $750,000 grant for eligible costs associated with the construction of the mainline sewer. The county will utilize $200,000 of the grant for eligible costs associated with low- and moderate-income household connections, and the remaining $30,000 will be utilized for eligible administrative costs.

The commission will contact project beneficiaries in 2026 to begin the income qualification process for low- and moderate-income household connections once mainline construction is substantially complete.

Jim Davies, chairman of the planning commission, said the county commissioners committed $350,000 from their American Rescue Plan funds towards this project to reduce the debt burden for project beneficiaries.

He said during the first few months of 2025, the planning commission worked with the sanitary engineer’s office to prepare and submit a CDBG allocation funding request to the county commissioners. The commissioners included $70,693 for the Crain Drive sanitary sewer in their final budget of the county’s $642,000 CDBG allocation grant application submitted in early June.

Davies said in March and April, the planning commission staff initiated, compiled and submitted a $1,000,000 federal appropriation request for the Crain Drive sanitary sewer. The request was submitted to state officials as Trumbull County’s third-highest priority project.

The commission also drafted and submitted the other two appropriation requests on behalf of the commissioners.

Davies said the funding request was denied in May, with none of the three Trumbull County commissioner priority projects being selected for funding by Congress.

He said on the same day the appropriation request was denied, the planning commission office received an informal notification that the community development block Residential Public Infrastructure grant of $750,000 was slated for funding.

Officials said CDBG funding is an integral part of the funding package pieced together for each project by the county sanitary engineer’s office, the planning commission and the county commissioners.

Davies said these projects require years of planning and coordination and are essential to keep costs low and reduce the debt burden on LMI households.

“If the CDBG Program is eliminated as proposed by the current administration, then the county’s ability to construct essential infrastructure projects is in jeopardy,” he said.