The biggest project recommended for approval for this year is $260,000 for repaving the access road to the Butler County Regional Airport. Desmond Maaytah, the county community development manager, said the road sorely needs attention and it is not eligible for Federal Aviation Administration funding, like most capital projects at the airport.
MORE: Butler County Airport remains a drag on county budget
“The pavement is in poor condition and has drainage issues. The project would widen the existing road, add curb, gutters, catch basins, and storm drains for the roadway. The existing road surface is to be removed and all base repairs made before resurfacing this road,” he said.
“This project follows the board of commissioners plan to spur more development at the airport and will provide a more accessible, functional, and wider entrance to reach the airport.”
Commissioner Don Dixon agreed there is much work — both physical plant improvements and a strategy for success — to be done to make the airport self sustaining but he isn’t quite ready to sign off on CDBG money to pay for the entrance, yet.
“We’ll be looking at the airport a little more closely,” he said. “But all in all you can see that everything they’ve recommended has merit, it’s just figuring our where we can get the biggest bang for our buck.”
Maaytah said the airport qualifies for the funds that are designed to help low to moderate income people because the airport is surrounded by lower end housing, including a nearby trailer park. By sprucing up the airport the hope is to draw more development to the area that could potentially provide jobs to the people who live there.
“I look at this as an economic development tool for the county,” Maaytah said. “It’s just another tool that we can use and maybe we’re not using it to its fullest potential. I like this one. This one would serve an LMI area.”
Another item on the list being considered is what is becoming an annual $25,000 contribution to the job connector shuttle. Commissioner T.C. Rogers said that investment — business owners convinced the commissioners to use CDBG money on the bus route last year — is paying off.
“This just validated what their actual needs were,” Rogers said. “So we’re trying to make it that anybody that wants to work can get to work.”
RELATED: Butler County funds job connector shuttle
Another job on the list of recommended projects Dixon characterized as a “no-brainer.” The village of New Miami asked for $65,000 to replace old — some a original dating back to 1948 — and failing water lines. Maaytah said the village secured $585,000 from the Ohio Public Works Commission which will pay for lion’s share of the project.
“Those kind of projects are no-brainers. We have been trying to focus on New Miami water issues up there,” Dixon said. “For me it’s more enticing if you can get a match like that and you don’t have to repay it.”
Two years ago the county commissioners approved $40,000 in CDBG funds to pay for a valve for the brand new $1 million water tower that sat dormant for years.
MORE: $1 million water tower in New Miami no longer sits dormant
Last year the county commissioners approved $1.18 million in CDBG money and $610,000 for the HOME programs. Requests from the various jurisdictions for the federal funds came in at $3.5 million. The county approved $1.17 million for things such as sidewalk and curb improvements and several water and sewer projects.
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