Swancreek Township: State funding promised for projects

3/1/2007

State funding has been promised this winter for a bridge replacement in Swancreek Township and drainage and street improvement work in Lyons.

Both projects topped Fulton County's ranked list of requests submitted last fall to the State Capital Improvements Program, which is often called Issue 2.

The bridge replacement on County Road 1-1 just south of Swanton has been awarded a grant of almost $293,000 toward the $770,000 project, according to Steve Brown, Fulton County planning director.

The village of Lyons has been promised the nearly $109,000 grant and $21,000 loan it had requested for drainage and street improvements to North Adrian Street from Morenci Street to the northern village limits.

The project is estimated at almost $230,000.

Fulton County's other applicants have not been given the grants they requested, although some have been offered loans. They are:

•Swancreek Township for drainage work on Township Road C between County Road 3 and Township Road 5, estimated at $320,000. The township asked the state for half.

•Swanton for street repaving in the Swanton Middle School neighborhood, estimated at $189,000. The village asked for a $94,500 grant and a $79,500 loan.

•Fulton County for resurfacing seven miles of County Road A in Swancreek Township, estimated at $615,000. The county asked for a loan for 48 percent.

•Fayette for repairing and upgrading its sewer and lagoon systems, estimated at $88,000. The village asked for about half as a grant and half as a loan.

Fulton County commissioners on Monday unanimously appointed R.J. Lumbrezer to the Fulton County Flood Plain Variance Board. He replaces Mike Nofzinger, who had been on the board since 1987.

The three-member board, which also includes John Gaynor and Paul Andre, rarely meets.

It is called into action only when Steve Brown, the county's planning director, denies a permit to build in a flood plain and the developer wants to appeal the decision.

Mr. Brown typically denies about two of the seven to eight requests he receives a year for building in flood plains.

Mr. Lumbrezer is a Royalton Township trustee and represents the township on the Fulton County Regional Planning Commission.