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Columbiana pursues stacked grants and OWDA loan to rebuild West Railroad Street; $3.45 million project proposed
Summary
City Manager Dr. Lance Willard told the Columbiana City Council on June 17 that the West Railroad Street renovation would cost about $3,448,000 and that the city has stacked grants and plans to use an Ohio Water Development Authority loan to finance the remainder.
City Manager Dr. Lance Willard told the Columbiana City Council on June 17 that the city is assembling multiple grants and a low-interest loan to finance a reconstruction of West Railroad Street from Main Street to Lisbon Street.
Willard described the funding plan as a "stack" of grants and loans, and said the city has secured or expects a mix of sources including a $1,000,000 JobsOhio award, $200,000 from Jobs and Commerce, $500,000 from ARC, and an application for a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) critical-infrastructure award. He said the remainder of the roughly $3,448,000 project would be financed through a loan from the Ohio Water Development Authority (OWDA).
"I believe the price tag line is $3,448,000, and we're we've gotta get there somehow," Willard said. He described the work as a comprehensive rebuild that will install new, larger storm lines to address longstanding drainage problems in the corridor and to create trunk lines that could serve adjacent neighborhoods in the future.
Willard said the city submitted a final CDBG application for the West Railroad Street project and added that the administration placed emergency legislation on the council agenda to allow the city manager to apply for an OWDA loan when bids are opened. Council passed Ordinance No. 25-OD-3304 as emergency legislation during the meeting to authorize application and cooperative-agreement steps with OWDA.
Willard said the city has used OWDA previously (for a lakefront project) and that the plan is to enter the loan agreement after bids are opened, likely in early 2026. He described partner roles: the county port authority helped submit the CDBG application and local economic-development and employers in the corridor were leveraged to secure JobsOhio funds.
The council did not set a construction start date at the meeting. Willard said the city plans to advertise for engineering qualifications for city-hall renovations and continue coordinating the West Railroad Street financing. The city manager and staff will return to the council with bid results and any required agreements before contract execution.
No public comment on the project was recorded at the meeting; council members who spoke praised the administration's work assembling funding and emphasized the project's importance for several local employers and drainage improvement.
