City to apply for an OCRA grant

The City of Portland will seek a state grant for its proposed downtown flooding mitigation project.

The city took the next step in that process Tuesday, holding a public hearing about the project that would feature a new sewer line under Meridian Street in an effort to take some of the pressure off of Millers Branch. The public hearing is a required step in order to be eligible to apply for a Community Development Block Grant through Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.

Jay County Development Corporation executive assistant Jodi Hayes explained the city’s plan to apply for a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant, which would require a local match of more than $800,000. Grant proposals are due at the end of April, with the application process to be complete by the end of June.

Bill Leber of Indianapolis-based Wessler Engineering again laid out the details of the proposed project — he first presented it at a meeting March 24 — as he took part in the meeting by phone. The work would involve running a new storm sewer line beginning between Arch and Race streets that would run directly to the Salamonie River.

It would be used to drain Meridian Street catch basin systems between Main and North streets. Those systems currently connect to Millers Branch (a line that runs about a half-block east of Meridian Street), which frequently is overloaded during heavy rain events resulting in water backing up and flooding the city’s downtown area.

The project is designed to eliminate problems during what is referred to as “10-year-flood.”

Portland Mayor John Boggs has given Wessler the go-ahead to complete design of the project with a goal of completing it by the end of summer 2022. Indiana Department of Transportation plans to pave Meridian Street (U.S. 27) the downtown area in 2023, after which Boggs said the agency will not allow any drainage project under the street for at least 10 years.

The construction cost is estimated at $1.3 million, though Boggs cautioned Tuesday that the number may be higher as the price of materials has gone up during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Boggs also plans to request funding for the project from Portland Redevelopment Commission during its meeting Friday morning. He said he had hoped that funds from the American Rescue Plan Act could be used for flood mitigation, but that is not allowed under the current guidelines. Other funding sources discussed include state loans, the Indiana Bond Bank and assistance from The Portland Foundation.

“We’ve got a lot of different ways to get this done,” the mayor said, “but the fact of the matter is we’ve got to get it done before they pave that street, otherwise we’re going to be in the same situation for another 10 years.”

Letters of support for the grant application can be sent to Hayes at [email protected].