LOGAN — Jeff Jenkins of Hocking Athens Perry Community Action (HAPCAP) visited the county commissioners Thursday morning with an encouraging update on the ongoing revitalization of Murray City.
Jenkins, part of HAPCAP’s community development team, has overseen the administration of the county’s $150,000 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and $750,000 Neighborhood Revitalization Grant (NRG).
After administrative fees, a total of $820,000 is being sent toward projects in Murray City, to address a myriad of infrastructural concerns that have burdened the aging village for quite some time.
Jenkins addressed the commissioners Thursday to ask them to sign onto a professional services agreement with the Columbus-based civil engineering company Sands Decker, a motion that was passed without question during general business.
This will allow the company to move forward with design plans and a “triage” assessment, as Jenkins put it, to see which projects might hold the most priority, and what can be carried out during times of inclement weather.
The timeline is still up in the air, but Jenkins said he hopes the design plans will be done within a month or two, allowing the project to go out for public bid to prospective contractors. Best case, construction work can begin in early fall, allowing the contractor to get a head start on the winter months.
Back in June 2023, Nathan Simons, community development coordinator at HAPCAP, gave a look into the different projects the two grants will cover. Jenkins more or less reiterated Simons’ earlier words, though without the cost estimates.
At the time, $120,000 was earmarked to alleviate storm and drainage issues in the village, which is liable to flooding due to its geography.
Another $216,000 was estimated to replace water meters for every household in the village, though Jenkins said it may not be all of them, because part of Murray City is actually situated in Athens County. Stipulations of the grant do not allow for work in other counties.
Another $219,400 was being looked at back in June for sidewalk work along Main Street and state Route 78, which runs through the heart of the village. The remaining funds, $109,700, were estimated for parks and recreation renovations, often a staple of the NRG.
Later in Thursday’s meeting, the commissioners read part of a letter from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), regarding ongoing environmental assessments of oil and gas leasing in the Wayne National Forest.
The current evaluation is result of a 2020 federal district court finding — that a previous analysis in 2016 did not adequately consider the “specific impacts of using hydraulic fracturing techniques on federally protected species, water resources, air quality, and surface resources.”
More on the negative impacts of hydraulic fracturing, known as “fracking,” can be found at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
In response to multiple requests, the BLM has extended its window for public comment on this topic, which could have a demonstrable impact on the health of the state forest and its wildlife.
The public comment period will run through May 17, and finding a place to submit remarks is an unnecessarily arduous task. After some digging, the Logan Daily found the link https://eplanning.blm.gov/eplanning-ui/project/2024234/510 on the BLM National NEPA Register.
For those interested that prefer paper to digital, comments can be submitted via mail to the Bureau of Land Management — Northeastern States, Kurt Wadzinski, 250 East Wisconsin Ave., Suite 1100, Milwaukee, WI 53202.
Email at rmorris@logandaily.com
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