Bowling Green has landed a $1 million state grant to run water and sewer lines to a planned 117-lot housing subdivision on the city’s north side, and City Council took action on the award at its meeting on Monday, October 19. The planned Green Acres Subdivision would be built at the northwest corner of Brim Road and Bishop Road, according to the legislative package prepared for council.
The money comes from the Ohio Department of Development’s Residential Economic Development District grant program, known as REDD. Bowling Green’s award was part of $14 million in grants announced by the state to support workforce housing in 10 counties, and the state’s announcement said the project supports housing demand created by investments from Amazon and others. The grant was awarded on October 1.
According to the legislative package, the grant will pay for public water mains and sanitary sewer mains for the subdivision, along with related road work. Construction is expected in 2027. Council gave the ordinance authorizing Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter to sign the grant agreement its first reading on Monday, with the final two readings, and an emergency clause requested, expected at the November 2 meeting.
Municipal Administrator Lori Tretter described the award after the meeting in comments reported by BG Independent News. She called it a fantastic opportunity and said spurring housing developments has long been a goal of council and the mayor. The subdivision plan calls for 117 lots, which would add new homes on the city’s north side once the utility work is completed.
Council also moved ahead with a new roundabout on the city’s east side. Members declared an emergency and passed, on all three readings, an ordinance moving forward with a roundabout at East Wooster Street and Dunbridge Road, in a unanimous vote reported by the Sentinel-Tribune. The ordinance allows the city to sign an agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation and to hire for design, engineering, right-of-way purchases and construction.
The city won federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality funding last year that will cover about 80 percent of the roundabout’s construction cost. A shared-use path will also be built on the north side of Wooster Street along the Meijer frontage. Construction on the roundabout is slated for 2029, several years after the housing utility work is expected to begin.
In other business, council introduced an ordinance for resurfacing Campbell Hill Road from the south corporation limit to East Wooster Street, with a shared-use path from Carter Park to Scott Hamilton Boulevard, and a federal grant will cover about 80 percent of that cost, with work expected to begin in 2031. Mayor Mike Aspacher also told council the city’s two new fire stations are on schedule and on budget. A public hearing on a rezoning request for 903 North Main Street is set for 6 p.m. on November 2, the same meeting at which the housing grant ordinance is expected to receive its final readings.
Photo: Wapcaplet, CC BY-SA