Oregon City Council on Monday will consider a project development agreement with BP Husky Refining LLC for the city’s flood relief and erosion control project.

“This is a project development agreement that spells out the cost share between the private and public entities of BP Husky and the city,” said Public Service Director Paul Roman at a committee of the whole meeting last Monday.

“Overall, it is the financial obligations for the Oregon flood relief and erosion control project,” said Roman. “This project is a very large drainage project involving four different watersheds.”

The project, which will be constructed in two phases, will relocate four watersheds to one drainage system out to the lake, he said.

“Phase I is relocating Heckman Ditch further from Wynn Road, which will provide a much larger ditch as well as protect Wynn Road from a lot of erosion that you see along the road today,” said Roman. “And Phase 2 is the relocation of three other streams – the Amolsch and Driftmeyer ditches and Johlin Ditch - to Heckman Ditch. When we do this, we’ll take Amolsch and Driftmeyer - which now flow through the refinery property - and bypass that entire industrial area to Heckman Ditch, which will provide about 30 acres of wetlands, which will provide water quality for our drainage system before it enters Lake Erie. The project itself has a lot of benefits for both flood reduction as well as storm water quality.”

BP had started preliminary engineering of the project years ago while the city was planning different alternatives, said Roman.

“But because of BP’s work - we had used that a year ago to apply for grant money - we were successful in receiving money for the Phase I portion. Throughout the year, the project has certainly developed where we have come to a full agreement on the cost share, and we are splitting the local cost 50-50, minus the grants. So this agreement spells out the details for that. Certainly, throughout the next few years, I will be reporting on the financial costs and keeping track. I feel pretty lucky, really. This is something that a lot of entities that apply for grants say they have support, and usually it’s just a simple letter. This is something that’s much greater than that, actual financial contributions from a private entity toward a public project,” said Roman.

Councilman Jerry Peach agreed.

“The biggest thing that comes out of this is that we’ve been very fortunate in finding such a good partner in BP Husky in helping this city solve storm water problems experienced by both Oregon residents and BP Husky itself,” said Peach.

Councilman Dennis Walendzak praised Roman for “taking a lead in northwest Ohio in trying to improve water quality leading out to Lake Erie and really assisting residents with drainage issues.”

“This is just another chapter in our continued attempts to ease the problems for our residents,” said Walendzak. “I would just hope other communities would see this and kind of take your lead and do their part to improve that water quality.

Councilman James Seaman said the project is one of the most important public-private partnerships he’s seen while he’s been on council.

“The end result of this is a direct positive impact on our environment with Lake Erie. Obviously, that trickles down to our citizens,” he said.

“This is a great project and a great relationship between the private public partnership, as everyone has said,” said Council member Sandy Bihn.

“This project provides a lot of flood reduction for a large – almost an eight square mile – watershed, which includes Amolsch and Driftmeyer, which for years have had a lot of drainage problems,” said Roman. “This is the system along Lallendorf that goes through a lot of neighborhoods. It starts out at Bay Park Hospital, and works its way through the intersection of Coy and Navarre. Stevens Meadows is another neighborhood that’s served by Amolsch and Driftmeyer. So the project itself is large, but it has multiple benefits. I think it’s really number one in terms of drainage. I’ve said for all the years that I’ve been here, you only improve drainage by starting out at the downstream end and working your way up. And this is the downstream end.”

The total cost of the project is nearly $5.5 million, according to Roman.

So far, the city has received a grant and a zero percent interest loan from the Ohio Public Works Commission (OPWC), he added.

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