UNION — At its Feb. 12 meeting City of Union council passed Resolution 24-03 to authorize an application to the Ohio Department of Transportation’s State Infrastructure Bank for a loan totaling $1.5 million to finance a portion of the East Martindale Road project and related costs.

The funding would help finance the cost of extending East Martindale from its current termination point at Frederick Pike to the recently constructed roundabout intersection at Union Airpark Boulevard and Dog Leg Road in the city’s burgeoning industrial park adjacent to Dayton International Airport.

Union adopted a thoroughfare plan that included the extension of the road to the roundabout, known as ‘The East Martindale Road Project.’

The loan from ODOT would pay for a portion of the cost of designing, acquiring right-of-way, and constructing the extension of East Martindale from Frederick Pike to the roundabout in anticipation of the development of land zoned for industrial development located in the city between Frederik Pike and Union Airpark Boulevard.

Union, Vandalia, the city of Dayton, and the Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District sought and received funding to widen State Route 40 from Union Airpark Boulevard to the Airport Access Road.

With that project completed there is some funding left over that will be returned to ODOT. Union is seeking those funds to help finance the East Martindale Road Project.

“There is some money left over, for lack of better words, that we returned to ODOT from the loan to widen State Route 40,” City Manager John Applegate said. “We would like to get authorization to submit this application to ODOT to help fund the East Martindale Road Project.”

Applegate told council the $1.5 million would cover a portion of the project.

“It is just a portion of what we need but it will go a long way in getting the second connection of our waterline completed within that right-of-way, so it is our recommendation to mayor and council to approve this application,” Applegate said.

The total cost of the project has yet to be determined. Engineering plans have not been finalized. Once those plans are completed the total project cost will be known.

“As John said, the U.S. 40 project was a Transportation Improvement District project that had multiple local governments backing the borrowing,” said Steve Stanley of the Montgomery County Transportation Improvement District.

Stanley noted that debt service payments for that project are currently being paid.

“We finally have been able to close out that project in its entirety and we have money left over in the original loan for the local share of that project that will be released back to the state,” Stanley said. “That actually is a loan held by Montgomery County. Each of the individual jurisdictions that are paying a portion of that debt service are making their contributions.”

Stanley noted that discussions have been held with ODOT about obtaining the remaining funds to benefit the extension of East Martindale.

He pointed out that this particular loan program through ODOT has been utilized throughout Montgomery County.

“Most of the borrowing we have done here in Union has been from that source and it has been very beneficial, but with interest rates going up the last couple of years there has been more demand for the money and there has been a lot more competition for those funds than there used to be,” Stanley said.

“We want to time this very specifically to try and capture those dollars,” he said. “We are stretching the envelope a little bit here because the loan that the county has now released back to ODOT is $1.1 million and we are asking for a little bit more than that.”

Stanley pointed out that this loan program is very beneficial as the city would not have to pay any debt service for a period of two and a half years with zero percent interest for the balance of the loan.

“In this particular case we are looking at trying to obtain a 20 year term to ease the cash flow. You can pay these loans after three years with no penalty whatsoever,” Stanley said. “One of these days from a cash flow perspective, if the city is in a position to pay off this and other loans we will probably do that much more rapidly than the original term of the loan.”

Reach Ron Nunnari at (937) 684-9124 or email [email protected].