County officials have proposed a new storm sewer in Clarendon and an expanded municipal water line coverage in Sheffield Township.

That’s the initial plan for how the county will utilize $248,534 in its federal Community Development Block Grant allocation. The storm sewer is located on Center Street in Clarendon between Brown Avenue and Railroad Stree.

A notice for the project calls the line “undersized and thus inadequate” and notes that the $110,442 project will serve 19 households in that area.

The water line expansion is at High Street in Sheffield.

“This new water line,” the notices states, “will replace the existing spring fed water system to the 11 households on High Street.”

The county keeps 44,736 for program administration.

Grants administrator Lorri Dunlap said the first steps in identifying projects included a public notice as well as a notice to the municipalities. She then reviews projects that are submitted “to determine which are eligible for CDBG funding. Often I have to do an income survey of the residents in the area to be served by the grant funds.”

“Most years, more projects are proposed than funding is available,” Dunlap explained. “For example, this year’s projects are both being funded from two years of CDBG funding, as there were not sufficient funds in one year’s CDBG allocation to cover the amount of the requests.”

She explained that two projects were submitted for funding that were not eligible.

“Both Spring Creek Twp. and Tidioute Borough requested assistance to fund improvements at their Municipal playgrounds,” Dunlap explained. “Because these projects would benefit the Municipalities as a ‘whole’ – I had to refer to the latest census data to see what level of ‘low income residents’ live in those municipalities, compared to the HUD determined ‘low income’ limits established for Warren County.”

Fifty-one percent was needed and Dunlap said Spring Creek came in at 47.02 percent while Tidioute was 49.35 percent.

The project proposals are then sent to the county commissioners for consideration. A public hearing on the two outlined projects is set for next Wednesday as part of the commissioner’s meeting.