BY JOHN A. DARNELL JR.
      associate editor
      Meeting in a special session on Tuesday night with Boardman Township Trustees, the Boardman Local School Board transferred some 14.6 acres of land behind the now vacant Market St. Elementary School for the development of a passive community park.
      The creation of the park is directed at improving drainage issues in the Cranberry Run watershed area and is expected to impact upwards of 1,400 properties that have experienced surface water issues during heavy rainfalls for more than 90 years.
      The ABC Water and Stormwater Utility District has been studying watershed issue along Cranberry Run for three years, concluding the Market St. property is an “exceptional location” for a stormwater park.
      Development of the stormwater park is expected to be completed by 2023 at a cost of some $3 million.
      Funding for the Forest Lawn Stormwater Park will be provided through a $500,000 Ohio Capital Grant, the ABC Water and Stormwater Utility District and with support from Boardman Township and the Ohio Water Pollution Control Loan Fund and Mahoning County Commissioners, Boardman Trustee Tom Costello said.
      “Once completed, we expect the new park will be a community asset,” Trustee Brad Calhoun said, noting the project will begin with the demolition of Market St. Elementary School.
      “This project will be the first of its kind in Mahoning County and the first in the state of Ohio that has a joint partnership between a local school district and a stormwater utility district,” Trustee Larry Moliterno noted.
      Once the school building is demolished, two 60-inch storm sewers will be removed and replaced with two open stream channels that are expected to provide flood mitigation and less erosive stream velocities.
      When the park is completed, a walking path will be created and the site will include an entry plaza, boardwalk overlook of the stream (including an arbor), as well as floodplain overflow areas for added stormwater detention.
      “This project will be largest single detention project in Boardman Township to date with the capacity to hold water storage volume equivalent to one football field with 9-feet of water on top of it,” Trustee Costello said.
      “This type of project is a once in a life time opportunity will help stabilize a neighborhood and bring much needed relief in the form of stormwater control measures to Boardman,” Township Administrator Jason Loree, who also serves on the board of the ABC Water and Stormwater Utility District, said.