Marshallville goes green with a solar field and prototype Green Street

“Number one, it’s the right thing to do. We have to start looking at renewable resources,” said Bob Brooker, mayor of the village of Marshallville. The small community is in the process of installing a six-and-a-half-acre solar field. The project began nearly seven years ago when American Municipal Power Inc. began to look for solar sites among their member towns. Marshallville is one of many communities contracting electricity from the nonprofit corporation. “We had some land that was unused,” Brooker said. The village arrived at an agreement to lease the land to the utility corporation. In exchange the village will purchase about a third of the solar electricity the field will generate. The rest of the power will be sold back to the power grid.The massive solar field also will provide power to a new 300-foot radio tower being built on the property. “It’s probably going to be one of the few towers that will be powered by solar electricity,” Brooker said. The project will be a MARCS tower: a Multi-Agency Radio Communication System. The tower will function for first responders in all of Wayne County.“The nice thing about this,” said the mayor, “it’s not costing the village of Marshallville anything. American Municipal Power Inc. is a great organization. They are mandated to increase their green power sources, and one way to do that is to increase their solar portfolio.”Of the village of 765 residents, Brooker said, “We have about 4,200 more people to go [to become a city].” The “village” designation in Ohio is based on population. The mayor is currently in his fifth four-year term. A retired science teacher, he said, “I’ve always had two jobs. I‘ve always worked long days.” He pulled out a huge stack of papers for another recent environmental project: Marshallville’s new Green Street. “People don’t see what a mayor has to do,” he said, leafing through a thick notebook. “This is the Green Street grant application.” Brooker is quick to give much of the credit behind many of the community projects to Environmental Design Group, the engineering firm that works with the village. The engineering consultants brought the Green Street concept to the table at Marshallville. “The Green Street is a green and complete street,” Brooker explained. “In any community storm water has to be dealt with one way or another. You can do it the natural way or send it to a waste treatment facility and actively treat it.” The street is a prototype example. It stretches for 750 feet in a residential neighborhood. It is the only example in Northeast Ohio combining four different bioretention technologies. These include two different soils designed for faster flow of storm water. Another component of the street is a sidewalk of pervious pavement that captures and treats the water. The project got started when it became apparent the city’s 70-year-old cast iron water lines needed to be replaced. The mayor applied for grants and was denied. Then Environmental Design Group came along and suggested there might be funding available if they incorporated some green technologies. The Green Street ended up doing a lot more than just replacing some old water lines. “It got us a paved street, new water lines, sidewalks and better drainage. It cost $230,000 and didn’t cost the village anything,” Brooker said. “It’s functioning as planned. You go out there after a rain event, and there is no water pooling on the pervious concrete. Other cities can come and see how it works to pretreat storm water before it gets to a larger body of water.” Plaques located along the street help describe the design and process. The Green Street is located on Park Street between West Market and Church. Marshallville is home to a restaurant, barbershop, and carpeting and drapery stores. “We are the home interior capital of the world,” Brooker said. “Marshallville is a hot real estate market. The last four houses that were sold either weren’t listed or were on the market less than a week.” And when the sun shines in Marshallville, Brooker makes sure it goes to work helping to power the city.