Wed Mar 10 2010
by Jeff Saunders
Reporter
Macedonia and Summit County have asked the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District to leave both the city and county out of a proposed regional stormwater management program.
The plan, which is scheduled for formal consideration by the district's board of directors in January, would include a new fee that would be charged to all property owners within the district, including both those who pay sewer bills to the district and non-customers who currently don't pay the district anything.
The money generated would pay for a stormwater management program the district wants to institute.
Residential customers would be billed between $2.85 and $8.55 per month (see box). Commercial bills would be based on the square footage of a property's surface area that is impervious to drainage.
The billings may begin as early as July 2010.
Frank Greenwood, NEORSD director of watershed programs, said the fee is expected to raise roughly $200 million over five years for stormwater control in the district, which includes most of Cuyahoga County and part of Summit County including the four Nordonia Hills communities, the northern half of Boston Heights, the northwest quadrant of Hudson and a portion of Twinsburg Township.
"It's a way of dealing with [stormwater management] on a broader scale," said Greenwood. "Dollars spent outside your community can benefit problems within."
Summit County officials see the proposed fees as an infringement on local control. County Council expressed opposition to the plan in a Nov. 16 resolution and Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan-Walsh stated in a Nov. 20 letter to the sewer district that under state law, the Summit County Engineer has jurisdiction over stormwater management in the county.
Summit County Council President Nick Kostandaras, who sponsored the resolution with County Executive Russ Pry, said he is "livid" about the proposed fees.
"I'm going to do everything I can to fight this," he said. "This is not acceptable to Summit County and is not acceptable to me."
In his official newsletter to residents, Northfield Center Trustee Paul Buescher called the plan "extortion" and noted none of the seven NEORSD board members represent Summit County.
"Folks, these utilities and many segments of our government are out of control," he said.
Macedonia Law Director Joseph Diemert said in a Nov. 20 letter to the district that the city would support "any and all legal challenges" to the plan. Diemert stated that court orders establishing the district focus on wastewater service, rather than stormwater issues.
"The district only has authority to provide wastewater control services to member communities," Diemert stated.
He told the News Leader Nov. 25 the city does not presently plan legal action.
According to Greenwood, NEORSD's authority to regulate stormwater control issues within the district stems from a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas decision in the 1970s. He said the purpose of the plan is to bring an orderly answer to problems that cross political boundaries.
He said the problem is that individual communities may come up with solutions that solve problems within their communities, but will not solve and could even exacerbate problems in other parts of the watershed.
"I think this needs to be tackled regionally," said Greenwood.
Greenwood said NEORSD has a seven-member board of trustees, three of whom are chosen by the mayor of Cleveland, three by the NEORSD Suburban Council of Governments, a body that includes representatives of all the suburbs within the district, and one by the Cuyahoga County Commissioners.
"There could always be changes, but that is the current lay of the land," said Greenwood.
Regional solution proposed
Greenwood said NEORSD's plan would take 92.5 percent of the money generated from the new fees for stormwater management projects under a watershed improvement program that is yet to be developed.
The proposed stormwater management plan requires 7.5 percent of fees generated in each community to be spent in that community.
"It is our intent to return a reasonable amount of money to the watersheds and we have the burden to prove that," Greenwood said.
In addition, he said the plan calls for the formation of watershed advisory committees to allow local officials within each watershed a voice in planning projects within the watershed.
Within the Brandywine Creek watershed, which includes most of the Summit County portion of the NEORSD, the committee would include representatives from each community, as well as from county agencies, such as the Summit County Engineer's Office.
Local officials say they feel stormwater management issues can be handled better on a local level.
The Summit County resolution states "any proposed stormwater assessments, taxes, or other fees proposed by NEORSD could be spent with greater efficacy if stormwater determinations were made by local communities with Summit County providing, if necessary, regional coordination."
E-mail: jsaunders@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3169
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