Wood County Commissioners Doris Herringshaw, Craig LaHote and Ted Bowlus, on Tuesday, agreed that now is not the time to create a storm water district in the county. Currently, Lake, Perrysburg, and Middleton townships, and a small portion of Troy Township are designated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency as urbanized areas, requiring them to abide by Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS 4) regulations.
The current storm water program for these areas is managed by the County Engineer’s office with direct participation and funding from those townships as well as, Rossford, Millbury, and the County Commissioners.
In recent weeks the county commissioners met with John Musteric, Wood County Engineer, to discuss potential future ways to address storm water in Wood County, specifically in the MS 4 area. The discussion was based on requirements of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and a study completed in 2019 that provides basic guidance for a storm water district.
If put in place, a storm water district would charge developed properties for the amount of impervious surface – rooftops and paved surfaces. Funding generated would then be used for storm water infrastructure projects and to help address water quality requirements.
For more than a century, Wood County has kept the Great Black Swamp at bay through extensive use of the petition ditch law. Approximately 85% of land in the county is included in one or more petition ditch projects, and currently there are six additional projects in process.
The commissioners and engineer agree that the ditch process is working well and it would be difficult to add a storm water district in a way that would be meaningful and logical. Therefore, work with the MS 4 area, with emphasis on storm water quality, will continue.
