People in a crowd of about 200 who showed up Thursday afternoon at the Sylvania library branch — with a legal notice of a proposed drainage improvement and a dollar estimate of the first-year assessment in hand — looked either carefree or preoccupied; some were frowning.
“This is a money grab, that’s all it is,” said Richard Spitulski, who lives on Huntington Road in Sylvania Township. He said he feels he wouldn’t benefit from the proposed project because there are no ditches on or anywhere near his property, and a sump pump in his crawl space is sufficient to address any potential flooding.
His wife, Rita said she agreed with him. Both plan to attend all and any Lucas County commissioners’ hearings of the proposed measure to make sure their opinion is heard, she said. Their estimated first-year assessment is $25.01.
Their neighbor from across the street, Leo Tussing, whose estimated first-year assessment is $2.39, said he is also “unhappy” and plans to protest, adding that he also has a sump pump in his crawl space, which is all he needs to address any potential drainage problems.
“I don’t want to pay,” Mr. Tussing said. “I [will be] trying to stop it.”
Asked to respond to the neighbors’ reaction, Lucas County Engineer Mike Pniewski said they would nevertheless be benefitting from the proposed drainage improvements because the runoff from their sump pumps still uses the drainage infrastructure, and it would be only logical that they bear their share of costs associated with any improvements to it.
The neighbors were among dozens of the attendees who stayed behind to talk among themselves after discussing the matter with county staff. Seven staffers were at hand to discuss the matter during the informational meeting held by the county engineer’s office.
Conversely, others typically turned around and left — without even entering the building — after answering a question from a staffer at the front door, “Where do you live?”
Mr. Pniewski, who oversaw the event, said it was safe to assume those who happily left right away were from Toledo, Sylvania, or Ottawa Hills, the only Lucas County municipalities whose governments decided to pay proposed drainage fees for their residents.
Those living or owning businesses or agricultural land within the Tenmile Creek watershed — which includes roughly 80,000 parcels — would pay $25 per acre for a residential parcel, $35 per acre for a commercial-use parcel, and $10 to $15 per acre for an agricultural-use parcel depending on soil type, according to Mr. Pniewski.
For example, should county commissioners pass the measure when they meet to consider it in August or at a later meeting, a county dweller who lives outside Toledo, Sylvania, and Ottawa Hills and owns, say, a 0.1928-acre residential plot would have to pay about 56 cents a year each of the next six years, with the number decreasing further on.
Mr. Pniewski explained the two-step calculation of that dollar amount as follows:
● First, $69.97 (the property’s “maintenance base,” which is determined for each property based on acreage, land use, soil classification, ditch usage, and elevation relative to the creek) is is divided into $250 million (the total project maintenance base, which is what the drainage system would cost if it didn’t exist and were to be built from scratch today). The resulting 0.000028 percent is the percent of the total maintenance base to be paid by the property owner.
● Then, 0.000028 percent is multiplied by $2 million (the cost of the estimated work in 2026).
“As landowners named in the Joint-County Ditch Petition filed by Spencer Township on March 20, 2021, you are hereby notified that the Final Hearing will be held by the Joint Board of the Fulton and Lucas County Commissioners at 2 p.m. on August 13, 2024 at the Hearing Room of the Board of Lucas County Commissioners,” the notice said.
The petition filing was followed by a series of public meetings and hearings.
“We’ve been working on evaluating the issue and coming up with a proposed work plan,” Mr. Pniewski said. “And we’re finally at the point where we can present it to the commissioners for their consideration.”
This is one of two such projects in the county to be considered by county commissioners. The other, the proposed drainage improvement in Swan Creek watershed, which involves about 50,000 land parcels in Lucas County, was discussed at public meeting this week, with another meeting scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Whitehouse Village Hall.
Mr. Pniewski said ditches in the county are typically obstructed by sediments at 30 percent to 50 percent of capacity, which causes drainage backups that cause basement and street flooding — a situation Mr. Pniewski said needs to be urgently addressed after gradually worsening for decades.
Later Thursday, he announced having submitted that day a recommendation to the Joint Board of Fulton, Lucas and Henry County Commissioners that the final hearing for the Swan Creek Joint Ditch Petition be continued and recessed to July 15, 2025. The final hearing is currently scheduled for Aug. 6, 2024.
Additionally Mr. Pniewski will recommend the board remove the portions of Ai Creek, Swan Creek, and Fewless Creek within Fulton County from the petition, according to a news release.
The county engineer’s office held an informational meeting Tuesday in Swanton, where “many members of the public provided information and feedback on the petition and the nature and scope of the project,” the news release said.
The recommendation is based on this feedback and aims to allow for further public outreach, to provide an opportunity to rescope the proposed work plan and annual budget and to work with state and federal agencies and officials to obtain outside funding to offset any proposed assessments, according to the release.
“I believe it is necessary for additional time to provide public education and outreach on the nature of the project as well as to further develop and refine the scope of the project and work with the communities and stakeholders on the issues and needs that this project can address,” Mr. Pniewski said in the release.
“I’m committed to work with the Board as well as State and Federal representatives to obtain additional funding to provide relief to our citizens who must remove dead trees and log jams as a result of the emerald ash borer,” he added.
In addition, the removal of the streams from the petition is expected to result in “a significant reduction in the maintenance base for property owners in Fulton County,” the release said.
“One of the key messages we heard at the information meeting was that Fulton County citizens should be responsible for Fulton County drainage,” Mr. Pniewski said.
“The removal of the length of ditches in Fulton County will result in a significant reduction in the maintenance base. Fulton County citizens will only be responsible for maintenance costs on Swan Creek in direct proportion to the water contributed to the stream.”
The Joint Board will consider the engineer’s recommendation on Aug. 6.
Lucas County commissioners later Thursday announced they had received the letter sent by Mr. Pniewski to the Joint Board.
“It is likely the Commissioners will favorably consider this request at the Aug. 6 hearing,” they wrote in a statement.
“The Board understands how critical this work is and agrees with Engineer Pniewski that it is important to ensure the public has access to all information pertaining to this project,” the statement said. “The Commissioners look forward to the results of the Engineer’s efforts to rescope the work plan and to pursue outside funding sources to offset any proposed assessments for our residents.”
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