County opts to not create storm water district

After consulting with the county engineer and reviewing rules set by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, the Wood County commissioners have decided to not establish a storm water district in the county.
The commissioners had been considering creating a district but have opted to continue relying on the ditch petition format.
Under a storm water district, a fee would be imposed for the amount of impervious surfaces – rooftops and paved lots – that would be used for storm water infrastructure projects and to address water quality issues.
Currently in Wood County, the townships of Lake, Perrysburg, Middleton and a portion of Troy are designated by the Ohio EPA as urbanized areas, which require them to follow what are called Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) regulations.
The program is administered by the county engineer’s office with funding from the townships and county as well as the municipalities of Rossford and Millbury.
In addition to consulting with the engineer’s office, the commissioners also reviewed a study completed in 2019 of storm water districts.
About 85 percent of the land in the county is already included in one or more petition ditch projects and the commissioners and engineer agreed the petition system has kept the Great Black Swamp at bay for more than a century.
In addition, there are six ditch projects in progress and it would be difficult to add a storm water district at this time, the commissioners said.