Cleveland, OH
Avon
By Rebecca Turman
Avon City Council members could put a 90-day moratorium in place as soon as Monday that would prevent new residential developments from tying into the French Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.
According to the draft ordinance, during the 90 days, “the city will attempt to conduct a study and/or make recommendations regarding what action, if any, the city of Avon should take to preserve the public health, safety and welfare through the provisions of adequate sanitary sewer infrastructure, land use or other regulatory controls that are specifically applicable to land development.”
The moratorium was originally recommended by Avon Mayor Jim Smith during the Feb. 28 City Council regular meeting. His request was brought on after many homeowners in the Northgate and Stonebridge subdivisions in Avon reported they had sewage discharge in their homes following last week’s rainstorm.
“We checked … the North Ridgeville (French Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant) interceptor was full to the brim,” he told council members at the Feb. 28 meeting. “When you start getting sewage backup in your basement, that’s uncalled for. There’s no more room for sewage in that trunk line, especially when it rains.”
In a Monday interview prior to the City Council work session, Avon City Engineer Rob Knopf said city officials have talked to representatives from the city of North Ridgeville, which owns the French Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, about the sewage backing up into Avon homes.
“We are trying to figure out exactly what can be done,” Knopf said. “The argument comes into play as to who is responsible. Is it the local system? Is it purely just the interceptor? Or a combination?”
According to Knopf, however, fixing the problem won’t be cheap.
“Just for the study for the city of Avon areas, you are looking at easily a half a million dollars, not including the work that would have to be done to try to go and actually fix things,” he said.
Knopf noted the areas that had the biggest problems after the rainstorm hit were “almost entirely located on the streets connecting right into the interceptor.”
Knopf said city officials discovered a number of houses in the Stonebridge subdivision did not have backflow valves in place.
“Those would have helped out quite a bit with a house that did not have them,” he said of the sewage backup.
Knopf said the city is working on a questionnaire to be distributed to homeowners in the affected areas to collect more information.
Before the Monday night work session, the Legal and Service committees held a joint meeting to discuss the sewer situation and allow homeowners to voice their concerns.
Legal Committee Chairman and Councilman Dan Urban told homeowners another meeting would be held as soon as the city has information to share with them regarding the findings over the next 90 days.
At the Monday night City Council work session, Councilman Dennis McBride said, “We’re not going to get a lot of answers in 90 days,” and he suggested lengthening the moratorium to six months and reducing the time, if need be.
However, the consensus was the 90-day moratorium could be extended if more time is needed.
Later on in the meeting, Knopf said, “Some of these studies have to be done in the dry season – July, August – in order to get accurate readings. You’re looking at another six to seven months before a study can be performed.”
Avon Law Director John Gasior said the Planning Commission is scheduled to review three residential developments during a March 16 meeting.
“I can rewrite this (ordinance) so that anything in the pipeline so to speak can go through,” he said. “Nothing could be submitted to Planning Commission after you pass this (as is). It’s up to you.”
“I’d like to see anything in the pipeline go through,” Council President Craig Witherspoon said.
“I know we can’t eliminate what has happened,” Smith told council.
However, he said looking into the matter could help cut back on problems in the future.
“There’s just ways North Ridgeville can protect us more and we can protect ourselves more,” Councilman Bryan Jensen said.
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