LEAVITTSBURG, Ohio – It’s a months-long controversy involving multiple public entities that’s resulted in legal action and threats of defunding.
The Trumbull County MetroParks Board secured approval in December from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to remove the Leavittsburg Dam.
Warren Township trustees have appealed that decision to the Ohio Environmental Review Appeals Commission, and on Friday the Trumbull County Commissioners were to file a complaint for a preliminary injunction in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
Commissioner Denny Malloy said commissioners want the park board – which owns the dam and is funded by the county and appointed by the county probate judge – to be responsive to the public. He wants the board to meet with commissioners and OEPA officials.
Malloy said about 800 Warren Township residents have signed a petition registering their opposition to the dam’s removal. The board wants to create better access on and along the river for bikes, kayaks and canoes.
Malloy said there is a small number of residents who support the dam removal, believing it’s a cause of flooding in their neighborhoods during heavy rain. He said the flooding, though, isn’t connected to the dam.
The township trustees came to the commissioners for help. Malloy said the panel agreed to pay for the bulk of a study to examine benefits of removing the dam versus benefits of leaving it in place. Commissioners paid $30,000 for the study, and the county engineer paid $10,000.
“So we got our study done,” Malloy said. “We presented it to the park board and said, ‘Here’s the alternative. There are alternatives that will meet your goals.’”
The park board, which secured a $3 million state grant to fund the dam removal, voted to continue with that plan. RiverReach Construction has been hired to complete the work, which started this week with tree and brush removal along the river at Canoe City, the commissioners’ complaint says.
“So as of right now, we have not given the park board any money in next year’s budget to operate,” Malloy said.
Zachary Svette, park board executive director, declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.
But a frequently-asked-questions document from the park board about the dam removal said: “The purpose of the Project is to remove the dam and enhance the water quality, aquatic habitat, fish passage, river morphology, natural sediment transport abilities, safety, increased recreational use, and commercial development possibilities.”
The dam is a potential drowning hazard both upstream and downstream and doesn’t allow for safe recreational passage, the document said.
Malloy doesn’t buy that. Over the past 100 years, there have been no reports of drownings at the dam, he said.
“And so our contention is, you could drown in a bathtub,” he added.
People have drowned in Mosquito Lake, but no one is advocating that it be drained, he said. Plus, the park builds bike trails where someone could fall off of a bike and break their neck, he said.
The Leavittsburg Dam is one of nine low-head dams recommended for removal as part of the Mahoning River restoration plan, with Eastgate Regional Council of Governments taking the lead in securing grants for the work. Several of those dams including those in Lowellville and Struthers have been removed.
“These are being taken out at the request of the Ohio EPA to help clean the water and restore that to a normal river,” said Jim Kinnick, Eastgate executive director.
The Leavittsburg Dam is the furthest low-head dam upstream. If it’s not removed, it doesn’t affect the work that’s been done and ongoing, Kinnick said. He said Eastgate hopes to get OEPA officials to meet with Trumbull commissioners.
“I think the people who are experts on clean water and rivers should be speaking to the commissioners to present the facts,” Kinnick said.
Communities where dams have been removed have realized redevelopment along the river, with new businesses moving in and more people using the river for recreation.
“They wanted development along the river. Yeah, well, we have no reason, no way, to even have development, because ours is residential,” Warren Township Trustee Ed Anthony said. “It’s not commercial, so there’s no development that’s going to be in our area.”
Trustee Ryan Yoho agrees.
“We already benefit from this great water source that we have,” he said. “Canoe City [MetroPark] has been here for 100 years at the property. So I’m 50 years old. As far as I can remember, people have boated their canoes there.”
Anthony and Yoho see the alternative identified in the study funded by county commissioners and the county engineer as a win for both sides. The study, by DLZ Ohio Inc. of Columbus, listed an option other than removing or retaining the dam: modifying the existing dam.
That could be achieved by placing riprap downstream of the dam and cutting a notch in the abandoned intake wall north of the structure. Riprap is a rocky material used along shorelines to protect against erosion.
The study says that would eliminate the safety issues. It also says, “Upstream pool will be maintained for a length of about 10 miles providing enough depth for local recreation/navigation and large fish species habitation.”
Among disadvantages, though, are that the river’s natural features won’t be restored and it could hamper contiguous recreational activities along the Mahoning if the Leavittsburg Dam is the only one not removed. Not all water quality impacts will be addressed, either, the study says.
And Malloy, Anthony and Yoho share another concern if the dam is removed: sewage.
“The underlying huge concern for us as a township and the safety of our residents is, currently, there’s about 900 houses that have illicit discharges into that water,” Yoho said.
Residents’ septic systems flow into about 8 feet of water in the river. If the dam is removed and the depth lowers to a foot, “it’s gonna make that water pretty nasty,” he said.
Over the years, industrial businesses along the river have discharged waste into the river as well, Yoho said. Even with all of that, water quality has improved, he added.
Malloy said the county sanitary engineer plans to install sanitary sewer lines. Residents will have to pay to tap into the lines, but that costs about $2,500, compared with about $25,000 for a new septic system. He said the county received grants for the cost of the lines.
“It’s a four-phase project,” Malloy said. “The first phase is Meadowbrook, and that’s not going to be complete until 2026. Then we’ll go to phase two, three and four. So we’re probably about six years away from sewer lines being installed for everybody.”
If the dam comes out this summer, that means up to three years with raw sewage dumping onto the shoreline of the river, creating a public health hazard, he said.
Malloy said the county’s highway engineer has also expressed concerns that if the dam is removed, there’s nothing impeding the water where the river curves at West Market Street, and “there’s a high probability of undercutting the road and the road collapsing.”
Pictured at top: The Leavittsburg Dam.