Youngstown Daily Legal News

Bill would give control of reservoir buffers back to municipalities

TIFFANY L. PARKS
Special to the Legal News
Published: December 30, 2015

State Reps. David Leland and Michael Stinziano are pushing for the passage of a bill that would eliminate new state law authorizing the maintenance of buffers around municipal water reservoirs by contiguous property owners.

The proposed legislation, House Bill 304, would repeal a section of Ohio law that was enacted under House Bill 64, the operating budget, this year.

Stinziano, D-Columbus, said the repeal would restore control over land they own near waterways and reservoirs throughout Ohio to municipalities.

“In effect, a single amendment in HB 64 placed the quality of the public’s drinking water in the hands of nearby residents by giving them access to alter buffer zones owned by municipalities,” he said.

“These cities maintained certain vegetation requirements in order to naturally filter out chemicals that could enter the drinking supply.”

Stinziano said the operating budget amendment gave residents the authority to prioritize the aesthetics of the buffer zones over their ability to fulfill their sole and important purpose — protecting water supplies.

“HB 304 seeks to correct this problem by restoring control over the land to the cities that own it,” he said.

“As a representative from Columbus, I know firsthand the confusion and risk the HB 64 amendment brought to the community. The buffer zones themselves are pieces of land belonging to various cities, and because of this amendment, the city of Columbus has brought suit against residents who are using their newfound abilities to alter these areas.”

According to a bill summary, HB 304 would eliminate a provision that would require a municipality to allow an owner of property that is contiguous to property that constitutes a buffer around a body of water that is part of a drinking water reservoir to maintain property that constitutes a buffer if the maintenance is for any of the following purposes: creation of an access path that is not wider than five feet to the body of water; creation of a view corridor along adjacent property boundaries; removal of invasive plant species; creation and maintenance of a filter strip of plants and grass that are native to the area surrounding the reservoir in order to provide adequate filtering of wastewater and polluted runoff from the owner’s property to the body of water; or beautification of the property.

“We believe this issue deserves debate in the committee process with input from all parties, not quick-fix amendments or litigation,” Stinziano said.

Leland, D-Columbus, agreed.

“Our request is simple — that we repeal the provisions of HB 64 affecting the buffer zones around public water supplies,” he said.

“Prior to HB 64, protections for buffer zones, or the municipality-owned strips of land between homeowner property and the reservoir itself, were in place to ensure the safety of a water supply that was used by perhaps millions of Ohioans.”

The strips act as filters to keep fertilizer or other chemicals used by homeowners from seeping into the reservoir and, ultimately, drinking water.

“We are all too aware of the recent problems in Ohio regarding the safety of our drinking water. In fact, in June of this year, the very water that we use here in Capital Square was contaminated by nitrates and deemed unsafe for certain populations,” Leland said.

“We need to do more to protect the health and safety of our constituents. Unfortunately, what was done in HB 64 moves us in the opposite direction.”

Leland said he is sure the vast majority of lawmakers did not know such a provision was included in HB 64.

“Therein lies the problem,” he said.

“Each of us knows that the legislative process works best when accompanied by a vetting process, which involves facilitating discussion and review by our peers, stakeholders and the public. That simply did not happen here.”

In response to outcry following the budget’s passage, Leland said the legislature has a second chance “to do the right thing.”

“Therefore, in order to not only protect our public drinking water, but also to demonstrate adherence to our values that our legislative process should be an inclusive and transparent one, we respectfully ask the committee to vote favorably upon HB 304,” he said.

The measure is co-sponsored by Reps. Nickie Antonio, Greta Johnson, Debbie Phillips, Dan Ramos and Michael Sheehy.

The proposal is before the House Local Government Committee.

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