Tue Feb 09 2010
By TODD HELBERG
The long-proposed Lick Creek project in Defiance County has received the go ahead.
Ohio Department of Natural Resources director Sean Logan cast the deciding vote after commissioners in the participating counties (Defiance and Williams) split their votes to proceed at a public hearing on June 1.
Defiance County's three commissioners (Jim Harris, Tom Kime and Otto Nicely) voted to proceed while Williams County commissioners Brian Davis, Lewis Hilkert and Al Word voted no.
In a letter to commissioners dated today, Logan said he is voting yes because "the record of proceedings thus far demonstrates the need for this improvement project to clear logjams, restore stream flow and reduce flooding along the Lick Creek Ditch and that the benefits derived thereby will far exceed the reasonable costs of the project."
"(Logan) pretty much stated what we have been saying all along in this letter," said Defiance County Commissioner Tom Kime.
Logan's decision will be recorded into the record at a public hearing scheduled for July 16 at 1:15 p.m. at the Defiance County EMA building in Brunersburg.
The project engineer -- Defiance County Engineer Warren Schlatter -- said that hearing could decide when the estimated $747,000 project is bid.
There are also several pending appeals of proposed property assessments covering the project cost. Schlatter said the appeals object to the assessments or the accuracy of drainage calculations.
According to Schlatter, it's not certain when these will be heard, but all appeals must be addressed individually, he explained.
The project will remove logjams, sandbars and leaning trees in Lick Creek from U.S. 6 in Williams County south to Prairie Creek in Defiance County, just before it joins the Tiffin River. It also includes Little Lick Creek from Williams Center to Lick Creek in Ney.
Supporters first requested county officials to make those improvements some years ago. But a larger proposed project that would have extended north of Bryan was defeated last year, promoting supporters to petition county commissioners for a smaller one.
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