CHAMPION State agency objects to off-lot septic plans

The new septic systems will be better than the ones already in the ground, a Trumbull official said.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
CHAMPION -- The Ohio EPA is threatening to fight a decision by the Trumbull County Board of Health to allow treated septic waste from a new housing development to flow into a storm ditch.
Last month, the county board of health gave developer Jerre Hentosh a permit to use off-lot septic systems on five duplexes he is building on parcels off state Route 305 that are too small for on-lot systems.
The decision came after months of wrangling between Hentosh and the board of health, and after a compromise proposal, to increase the depth of each lot, was rejected by the Trumbull County Planning Commission.
"It is the position of the Ohio EPA that the Trumbull County Board of Health's approvals of the off-lot disposal systems represent violations of Ohio Revised Code ... and Ohio Administrative Code," said a letter to board of health members from Lisa J. Morris, chief of the surface water division of Ohio EPA.
Fluid from the off-lot system at the duplex development, on the south side of State Route 305, would run into an Ohio Department of Transportation storm ditch that dumps into Chocolate Run.
"A lot of the time, with off-lot septic systems, the raw sewage just flows into a ditch, then gets into waterways," said Kara Allison, a spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA.
EPA's stance
The agency opposes off-lot septic systems except where soil conditions would make an on-lot system impossible.
She said she did not know what enforcement action the EPA could take if its investigation finds that the health department acted improperly.
"We don't object to him building homes," said Ronald Reese, one of 10 neighborhood residents who filed complaints about the project with the EPA. "It is building so many duplexes, and running the sewage into a ditch."
The area already has septic problems. Homes in the area have off-lot septic systems, and some of the systems are failing, said Frank Migliozzi, the health department's director of environmental health.
"We have already been out there and seen raw sewage in the ditch," he said.
The new systems to be installed by Hentosh are less likely to fail than 30-year-old systems already in the ground, Migliozzi said. New off-lot systems are also subject to monitoring by the health department, unlike systems installed before 1997.
"We have people who are unhappy we are building duplex buildings out here, but we are in compliance with the law," Hentosh said.
Neighbors see it differently.
"It is not the most desirable area already, with what is already here, and they are allowing him to make even more of a nuisance," said Denise O'Shaughnessy, who lives across the street from Hentosh's development. "It is a huge health concern in this area."
siff@vindy.com