CHAMPION Trumbull engineer, developer settle construction dispute

A commissioner says the project now can move forward.
WARREN -- The Trumbull County engineer and a developer have worked out their differences at a Champion Township home construction site.
Engineer John Latell and staff had been accused earlier this month by Dr. Martin Ellis, a Cortland optometrist and a principal owner of Cross Creek Development, of holding back the housing venture.
Latell and his staff, however, said they needed to be sure the high-priced homes to be built wouldn't be flooded out in a major storm.
The parties met Feb. 10 at a session brokered by Commissioner Daniel Polivka. Approval by commissioners today of Cross Creek Plat No. 2 Drainage District will allow the developer to move forward on the project, Polivka said.
Dwellings
Cross Creek Phase II would be 16 dwellings on 15 acres valued at more than $200,000 each; 10 homes were built in Phase I. There will be four phases total. The site is 55 total acres off state Route 45 (north of St. William Church), near state Route 305.
The county engineer had three key concerns: the elevation of the site in relation to the adjacent 100-year flood plain; the effectiveness of a detention pond and its relationship to Young's Run Creek; and how water would escape if it surcharged out of catch basins in the roadway.
The developer maintained that all of the elevations for homes are 5 feet above where any flooding could occur, that an area along the creek is set aside for drainage conservation and that the difference between the county's numbers for water level and the developer's differed by inches.