Fate of historic Northeast Ohio village rests on leaky levee

Associated Press

ZOAR, Ohio

Preservationists warn that buildings nearly two centuries old at an eastern Ohio village founded by religious separatists could be lost as part of the solution to the longtime problem of a leaking levee.

The “Save Historic Zoar” campaign says options include moving the town, razing it or fixing the roughly 75-year-old levee protecting Zoar, a Tuscarawas County settlement on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Repository newspaper of Canton reports the price tag for repairs was estimated five years ago at up to $130 million.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is studying what to do about the levee and met this month with Zoar residents. An official with the Corps says the agency is in the very early stages of an analysis that could stretch into 2013.