Land acquisition for flood basin continues

Land acquisition for the proposed $70 million Eagle Creek basin continues, even though no decision has been made by the court that oversees the Maumee Watershed Conservancy District to allow its construction. The conservancy district court voted earlier this month to delay a decision on whether to include the basin in the district's "work plan" in order to allow for public input. A public hearing on the project will be held at 6:30 p.m. June 28 at the Old Mill Stream Centre, 1017 E. Sandusky St., on the Hancock County Fairgrounds. The court is expected to reconvene July 9 to consider modifying the work plan. The 15-judge panel, which oversees operations of the conservancy district, includes a common pleas judge from each of the counties encompassed by the watershed, including: Allen, Auglaize, Defiance, Fulton, Hancock, Hardin, Henry, Lucas, Mercer, Paulding, Putnam, Shelby, Van Wert, Williams and Wood counties. Common Pleas Judge Reginald Routson represents Hancock County on the conservancy court. Planning for the basin has continued, including a preliminary study of the project by Stantec engineering, despite questions by the court challenging the conservancy district's authority to purchase property for a project not included in its work plan. At the May 7 annual meeting of the court, district officials came ready to argue the point. In March, the conservancy district board hired attorney John Hoopingarner to make its case at a rate of $175 per hour. Hoopingarner served as chief legal counsel for the Muskingum Watershed for 10 years, from 1979-89, and as executive director of the watershed for 11 years, from 1989 to 2020. He now works with the law firm McMahon DeGullis, LLP, Cleveland. Hoopingarner told the court that the early land purchases are not out of the ordinary for conservancy districts, as they work to develop a project plan for their court's approval. So far, the conservancy district has purchased 416.8 acres in Eagle Township at a cost of $27,000 per acre — a total of $11.25 million. Money to pay for the property was taken from a $15 million grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Another $15 million was awarded to the project by the state of Ohio, as part of the capital budget, in December. According to the conservancy district, there are another 252.8 acres "under written contract" with the Blanchard River Watershed Solutions Group, and talks are underway with other landowners in the area for the balance of the property needed for the basin. The basin could range in size from 600 to 800 acres. By comparison, Findlay's reservoirs in Marion Township combined are about 831 acres, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The basin will remain dry when not in use, and the area will likely be used for outdoor recreation. Acreage already owned by the conservancy district is still being farmed by the previous owners under a lease agreement, with the farmers keeping the proceeds. The arrangement eliminates any expense for the conservancy to maintain the ground. Clark Lynn Army, general manager of the conservancy district, said the district's board has not been involved with the land negotiations. The Blanchard River Watershed Solutions group, an Ohio nonprofit corporation representing 42 area businesses, has been doing the negotiating. The solutions group's board of directors includes David Blatnik, Thomas Lause, Kathleen Cindric, Richard Kirk, Jerame Kent and Tim Mayle. The solutions group was organized in August 2017 and is a registered nonprofit with the state of Ohio. On the registration, the group states its purpose as promoting "education, understanding and public awareness of the issues surrounding the Blanchard River watershed." As a private entity, it is not subject to Ohio's open meetings or public records laws. The solutions group's involvement in the land negotiations predates the conservancy district board's vote to include the basin in its scope of work. In September 2018, the board abandoned an earlier recommendation by Stantec to build three large floodwater storage basins in southern Hancock County. The conservancy district board said the plan was too expensive and lacked public support. A series of public hearings held on the three-basin proposal was heavily attended by those opposed to the project. The solutions group signed a purchase agreement with former Hancock County Commissioner Steve Oman on Dec. 10, 2018, setting the purchase price of his 264.329-acre farm at $27,000 an acre, for a total of $7,137,000. That amount was upheld by subsequent appraisals of the property, along with three others, conducted in May and October 2019. Those appraisals were then submitted to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, as an administrator of the state grants, and accepted. Oman was once a vocal opponent of flood control in Findlay, arguing in favor of only cleaning the river and preserving the farmland. On Wednesday, Mayle, speaking on behalf of the solutions group, said in 2018 "it was unclear who would ultimately undertake the Eagle Creek storage basin project — the State of Ohio, Maumee Watershed Conservancy District, City of Findlay, or Hancock County. "In addition, when BRWS (the solutions group) entered into the agreement, there were no funds available to purchase the land and the real purchase agreements were expressly contingent on state funding," Mayle said. On Dec. 10, 2019, exactly a year to the day after the solutions group signed the purchase agreement with Oman, the three-member board of directors for the conservancy district voted unanimously to take the grant money, purchase the ground and seek its court's approval for the project. During that meeting, the board only acknowledged that "landowners in the basin footprint seem agreeable to sell needed land," according to the board's meeting minutes. It wasn't until January 2020, when the Hancock County auditor recorded the sales — with the sales price withheld — that the public learned that about half the land needed for the basin had been purchased. Conservancy district officials refused to disclose the per-acre purchase price, citing executive privilege due to ongoing land negotiations. It wasn't until earlier this month that The Courier was able to verify that the land was purchased at $27,000 an acre. Mayle, who is director of Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development, said the additional 252.8 acres are under contract, but have not yet been assigned to any entity. The conservancy district board has been cautioned by its own legal counsel against buying more land for the basin until its dispute with the court is settled. The meeting scheduled for June 28 is the first public hearing held on the single-basin proposal. Earlier this month, Hancock United for a Better Blanchard, or HUBB, spokesmen Steven W. Cramer and Gary Wilson issued a statement that the group's views on the proposed basin have been "skillfully misrepresented" by the Blanchard River Watershed Solutions Group and that it is opposed to the basin. The letter does not state exactly how HUBB's views have been misrepresented. HUBB is a group that includes about 100 members, mainly rural landowners in Hancock and Putnam counties, "that would be impacted by projects to control flooding in the city of Findlay." The group favors projects that are not invasive to county property. Grant: 419-427-8412