BY ALLEN HOWARD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ANDERSON TOWNSHIP - Seven years of work on hillside regulations slid by the wayside here Thursday night.
The township board of trustees voted to kill regulations developed by the department of development services and start the process over. Russ Jackson, president of the board, said they followed a recommendation by the township zoning commission to reject the regulations.
The regulations were opposed by home builders, developers and residents who objected to the restrictions on developing hillsides. Once regulations were drafted in 1994, it took three years to design maps of the many hillside slopes to present to the public. In the middle of the dispute is an agreement with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which gave the township $1 million in 1996 to correct a hillside slippage problem with the stipulation that the township develop regulations to control further development.
The money was given to correct a problem in Lawyer's Pointe, an area with houses ranging well over $100,000. During a hillside slippage in 1996, several houses slid off their foundations.
FEMA did not put a time line on the township to develop the regulations, but it is questionable whether the township would get the same assistance should the problem occur again.
"The situation would be reviewed again as to its disaster status," said Linda Sacia, public affairs officer in FEMA's Chicago office. "We would have to look at giving money to fix something and whether anything has been done to prevent it from happening again."
Greg Keller, public assistance officer for the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, said each disaster is evaluated as to its needs. "Chances are if the same thing happened before the regulations are in place, our office might decide to give them more money," Mr. Keller said. "When we gave them the money we knew the process had started to develop the regulations and we didn't put any time line on it."
Though in seven years, the regulations did not get adopted, Caden Dacey, director of the township's Development Services, thinks rewriting them will be much quicker.
"My office will redraft the regulations with more input from the public," she said.
Ms. Dacey said she has recommended a diverse steering committee to review the regulations. The committee would include homebuilders, developers, property owners intending to develop, Realtors, township residents, geotechnical engineers, residents who experienced stormwater or erosion problems, township trustee and zoning commission members.
One staunch opponent of the regulations thinks a fresh start may have some merits, although James Hassan, who owns property on a hillside is still skeptical. Mr. Hassan of 8210 State Route 32 also owns a 42-acre farm he wants developed.
"The original regulations simply said we will solve the hillside problem by not letting you develop the land," Mr. Hassan said. He objected to sections of the regulations which allowed for only 15 to 30 percent of some land to be developed and the remaining 85 to 70 percent being preserved as greenspace.
"That is like taking your land away from you," he said.
A major problem in hillside development is balance; allowing development on slope areas and leaving enough permanent greenspace to help prevent slippage.
Geotechnical engineers have determined that much of the hillside areas contain a cope soil which, when exposed to development, can become slippery.
"Greenspace is going to be very important in developing these regulations," Ms. Sacia said. "Developers need to take a hard look at this. FEMA can't keep giving money if regulations are not adequate to prevent the same thing from happening as it did in Lawyer's Pointe."
