HAMILTON TWP. — A year ago today, residents in parts of Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties awoke to the devastation caused by at least 5 inches of rain — a storm of such magnitude that it's predicted to occur here once every 300 to 500 years.

        It left three people dead and caused well over $10 million in damage — much of it to businesses near the Mill Creek in Hamilton County, long a flood-prone area.

John and Kim Mays of Mason stand in a dry creek bed in their back yard. Last year, the trickle was a torrent. They have filed suit against the city to keep stormwater off their property. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        But in southwestern Warren County, the rain was the exclamation point to growing flooding problems as houses continue to be erected at a rate of more than three a day.

        “There's no doubt when you do development that there is more (runoff) water,” says Dan Corey, an assistant Warren County engineer.

        Even the recent dry spell has not erased the ugly memories of July 17-18, 2001, and homeowners in Deerfield and Hamilton townships and Mason — some of the fastest-growing communities in Ohio — are demanding solutions. Local governments are slowly beginning to explore how to fix existing problems and prevent future ones.

Cross Creek

        Cross Creek was developed eight years ago, at the beginning of Hamilton Township's growth spurt. Lisa and Scott Shafer built their house in the subdivision, along a trickle of a creek.

        The trickle, however, has begun turning into a raging creek with every rain, they and their neighbors say.

        The Shafers have lost at least three feet of their back yard and they fear for the safety of neighborhood kids who often cross the creek and hunt for frogs in it.

1,198 MORE ROOFS

Despite concerns about the relationship between flooding and development, residential construction has continued unabated in southwestern Warren County. Since Aug. 1, 2001, Mason has issued 322 permits for new single-family homes, and Warren County has issued 284 permits in Deerfield Township and 592 in Hamilton Township.     Sources: City of Mason; Warren County Building and Zoning Department

        “Any child that would get caught up in (the creek) would get swept away and drowned,” Mrs. Shafer says.

        Cross Creek residents date the problem to the start of construction at Regency Park, a 300-acre subdivision expected to hold 871 homes.

        “The more construction they do, the worse it gets,” says Scott Voris, another Cross Creek homeowner who's losing land. “If I had $5,000 I'd probably run out and fix it myself, but it's not my problem.”

        That's a common assumption of those dealing with sudden increases in stormwater from upstream, but it may not be true.

        State law requires downstream property owners “to receive the stormwater in a reasonable manner,” Mr. Corey says.

        “I've got to take the stormwater somewhere,” he adds. “Where do you want me to take it? It's got to go through someone's back yard.”

        Part of the problem may be that homes are being built too close to harmless-looking creeks such as that at Cross Creek, he says.

        A new county-sponsored study of the Bear Run watershed — a look at water drainage patterns in Hamilton Township — notes that the area's floodplain map is based on 20-year-old information. A severe storm today would produce more than twice as much runoff as the same storm would have produced then, the study says. That's because roofs and driveways and roads don't absorb water, unlike the fields that preceded them.

        The engineer's office is using the study to make new demands of developers. The office also is recommending updates to Warren's stormwater regulations:

        Increasing the estimates of how much rain falls in given situations, which would then require developers to control more water. Developers use man-made ponds to hold some rain back in heavy storms, gradually releasing it downstream later.

        “Hopefully with new subdivisions, it would result in less flooding,” both in the new development and downstream, County Engineer Neil Tunison says.

        Ensuring that floodways are left as designed. Often developers will plan depressions to handle stormwater overflow, as required, Mr. Tunison says, but homeowners who don't understand the purpose come along later and fill them in.

        “We're finding that that's a cause of a lot of the problems we're having,” Mr. Tunison says.

        Warren's Regional Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the recommendations in October, after which they must go to the county commissioners for adoption.

Kings Mills

        The city of Mason is focusing more on correcting existing runoff problems.

        In November, it created a stormwater utility that collects fees from property owners to tackle a list of trouble spots 90 strong. So far, the city has amassed $697,000 to put toward an estimated $8 million in needed fixes, says Kathy Dorman, Mason's stormwater engineer.

        More than halfway down on the list is a “drainage problem” on Kim and John Mays' property. The problem is that city storm drains dump runoff into a pond next to the Mays' 54-year-old house on Kings Mills Road. Stormwater carries cans, motor oil and other litter into the pond and has eroded the banks, raising the water level to within five feet of the house during heavy rains, the couple says.

        “This is a beautiful piece of property that's being ruined,” Mrs. Mays said. “It just kills us to look at this mess back here.”

        The torrent of water that comes out of the stormwater pipe — less than half a mile from Mason Heights Elementary — also could be a danger to children, she says.

        Moreover, the top part of the dam that holds the pond broke last July 17, Mrs. Mays says. Pond overflow runs into Muddy Creek, at the bottom of a steep hillside behind the pond. If the dam were removed, Mr. Mays says, the pond bank that helps support the house would likely collapse. He brought in tons of dirt to rebuild the dam.

        Runoff is a longtime problem on the property, but the couple says it got worse four years ago when a nearby subdivision was tied into the drain system. City Engineer Richard Fair can say only that the Public Works Department did some maintenance on the south side of Kings Mills. Some stormwater drains in the area don't appear on city maps, Mr. Fair says, so he isn't sure when they were installed or where they direct water.

        Mr. and Mrs. Mays sued the city in November, after several years of asking the city to correct the problem. Even though they're on the city's project list, Mr. Fair told them it'd take a few years to get to their property.

        “We can't wait,” Mrs. Mays says.

        The city prioritized the projects according to how much risk each posed to life, property and jobs, Mr. Fair says. Top-priority projects include a flood-prone parking lot at Paramount's Kings Island and floodplain erosion in the Villages of Winding Creek and Villages of Wood Creek subdivisions.

Tanager Hills

        Neighboring Deerfield Township also wants to create a stormwater utility to address widespread runoff problems, but it needs Warren County's approval to do so. The township is surveying residents to gauge support for a stormwater fee.

        Count Montgomery resident Joel Ivers among those who'd be happy to see Deerfield do more to address runoff. Last July 17, he lost his back yard to Polk Run near where 16-year-old Monica Kuchmar lost her life in the flooded creek.

        Mr. Ivers and two other neighbors each spent more than $50,000 overhauling flooded basements and replacing landscaping, he says, not to mention the $400,000 the Metropolitan Sewer District spent rebuilding and stabilizing the bank.

        Mr. Ivers blames development in Deerfield and Mason, where Polk Run begins, for the surge in water . He has lived on Tanager Hills for a dozen years and even average rains are now swelling the creek like never before, he says.

        U.S. Rep. Rob Portman, R-Terrace Park, is working with Montgomery and other communities in the Polk Run Watershed to get the Army Corps of Engineers to study the watershed.

        “There's just inadequate planning for where all the stormwater goes,” says Mr. Ivers, who just volunteered as chairman of another Montgomery committee related to runoff issues. “This is a story that will continue.”

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