By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - For the second time in a month, Warren County commissioners by a majority vote have refused to expand two water treatment plants.

Restricting sewers and zoning are the only ways commissioners legally can clamp down on residential development.

"We don't want to turn Warren County into Cincinnati," Commissioner Mike Kilburn said. "I carried that last message in my last campaign and got 72 percent of the vote. ... We can't let everyone in or we'll give the store away."

But Dick Renneker, the county's sanitary engineer, appeared before the commission again this week to urge them to expand the Deerfield-Hamilton Township Water Treatment Plant and the Little Miami Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The plants are nearing capacity, he warned, so officials should start selecting an engineering firm for the project and proceed with receiving state and other approvals - processes that take about two years.

Warren County, the second-fastest-growing county in the state, grew 39 percent in the 1990s and now has more than 172,000 residents. The growth is so rampant commissioners are advocating an impact fee on new homes for schools and maybe roads.

Though Kilburn and Commissioner Larry Crisenbery again turned down Renneker, Commissioner Pat South voted yes.

She said she is growing alarmed at Crisenbery and Kilburn's "totalitarian approach" to growth. Not expanding the water treatment plants now, she added, may prevent service to homes already slated to come and possibly keep the county from attracting businesses.

It also could mark the return of water bans, which South recalled often occurred when she and Crisenbery were elected a decade ago.

But Kilburn notes the county has spent more than $50 million to upgrade water and sewer infrastructure and has more water capacity than any community in Ohio.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com