By Perry Schaible
Enquirer contributor

LEBANON - Warren County commissioners gave the Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities approval for a $2.1 million expansion project Tuesday - but only after a long, sometimes heated, discussion.

The renovations are necessary to accommodate the increased demand for MRDD services in Ohio's second-fastest-growing county, Superintendent John Lazares said.

The MRDD board, which serves about 1,000 people a year, is funded with a 2002 levy.

"This will be good because we're overcrowded," Lazares said of the organization's Columbus Avenue facility.

Renovations will be made to the Urbancrest building, an old Lebanon church leased to MRDD by the commissioners.

"There are no frills, it's just basic," Lazares said.

The project will include a habilitation center for severely handicapped individuals who cannot tend to themselves, as well as space for early intervention and therapy programs.

The expansion was received skeptically by Commissioners Larry Crisenbery and C. Michael Kilburn in May.

Crisenbery said he had been misinformed about portions of the project.

He said the commissioners wanted the MRDD to keep the gymnasium in the building, but Lazares said there was no need for it.

"In my own mind, it's a good decision, it's a fair one and it's a good use of the taxpayers' dollars," Crisenbery said.

Project completion is expected in early 2005.