May 6, 2004

Township plan addresses zoning in Village wellfield

The Miami Township Zoning Commission received support from two local residents at a public hearing, April 29, for the board’s proposed wellfield zoning plan.

The zoning board will finalize the 11-page plan to regulate potential pollutants in the wellfield and consider the public comments and recommendations from the Greene County Regional Planning Commission at a special meeting on Wednesday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m., at the Township offices.

The zoning plan would regulate activity within the one-year time-of-travel boundary of the Village wellfield, which supplies Yellow Springs with drinking water. Though the wellfield provides water to Yellow Springs, it is located in parts of Miami, Cedarville and Xenia Townships. Addressing potential threats to the water supply is one of the protection strategies contained in the Village’s Wellhead Protection Plan, which Village Council approved in 2001.

The new Township zoning regulations would work independently of the underlying zoning district, currently agriculture, but the zones would complement each other to protect the public water supply. The Township’s zoning plan addresses what is called the one-year time-of-travel zone. Water in this area takes up to one year to reach the Village well. The Township’s plan does not address zoning within the five-year time-of-travel zone, nor does it cover issues within Xenia and Cedarville Townships.

The overlay plan would prohibit junkyards, sanitary landfills and commercial quarries and gravel pits in the district. Existing regulated substances, including known hazardous chemicals, petroleum and petroleum derivatives, would be permitted on condition of notice to Township authorities and use of best management practices. The use, storage, handling or production of regulated substances cannot exceed 50 gallons, or 400 pounds, at any given time, or 100 gallons in a 12-month period.

Though the new regulations address hazardous chemicals, exceptions would allow agricultural, lawn care and animal maintenance chemicals to be regulated by existing federal environmental and state agricultural standards.

The plan calls existing underground storage tanks for hazardous chemicals “a dangerous nuisance” and would require that they be secondarily contained according to the Ohio Administrative Code. New tanks for regulated substances would be prohibited, but new and existing storage tanks for vehicle and equipment fuel or lubricants would be permitted in the district as long as they comply with state standards.

Agricultural activity would continue to be permitted in the overlay district, but chemicals and operations must be applied in accordance with best management practices. Property owners would be legally and financially liable for any spills or leaks that occur within the district, and unremediated discharge would have to be reported to the Miami Township fire department within 30 minutes, the zoning plan states.

The Greene County Regional Planning Commission reviewed the zoning plan draft and recommended that the Zoning Commission make several minor revisions. Greene County suggested that the plan include a broad statement indicating any land use, other than what the current agriculture district permits, that threatens public safety would be prohibited.

The planning commission also recommended that the plan be more specific about the list of prohibited and conditional uses and less detailed about particular substances exempt from compliance.

Dave Case, who is chairman of the Township Board of Zoning Appeals and who served on the Village Wellhead Protection Commission, questioned whether Cedarville and Xenia Townships had protection plans for their portion of the wellfield or could subscribe to Miami Township’s plan. The other townships are creating their own zoning overlay plan suited for the higher level of development in those areas, said zoning board member Scott Hammond, who also served on the wellhead commission and whose father, Robert Hammond, owns property within the overlay zoning district.

Bruce Rickenbach, chair of the Village Planning Commission, praised the zoning board for what he called its “responsible leadership” in drafting a plan that responds to the needs of Township residents.

Zoning board members acknowledged that the plan is in a simplified form but they said that it provides a foundation to address the area’s present needs. The plan can be revised over time, but it creates a baseline standard now to guide potential future growth, said zoning board member Bonnie Hoagland, who also served on the former wellhead commission.

The zoning board plans to finalize the overlay plan next week and make a recommendation to the Miami Township trustees at the Zoning Commission’s regular meeting on May 27. The trustees will then hold another public hearing before voting on the resolution.

—Lauren Heaton