Battle against plant continues

By Gina DiMario
Staff Reporter

Members of the Miamiville Civic Association Inc. and other concerned residents were not satisfied
with the results of an open meeting Oct. 23 with Clermont County commissioners and other county
officials about a proposed Miamiville area sewage treatment plant.
The commissioners filed an application with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for a new
wastewater collection and treatment system, but a permit has not been issued. Commissioners say
a location for the plant will be explored in depth and a decision made only after a permit is issued.
Residents don't believe that.
Bob Mackey, member of the Wastewater Treatment Plant Committee of the Miamiville Civic Association,
said the commissioners "have been evasive."
 

Questions about sites, costs, tax dollars, zoning, health issues and pollution were asked of Yeager
and the other officials. Commissioners were asked to seek other locations for the project and other
options be explored for the current failing systems, including fixing them.
Susan Hardin, Miamiville, said she owns about three quarters of an acre, which is large for the area,
and she had a study done to provide her with options to replace the current system.
"Because of the size of the lot I only had two options, and each would cost about $20,000," Hardin said. 
"Options are very limited."
All decisions will be driven by the environmental process, Yeager said.
"We are looking at the needs for a tremendously growing county across the board," Yeager said. "Some of
the things that make this area very beautiful also make it more difficult."
"We enjoy ... not having a high density here," said Marie Brown, member of the association's Wastewater
Treatment Plant Committee.
Residents don't want the area to be "destroyed by the sights, sounds, smells of a wastewater facility,"
she said.
In urging residents to pursue their fight against the plant, Mackey said the OEPA is the organization
to battle.
"I feel the OEPA is responsible," Mackey said. "The buck stops there."
Clermont County Commissioner Mary Walker said some of the residents do not see the big picture.
"People here have established a true identity with this area," Walker said. "They are resisting being
part of the bigger picture. The bottom line is health (for the entire county)."
"We're not going to have this thing in Miamiville," Mackey said.

Published: Oct. 29, 2003