Commissioners meet with Aqua, developers

On Feb. 20, the Lawrence County commissioners had a special meeting with the water company Aqua and developers who are trying to get water to their planned development of 18 tiny houses in Chesapeake.

The issue at hand is whether or not the water tap that goes to the property, which used to be the site of the Pulley Nursing Home, is good enough to get water to those houses.

Because it was a special meeting, the only item on the agenda was the water issue.

Commissioner DeAnna Holliday said the commissioners and the public were very supportive of the housing development.

Developers Stephen and Matt Mann joined the meeting by phone.

Dan Dunn, Aqua’s area manager, said the issue was that the main water tap to the property is not up to state standards, which is set by Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. He said that the cost of the main water tap is to be paid by the property owner, rather than the company, which has to pass the costs on to existing customers.

Commissioner Mike Finley asked if there wasn’t a tap already there, because the property was sold with one.

“That tap is in bad shape, commissioner,” Dunn said.

“I know, but it is a tap, isn’t it?” Finley asked.

Dunn said the tap has been disconnected from the main.

Matt Mann said the tap has not been disconnected.

“It is in service,” he said.

“We will not reuse that tap, that tap is in bad shape,” Dunn said.

Holliday said the county land bank sold the property, and she was the president of the land bank at that time, and it had a water tap on it.

“It was sold with that understanding, we had that understanding,” she said. “We don’t understand why that tap was disconnected. We didn’t request that and, to our knowledge, we got no correspondence that would have let us know you were disconnecting our tap.”

Dunn said the tap would have been disconnected when the nursing home was demolished in 2019 and that the tap that was put in 1971 is no longer good.

“I would say that it’s the same age as a lot of taps in that area,” Commissioner Colton Copley said.

Dunn said those are still in use, but since this was a new development, they would ask for a new tap.

Stephen Mann said that when they bought the property, they did check and they were told by an Aqua representative that all they needed was a meter. He said Aqua’s requirements are pushing the project cost up by $200,000. 

Copley said that, in general, the commissioners are seeking clarity on this issue for future development and that they normally don’t have meetings like this one.

“We, as the commissioners, sold this property through the land bank with a tap on the property and we are sitting here today because of that,” he said. “We feel that we bear some responsibility. That’s why we are having this conversation.”

He said he didn’t want Aqua to think that the commissioners were coming for the company for this specific developer.

Dunn said he understood.

Dunn said he would talk with the engineers and the operating group and see if there “was some way to meet in the middle.”

Holliday said it was going be a beautiful housing development.

“The layout and the design is very attractive,” she said. “It’s very pleasing aesthetically and it is going to provide opportunities for small families or single parents.”