DELAWARE — The Delaware County commissioners dismissed a drainage petition for the Daventry Park neighborhood in Powell after hearing from dozens of residents opposed to the project on Monday.
Commissioners received 30 written letters opposing the petition and heard testimony from four Daventry Park homeowners. No one spoke in support.
The Daventry Park Association, the homeowner’s association of the neighborhood, submitted a drainage petition in September 2022, seeking county assistance to inspect and maintain the neighborhood’s nearly 30-year-old stormwater system.
Drainage petitions allow landowners to request that county officials take over maintenance and make improvements to drainage infrastructure on private property. However, project costs are still paid by the property owners.
At the time, HOA leaders said they believed the program would benefit the community.
“Our three-member board of directors at that time, including myself, were pleased that the petition process would move to the next step, and that our property owners could look forward to the benefits then offered by the program” said Fred Leeder, a Daventry Park resident and HOA member.
“We then realized that the cost and benefits were no longer the same as for the program we had petitioned for four years earlier.”
Leeder said he and other homeowners were unaware the work would require removing a significant number of trees to access infrastructure and relocating a portion of storm pipe before maintenance could begin.
Speaking on behalf of the HOA, he said the potential damage to properties, negative impact on home values and loss of trees ultimately made the project undesirable.
“The board of directors is convinced that we can better manage the future maintenance and repair costs by way of reserve funds assessed to all members, without the widespread damage to the communities’ aesthetics and property values,” Leeder said.
Homeowner Theresa Forrest said the project would require removing 22 trees from her backyard.
“The cost to me would be my entire privacy line would be destroyed and my backyard would be destroyed,” Forrest said. “One of the reasons I bought the home was because of the privacy.”
After hearing the testimony, commissioners unanimously voted to dismiss the petition, saying it was no longer in the best interest of the homeowners.
Project background
The Daventry Park Association filed the drainage petition on Sept. 6, 2022, requesting that the county engineer and Delaware County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) take over maintenance of the neighborhood’s stormwater system.
The process required commissioners to view the site, hold a preliminary hearing and then make a final decision.
Commissioners viewed the proposed petition in December 2022 and held a preliminary hearing to consider feasibility and benefits in March 2023. At that time, they supported moving forward with further evaluation from the SWCD.
During that review, the SWCD found the system itself to be in good condition. However, officials determined that a significant number of trees would need to be removed to access the infrastructure, and a portion of storm pipe located beneath a patio and pool would need to be relocated before any maintenance could begin.
The SWCD estimated that work would cost more than $155,000, which would be divided equally among the 63 properties in the subdivision at a cost of $2,470.45 per property.
Liberty Lakes petition approved
Prior to the Daventry Park petition hearing, commissioners considered a similar drainage petition for the Liberty Lakes neighborhood in Powell.
That petition was approved after hearing no testimony from homeowners, and officials determined the system was already in good condition and did not require major work.
Bret Bacon, deputy administrator for the Delaware County SWCD, said no tree removal or infrastructure relocation would be needed before entering the maintenance program.
With the petition approved, the SWCD will begin annual assessments in January 2027. The cost will be added to homeowners’ property tax bills and calculated based on the value of each property.
The 0.3-mill assessment equals about $30 per year for every $100,000 of property value.
