Leavittsburg Dam backer targets company

Warren Township trustee questions firm assigned to do removal

WARREN -- Critics of the effort to remove the Leavittsburg Dam asked Trumbull County commissioners to review what happened to a similar project in which a low-head dam removed in Tuscarawas County damaged a nearby road and cost the county more than a million dollars to repair.

Warren Township Trustee Kay Anderson last week presented the Trumbull County commissioners copies of news articles that outlined the 2020 dam removal project that led to Tuscarawas County having to repair Waterworks Hill Road, located south of Uhrichsville Road.

Warren Township residents are concerned that a local dam removal will damage township roads.

Two of the firms that worked on the Tuscarawas dam removal are working on the planned removal of the Leavittsburg low-head dam.

Anderson noted it took Tuscarawas County more than 2.5 years to repair and reopen Waterworks Hill Road because it was damaged by soil erosion, which was a result of the removal of the Uhrichsville Dam in Stillwater Creek.

Tuscarawas commissioners in August 2021 filed a civil suit against Twin City Water & Sewer District, Akron Building and Outdoor Maintenance Inc., dba, River Reach Construction, and Enviroscience Inc. for the damage, stating it knew or should have known of the risk of slope failures resulting from bank destabilization, according to Tuscarawas Common Pleas Court records.

One day after the dam was removed on Oct. 28, 2020, there was a 4- to 5-foot drop in the water surface in Stillwater Creek, which is located next to the road, according to the lawsuit. Slope failures resulted in large cracks and breaking apart of sections of the surface.

By early November, the creek was 2 to 3 feet lower, which caused rapid destabilization and accelerated erosion that resulted in severe and extensive damage to multiple locations of Tuscarawas County Road 37, according to the lawsuit.

The cost to repair the road was estimated by the county in 2021 to be greater than $1 million, according to the lawsuit. The suit was settled in December 2022.

Under the terms of the settlement, Enviroscience Inc., the engineer of the project, paid Tuscarawas County $620,000; RiverReach Construction, the contractor, paid $275,000; and Twin City Water & Sewer District paid $5,000.

RiverReach is a Barberton-based company that specializes in stream & river restoration, dam removals and environmental remediation.

A spokesperson for RiverReach said they did not have a comment on the lawsuit or the Trumbull project at this time.

RiverReach Construction and Enviroscience were hired to be a part of the design-build team for the removal of the Leavittsburg Dam removal.

Zachary Svette, executive director of the Trumbull MetroParks Board, which owns the dam, said RiverReach was hired by the board through a bidding process to lead its design-build team for the $3.2 million dam removal project. RiverReach so far has been paid $640,000.

Svette was unaware of the civil lawsuit filed by Tuscarawas County when RiverReach was hired to do the low-head dam removal.

However, Svette said what is being done in Trumbull County to remove the Leavittsburg dam likely is "comparing apples to oranges" to what occurred in Tuscarawas County.

The Trumbull MetroParks Board has from the earliest stages of this project worked to consider the impact of the dam removal to nearby roads and facilities on the river, according to Zvette.

"It is part of the planning," he noted. "We are working on how best to do the project and protect the infrastructure (roads, buildings) surrounding the banks of the river.

"We have a third-party engineer monitoring what is being done," Svette said. "We are confident about hiring RiverReach and the work already done."

Trumbull County Commissioner Niki Frenchko told Anderson that it is unfortunate that certain boards and agencies only focus on their narrow interests, but fail to consider the implication of their actions on the greater community.

"You, as a trustee, you're seeing all of the negative implications that affect your community," she said.

When questioned whether she presented the information about what occurred in Tuscarawas County to Trumbull's MetroPark Board, Anderson said she had not.

Debbie Roth, a Warren Township community activist, expressed concern that the elimination of the Leavittsburg dam could lead to damage of North Leavitt Road and West Market Street. Damage to those roads would affect how both the township police and fire departments service the area as it would increase response times for both agencies, she said.

"I do not know if the MetroParks (board) has done its due diligence," Roth said. "I think it is very irresponsible. This dam removal should not even be considered."

Commissioner Denny Malloy suggested the MetroParks Board agree to pause whatever they can while an independent study is being conducted by DLZ Engineering Firm. The Trumbull County commissioners recently agreed to pay up to $30,000 to have the new study conducted. Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith also agreed to provide up to $10,000 for the study.

"We're going to let the study happen and review the facts," Malloy said. "We are going to work together."

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa emphasized that the meeting in which the commissioners agreed to help finance the study has brought all sides of this issue moving in the same direction.

"We are further along than we ever have been," Cantalamessa said. "We are cautiously optimistic."

However, Svette, in an April 19 letter to Warren Township Trustee Ryan Yoho, noted the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which is funding the project, said they could not delay the project.

"With that in mind, we ask that you expedite the study that your office and others are undertaking so that ample time can be given to our project team to review," Svette wrote.

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