Lucas County approves petitioning engineer to advance Big Coulee Ditch improvement design

The Lucas County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to find that the Big Coulee Ditch improvement petition meets the requirements to proceed with design and to direct the county engineer to conduct surveys, prepare plans, maps and profiles, and calculate estimated assessments for the project. The petition is listed as Petition No. 1095 from Jerusalem Township.

The vote follows a first hearing at which County Engineer Panuski described the project as a roughly 1.2-mile riparian renovation of Big Coulee Ditch intended to stabilize banks and reduce the frequency and extent of water backing up onto adjacent lands. Panuski told commissioners the construction phase will be paid by an H2Ohio grant totaling $913,000; the county published a legal notice in the Toledo Legal News in January 2025 to satisfy Ohio Revised Code requirements for the petition hearing.

Panuski said the planned channel will be constructed as an over-wide, two-stage section. The work described includes lowering the channel bottom, providing stabilized side slopes (flared from about 1:1 to roughly 2.5:1), a roughly 10-foot buffer strip at the top of bank, and an easement for maintenance. He said the design allows the stream to reestablish a natural course within the over-wide channel rather than constraining it to a narrow trapezoidal channel.

On assessments and compensation, Panuski said there will be no construction assessments to property owners because construction is funded by H2Ohio. He said future maintenance assessments would be levied against adjoining property owners in the watershed if maintenance beyond routine self-regulating vegetation is needed. For land acquisition, Panuski said property owners will be compensated at appraised value for the land taken between the existing top of bank and the proposed top of bank; temporary easement areas used for staging or stockpiles will receive crop-allowance payments and compensation for crop damages.

During public comment, resident Dale Bartley of 8549 Jerusalem Road asked whether widening the west end could cause water to flow back toward the lake, and how lost cropland would be compensated. Panuski answered that the cleaned ditch should provide additional space for water to back up into the ditch rather than onto fields, and reiterated that acquisition compensation is based on appraisal value and that temporary crop damages are paid.

Commissioner Gerken moved to adopt the findings and direct the county engineer to proceed; the clerk recorded roll-call votes of Commissioner Gerken: yes; Commissioner Lopez: yes; Commissioner Cabecki: yes. The motion passed. The board did not set specific assessment amounts at the hearing; Panuski said those figures will be calculated as part of the surveying and plan preparation.

The hearing was the first step in the petition process required by the Ohio Revised Code for improvements that will be maintained in perpetuity under the terms of the H2Ohio grant. The engineer and county will notify landowners again as the design narrows the list of affected properties and as final assessments are calculated.