Land trust, community foundation seek support to buy Colberg Dam property and resolve dam liability

Western Reserve Land Conservancy and the Trumbull County Community Foundation told Trumbull County officials on an emergency special meeting that they have a purchase-and-sale agreement for the Colberg Dam property and are seeking resolution support from Brookfield and Hubbard townships and the county so they can apply for grant funding to study and fix — or, if necessary, remove — the dam.

The organizations presented the plan on behalf of a prospective acquisition during the meeting, saying ownership transfer is the first step to addressing a state-ordered consent decree and the site’s lingering liability. "We can't do any of that until the property is under control of somebody that cares about saving the dam," said Alex Jacob, Western Reserve Land Conservancy.

The land trust said the property totals about 356 acres, of which the lake surface is roughly 57 acres. Western Reserve said it would buy and hold the land and donate roughly 15 acres around the dam to the Community Foundation, which, together with Western Reserve, would seek public and private funds. Jacob said the group has a purchase-and-sale agreement in hand and expects the earliest closing to be in 2026 if the funding and grant steps succeed.

Why it matters: the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has required the current owner to remediate or breach the dam under…