Kudos to Troy Township

Commentary by Dave Partington

Often doing the right thing doesn’t get you a lot of recognition. So let’s stop and take a moment and say thank you to the Trustees of Troy Township. The township and its community lie just east of the LaDue Reservoir along route US 422.

At a January 19 trustee meeting, the trustees voted to deny a request to change the zoning along US route 422 just east of the LaDue Reservoir. Had the rezoning taken place it would have allowed the commercial development of a gas station/truck stop with fuel pumps, vehicle repair and sales, a convenience store, with auto parts and accessories. The properties in question are part of the upper Cuyahoga River watershed. Spills or leaks would likely have traveled downhill toward the reservoir.

Curiously, while Troy Township was debating the issue, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan was pushing the Akron City council to allow fracking under 475 acres of LaDue. (He later withdrew the proposal.) The proposal to frack under Ladue was happening at about the same time as Akron city water protection supervisor Mark Bennett was urging Troy trustees to reject the zoning changes. He indicated that the city of Akron owns 15,000 acres surrounding Ladue and the upper Cuyahoga River watershed to protect the quality of Akron city water.

Spills could have migrated from a gas station downhill into Ladue.  Spills could also migrate into the hundreds of residential water wells that are in Troy and surrounding townships.

So it’s kudos to Troy Township trustees for their foresight in protecting water quality for all of us. Thank you.