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WARREN -- A Trumbull County judge has ordered steps to lower Coalburg Lake Dam to avoid a disaster that could result in loss of life or property.
In response to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost seeking a permanent injunction calling for safety repairs to the Hubbard Township dam located on Little Yankee Run, Common Pleas Judge Peter Kontos late last month ordered Coalburg Land Partners LLC to begin lowering the water level following the thawing of ice on the surface of the reservoir.
"Defendant shall not draw the water level down more than one foot per week," Kontos wrote, saying an engineer should be consulted to operate the lake drain.
The 356-acre Coalburg Lake property is on Wick Campbell Road on the border of Brookfield and Hubbard townships
The judge also ordered weekly photographs of the drawdown procedure be sent to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Once the reservoir reaches a draw-down level of two feet below the top of the dam's spillway, Coalburg Land Partners LLC has to keep the reservoir at that water level until there's a meeting and discussions with ODNR and a plan developed "for further lowering," the judge wrote.
The dam should be monitored on a weekly basis and also during any rain event, Kontos added.
Coalburg Land Partners also was ordered to complete an emergency preparedness plan and to remove the remaining tress and brush from the dam and spillway area before April 1.
In December 2021, Yost filed the civil action on behalf of ODNR, calling for a preliminary and permanent injunction to enforce Ohio's dam safety laws against Coalburg Land Partners. Coalburg Land Partners LLC has a statutory agent East Ohio Service Corp., located on Public Square in Cleveland. An attempt through email to get a comment from Joseph Triscaro, the attorney for the defendants, was unsuccessful on Monday afternoon.
According to the initial court action, an inspection of the dam was conducted by ODNR on Nov. 21, 2019. It found several repair, maintenance and monitoring items Coalburg Land Partners was required to perform.
Coalburg Lake is larger than Kinsman Lake, which in July 2019 was breached following a heavy rain. The water washed out a section of Lakeview Drive and bridge that led to about 30 homes. The residents were dislocated for about three months until a new access road was completed in October.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com