Staff photo / Dan Pompili The right-of-way where North Yorkshire Boulevard and North Beverly Avenue converge in Austintown, just above Mahoning Avenue, is the site of a sewage leak that neither Austintown Township, Mahoning County or the State of Ohio seems to have the authority to fix.

AUSTINTOWN — Raw sewage has been leaking into a local street for two years, and nobody seems to be able to do anything to stop it.

Austintown Township Administrator and Roads Superintendent Mark D’Apolito said a road department employee first informed him of the issue in August 2024 while his crew was mowing.

On Aug. 28 of that year, D’Apolito said he reported the matter to Mahoning County Public Health, with the assistance of the county’s Ohio Environmental Protection Agency MS4 stormwater permit coordinator, John Woolard, who is also the environmental engineer at the Mahoning County Engineer’s Office.

Woolard oversees all county and township compliance with OEPA stormwater regulations.

The sewage, Woolard said, runs not only into the street and sidewalk but also into the storm sewers and into Bears Den Run, the small creek that empties into Mill Creek and Mill Creek Park.

“My concern is that it’s at the surface and on the sidewalk, and it’s a public health issue, and that’s the same concern the Board of Health has,” he said. “Someone could come into contact with this — kids walking along the sidewalk or riding bikes.”

D’Apolito said he also is upset with the leak.

“It’s definitely sewage, and it’s definitely causing a hazard,” he said. “The flow has reached a point where it’s very concerning. I’m concerned about people using the sidewalk and road and being in such close contact.

But the emergent nature of the problem does not necessarily mean government entities have the ability or authority to fix it. Fort now, the township has placed orange safety cones to mark the affected area.

D’Apolito said initial and indirect conversations with Ohio EPA officials left the township and county unclear about whose job it is to fix the problem. But the picture has become clearer in recent months. For one thing, it absolutely does not fall on the township.

“We have no authority over sanitary sewer lines,” D’Apolito said. That means the township has no statutory or budgetary standing to use township money, employees or resources to fix the line. The township’s only legal obligation is to report the problem.

Woolard said it also is not a county responsibility.

“Per our county sanitary engineer’s office, it’s a private line. If it were a public line, it would have been fixed a long time ago. Since it’s private, the county or township can’t do any corrective action. It has to be the owner,” he said.

This is a very unique situation,” Woolard noted, “having a private lateral in the right-of-way. It’s the first time I’ve encountered this.”

County GIS mapping shows that the lateral line runs from a property at 28 N. Yorkshire Blvd., comes across the street and through a grassy right-of-way, and ends in the grass close to where North Yorkshire Boulevard and North Beverly Avenue converge, just above Mahoning Avenue. D’Apolito said engineers have informed him that the leak is somewhere near the manhole cover closest to Beverly.

That address corresponds to a multiunit apartment building, mostly hidden at the front by overgrown trees and bushes. The Mahoning County Auditor’s website shows it is owned by Yorkshire Manor Apartments LLC. The company also owns and operates units at 32, 38 and 46 N. Yorkshire Blvd. and a unit on North Idlewood Road.

Online records from the Ohio Secretary of State’s website show that the registered agent for Yorkshire Manor Apartments LLC, is Victor D. Masters, with an address at 200 Victoria Road, Building 4, in Austintown. The business permit is active.

D’Apolito said the OEPA is the only entity with authority to compel the property owner to fix the line. And while he was not specific, he said conversations on Wednesday made it apparent that that would not be easily accomplished.

Woolard said he expects the issue will be handled, just not in a timely fashion.

“It’s enforceable, but the problem is it’s going to have to play out in court,” he said. “The attorney for the property owner has indicated that he’s not going to perform any corrective action until a court order is issued, and who knows how long that’s going to go on.”