The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

EPA seeks action against mobile home park owner

Brookside Village not in compliance with water regulations, state says.

The Ohio EPA this week asked the Attorney General to file a lawsuit against the owners of Brookside Village Mobile Home Park. The water treatment plant has sewage leaking into Sinking Creek, which flows into Buck Creek and Beaver Creek.

Bill Lackey/Staff Photo The Ohio EPA this week asked the Attorney General to file a lawsuit against the owners of Brookside Village Mobile Home Park. The water treatment plant has sewage leaking into Sinking Creek, which flows into Buck Creek and Beaver Creek.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Dayton gets boost from committee for UAV testing
11:48 p.m.
Patrol searches Springfield dealership for stolen cards
11:43 p.m.
Police headlines: Two accused of child endangering
11:41 p.m.
Ad calls Brown career politician
11:39 p.m.
Local Focus: Clark County for May 25
11:27 p.m.
> More headlines

By Tiffany Y. Latta, Staff Writer 10:21 PM Friday, February 10, 2012

PLEASANT TWP. — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency asked the Ohio attorney general this week to seek civil action against the owner of the Brookside Village Mobile Home Park, saying the company has failed to comply with the state’s drinking water regulations.

EPA officials requested Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office file an immediate civil complaint against the GS Holdings Brookside LTD, the owner of the mobile home park, due to “potential health risks” related to the park’s drinking water, according to documents obtained by the Springfield News-Sun.

In addition, EPA officials say GS Holdings has operated its public water system without a license since 2010 and has not lived up to a consent agreement reached in court in 2007 to repair its wastewater treatment plant, which is discharging solids, including human waste into Sinking Creek.

Attorney General spokesman Dan Tierney said officials are mulling the EPA’s most recent request to take action against the mobile home park.

“Our office has two matters concerning (Brookside Mobile Home Park) ... I can’t speculate on when a decision will be made,” Tierney said.

The park is at 1962 Mahar Road.

Area soil and water conservationists say they hope the EPA gets the matter resolved as Sinking Creek flows into the area’s largest watersheds and sub-watersheds and pose a risk of polluting Beaver Creek, Buck Creek and Mad River.

Health officials and conservationists say sewage in Sinking Creek can kill fish and elevate levels of fecal coliform and E. coli.

“In the short-term there is an impact to the environment. Sewage depletes oxygen in the stream, and when there is no oxygen in water, anything in it that needs oxygen to live will not survive,” said Clark County Combined Health District Environmental Health Services Director Dan Chatfield.

Chris Simpson and John Ritter of the Clark County Soil and Water Conservation District talked about the potential of the pollution.

Simpson said pathogens in Sinking Creek will likely be diluted before pollutants reach watersheds down stream but added that when sub-watersheds like Sinking Creek are polluted, it can “undo all of our conservation work.”

The EPA’s actions this week come about a month after Brookside residents were forced to go without water for days due to water main breaks and other system failures.

Ohio EPA spokeswoman Heather Lauer said her agency and the Clark County Combined Health District have been doing what they can to help the company comply with regulations. She said the park had 142 tenants.

“We would like to see them have a clean reliable source of drinking water, and when they flush their waste, we don’t want it going out untreated and contaminating the creek. We want to see this get better. I’m just not sure how we’re going to do that,” Lauer said.

While water has been restored and Brookside residents are no longer under a boil advisory, officials say the mobile home park owners still need to make improvements.

The issues between the park’s owners and the EPA date back to 2007 when a judge fined then owner Oxford-based JGR Properties $75,000 for violating national and state pollution laws. The EPA ordered the company make improvements to the treatment plant by Jan. 15, 2009.

In Dec. 2009, the new owners of Brookside, GS Holdings-Brookside, were ordered to pay $10,000 for violating 12 counts of the consent order, according to court documents.

Rob Stoetzel of Midwest Investment says his company owns the property now, but the Clark County Auditor’s Office still lists GS Holdings-Brookside as the current owner.

Stoetzel did not return calls to comment for this story.

However, last month, Stoetzel said Midwest Investment officials spent thousands to fix issues with the drinking water and were trying to secure financing to install a $600,000 sewer plant to address the violations. They ran into roadblocks with the EPA, Stoetzel said.

Chatfield said Midwest Investment has made strides to fix problems with its water system such as hiring a water treatment operator.

He said the company still needs to submit design plans and an application with the EPA for a new waste water treatment plant and get it approved. A previous application was denied due to lack of information on the application, EPA officials said.

Share this article