Dayton Plan Board takes no action on water plan

The Dayton Plan Board has tabled a controversial proposal to amend the zoning map regulating the city’s source water protection program.

The decision came in a vote Tuesday night following a public hearing during which 12 of the 14 speakers urged board members to reject the proposal, which seeks to shrink the boundaries of the protected area by about 25 percent.

Board members said they wanted more information, including a map of current and proposed monitoring wells. Plan board member Greg Scott said he wanted an explanation of why the city wants to change the map boundaries. He said he wants to know the benefits and whether the changes create new risk.

City officials have said the boundaries can be shrunk without putting the underground aquifer at greater risk.

That’s because program was created in the mid-1980s and the city has much better and accurate scientific modeling data to use to establish new boundary lines, said Tammi Clements, director of Dayton’s Water Department.

Critics said modeling programs are imperfect and the proposal could put the region’s sole water source at greater danger of contamination.

The plan board last month voted to recommend modifying the city’s zoning text code to accommodate the proposed source water program updates. If the plan board votes to recommend changing the zoning map, the Dayton City Commission would have to approve the changes to take effect.