By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - The Warren County Commission, using another weapon in its battle to control growth, refused Tuesday to expand two of the county's water treatment plants.

Restricting sewers is one way besides zoning restrictions that commissioners legally can clamp down on residential development. They are pushing for larger lot sizes and more green space in new subdivisions. Public hearings on those proposals will be held soon.

"If you don't have sewers, you can't build homes. The growth in this county is kind of at a checkmate, a standstill," Commissioner Mike Kilburn said. "Until we have a growth plan in place, the sewers are the key in our pocket."

Warren County Sanitary Engineer Dick Renneker recommended Tuesday to commissioners that the county expand the Deerfield-Hamilton Township Water Treatment Plant and the Little Miami Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The plants are nearing capacity as the county grows, he cautioned, so officials should start selecting an engineering firm for the project and proceed with receiving state and other approvals for the project - processes that take about two years.

"Without the timely expansion of the water and wastewater plants, water restrictions, sprinkling bans and connection bans may be possible," Renneker wrote in a memo.

After they denied his request, commissioners agreed to re-examine the suggestion at a later date.

Their decision, however, did not sit well with other leaders in Warren County, which saw a 39 percent population increase in the 1990s.

"What are they going to think of next? This is ludicrous," Hamilton Township Trustee Clyde Baston said. "Halting expansion of the sewer system is halting all the growth in the county, and that isn't what we elected them for. Maybe it's time Hamilton Township goes to home rule authority and we start our own sewer system. That way we won't have to depend on the county."

Also Tuesday, Kilburn requested that the county ask the courts for a declaratory judgment on whether commissioners can refuse to sign off on more subdivision plats, or layouts.

Kilburn still is stinging from an episode in December when he and Commissioner Larry Crisenbery refused to sign a layout for a subdivision in Hamilton Township. The next day, under threat of litigation and at the urging of Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Bruce McGary, Kilburn and Crisenbery reluctantly signed the plat.

Commissioners also lamented Tuesday the recent narrow approval by the Warren County Regional Planning Commission of a new subdivision that will hold 448 houses and 200 condominiums in Hamilton Township at Montgomery-Morrow and Morrow-Cozaddale roads.

The Villages of Classicway now must receive approval from Hamilton Township officials, who control their own zoning.

While township trustees are agreeable, about 70 upset residents packed Monday's Hamilton Township Zoning Commission meeting. May say the subdivision would bring excessive traffic and school overcrowding.

The commission tabled the vote until its March 24 meeting after one resident and business owner, Kenny Schuchter, threatened to sue the township should the subdivision go in and flood his 34-year-old business, Valley Vineyards, which sits on a 200-acre farm and vineyard adjacent to the proposed subdivision.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.