Hamilton County commissioners backed away from a controversial west-side waterline assessment that would have required property owners to pay for the line even though fewer than 50 percent wanted it.

Still, the line will be built.

Cincinnati Water Works will build the water line along Harrison Avenue in Whitewater Township. However, because of the county's decision on Wednesday, property owners will pay only if they choose to connect to it.

Commissioners Bob Bedinghaus and John Dowlin decided to reject the county's plan to assess property owners for the water line - at a rate of about $34 per foot of property frontage - after Bedinghaus was assured Cincinnati Water Works planned to build the water line regardless of how they voted. Commissioner Tom Neyer Jr. was out of the state.

The line will stretch from Buena Vista Road to the Miami Whitewater Forest. Construction may start early next year and may be finished by next summer, said Water Works Chief Engineer Paul Tomes.

"We should have water here. Every other community has water. But we understand it was putting a bind on some people," said Patricia Vogel of Harrison Avenue.

Harrison Avenue resident John Roellig was one of those opposed to the water line. "We don't need it up here," said Roellig, who would have had to pay a $2,720 assessment for water. "It's just for the developers, that's who it's for."

County Public Works Director Gary VanHart said that if the county had approved the assessment plan, property owners would have been required to pay - whether they want the water or not. But when the line is constructed by Cincinnati Water Works, residents who don't want the water will not have to pay - unless they decide to tap in.

"Then the people who don't want it don't have pay for it until such time as they want to tap the water," VanHart said.

Petitions were circulated and then evaluated by Public Works officials based on both the percentage of home owners signing and the percentage of front footage on the road. The signatures indicated 45 of 113 property owners with front footage, or 40 percent, favored water. Also, 48 percent of the people who owned the majority of land - 248 of 519 acres - supported the line.

VanHart said Cincinnati Water Works wants to extend water service to the Department of Energy's Fernald facility. One drawback of construction by the water works is that property owners have only three years to pay - instead of 20 years under the county's assessment program. On the other hand, they can privately borrow the money to pay water works, and repay their loans over 20 years or longer, he said.

Copyright 1999 The Cincinnati Post