Hamilton County and Cincinnati officials will each pay an equal share of the additional costs for a project to eliminate flooding that has plagued Covedale residents for decades.

Besides agreeing that a financial split is fair, Hamilton County Commissioners last week passed a resolution approving plans and specifications for the huge detention basin and new sewers now estimated to cost $5,104,300.

The project is designed to alleviate sewer backup in basements and localized street flooding in an 520-acre area along Covedale and Ralph avenues. Under the two-phase plan, Metropolitan Sewer District will build an underground detention tank to capture run-off water from the street during storms when the sewers reach capacity. The extra water will be held in the tank until it can be released into the sewers. The final phase is construction of new sewers for surface and street run-off.

An earlier public hearing has been rescheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, in the county administration building.

"The original cost estimate has been revised upward," said Kathy Rahtz, Metropolitan Sewer District spokeswoman. "The agreement addresses how that increase is going to be shared between the city and county."

When first proposed, the original estimate was $4.3 million. During 1996, the county agreed to pay $2,192,150, the city $292,150, while Green Township allocated $100,000.

However, sewer district officials determined parts of the plan needed to be redesigned because they found a complex maze of sanitary and storm water sewers and other inner connections.

That increased the project's costs by about $520,000 and prompted debate between the county and city. Under the new agreement for extra funds, both the county and city will pay $260,000.

"This project has been bouncing around for a number of years," Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said. "When I first became county commissioner, I called former Cincinnati City Council Member Nick Vehr to see if the city and county might be able to work on this project together."

Copyright 1999 The Cincinnati Post