City, Hile Road Homeowners Reach Compromise on Ditch

"It's not perfect, but it's better than before," said Michele Hunter about the agreement reached with the city to enclose a portion of the.

Service Director Dano Koehler said he and the Hunter family decided the city will pay to close 12 feet of the 95-foot ditch recently dug out in the front of their home.

"[The Hunters] indicated was dropping off the edge of driveway with a car," said Koehler, "this should prevent that from happening."

The reason the administration agreed to close part of the ditch is because, "we were dealing with a potential hazard." 

Paul Hunter said, "While we disagreed on certain aspects [Koehler] spent a lot of time coming out to our property and communicating with us. I believe he had the best of intentions throughout the process."

The service director said he is not sure whether the work will be done in-house or if it will be contracted out to another company yet.

But, as far as cost goes, it will be significantly less money than, which is what the Hunter family and some Stow City Councilmembers wanted.

The 12-foot-12-inch pipe is going to cost about $87 and will connect to the current pipe below the driveway, said Koehler.

In addition to the recent compromise, the city is also going to landscape the ditch with grass and contour the ditch to look better, he said.

"I'm happy we found a middle ground," said Hunter.

Crews will go out to the property sometime next week to survey the work that is needed to be done.

"Hopefully they can start as soon as possible," said Hunter.