Help available to those affected by record-high water levels

Assistance is available to those impacted by Lake Erie’s record high water levels, state Rep. John Rogers announced Feb. 24.

“Many of the individuals owning property along Lake Erie’s shoreline have suffered significant erosion damage due to heavy weather and high lake levels,” Rogers, D-Mentor-on-the-Lake, said in a statement. “The issue is even more exacerbated when the lake fails to freeze over during our winter months. While I suspect many are aware of the limited assistance made available to them by the state, it is worth a reminder of just what services are available.”

Programs available to those affected include:

• Temporary Shore Structure Permits, which are available to coastal property owners, allow them to install emergency shore protection to protect their property from erosion-related damage. Program applications can be found at http:// coastal.ohiodnr.gov/tssp.

• Free on-site Technical Assistance is available to coastal property owners by ODNR coastal engineers to provide recommendations for erosion mitigation. Call the ODNR Office of Coastal Management at 419-6267980 to speak with a coastal engineer.

• Coastal Management Assistance

Grants are available for coastal planning, habitat restoration, public access, research and water quality improvement projects. Local governments, county and regional planning agencies, universities, school districts, conservancy districts, port authorities and certain non-profit groups are eligible to apply for these competitive awards. More information can be found at http:// coastal.ohiodnr.gov/cmagrants.

• The Coastal Erosion Area Loan Program, which provides low interest loans for the design and construction of erosion control measures for properties within a designated coastal erosion area. This program is administered by participating counties, not the ODNR. For more information, visit http://coastal.ohiodnr.gov/ erosionloans.

• Special Improvement Districts, or SIDs, which provide local financing to facilitate erosion improvements along Lake Erie. ODNR will work with SIDs to ensure that projects are well-designed and that they minimize adverse impacts to Lake Erie and that appropriate authorizations are obtained when necessary.

More information on the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Office of Coastal Management can be found at coastal. ohiodnr.gov.