Working through initial steps

Community moves closer to getting OK to start on erosion-control project

Perry Township trustees are awaiting a decision from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources regarding a permit that is required to start an erosion-control project on land behind a historic house.

An engineering firm contracted by the township has submitted a final application to ODNR for a temporary shore structure permit that would allow work to be performed on the Parmly Mansion property. That application was presented to the state agency on June 18, township Administrator Karen Sundy said.

KS Associates of Elyria is developing a plan to prevent further erosion of a bluff overlooking Lake Erie in the back yard of the Parmly Mansion, which also is known as the Lorimer House.

The mansion, which was built in 1834, is located at the northern end of Perry Park Road. Perry Township has owned the house and 20.5 acres of surrounding land since 2002.

Township government leaders have not been able to find a developer willing to buy and restore the house, which today sits vacant and dilapidated.

However, the township last year secured funding to curb the steady and significant rate

of shoreline erosion on the northern side of the Parmly Mansion property.

In December, the township was awarded $200,000 for the shoreline improvement project as part of the new Ohio capital budget bill. State Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord Township, played a pivotal role in securing that funding, Sundy said.

At a meeting in February, trustees then entered into a contract with KS Associates for $32,200. The agreement calls for the firm to design an erosion-control plan, assist the township with seeking bids from contractors, and possibly provide construction-phase services, such as supervising the project.

Perry Township will use a portion of its allocation from the state-capital bill to pay KS Associates for its services.

Approval of the temporary shore structure permit by ODNR could take up to six to eight weeks, Sundy said.

ODNR issues such permits for emergency construction of new erosioncontrol structures or for emergency repairs to existing unpermitted structures that are necessary to safeguard life, health, or property along Ohio’s Lake Erie shore, the agency stated on its website.

The actual construction project to prevent further erosion behind the Parmly Mansion likely will involve grading and re-sloping the backyard bluff at a shallower angle and installation of armor stone to absorb and dissipate the energy of Lake Erie waves.

Perry Township is hopeful that construction at the site will start by late summer or early fall, Sundy said.

“We’re not going into the water, so we could do it (even later in 2020 or early 2021) if we had a mild winter,” she said.

NEWS-HERALD FILE The Parmly Mansion in Perry Township is shown in this 2020photo. KS Associates of Elyria is developing a plan to prevent further erosion of a bluff overlooking Lake Erie in the back yard of the Parmly Mansion, which also is known as the Lorimer House.