ADAMS TWP — While an Adams Ridge resident has gotten from Butler County some of the stormwater runoff documents he requested, he said the township continues to put up barriers to his request.

Christopher Staab claims that stormwater runoff from a new housing development built above his Whitewater Drive home is causing flooding on his property.

Consequently, his wife in early June asked the township for the stormwater runoff plan for the new Ryan Homes neighborhood.

Staab said his neighbor’s property is unusable after a heavy rain, and another’s has standing water.

He and his neighbors asked township officials for a copy of the runoff plan because they said the situation was caused by paving in the new neighborhood.

Township officials replied via a letter that the request could not be granted within five days because a legal review of the documents would be required to ensure all of the documents could be made public. The letter said the review would be complete within 30 days.

Township solicitor Mike Gallagher said Monday that the runoff plan documents are available at the township building for Staab to see, with the exception of a few documents that are copyrighted. Gallagher would not divulge the nature or contents of those documents.

Staab said he plans to view the documents, but said he should have access to the entire plan because he is a taxpayer in the township.

He said he was told that the document regarding the inspection of the new neighborhood would not be provided because it was done by an outside company.

“That’s patently false,” Staab said. “That’s public information. I don’t care who did it.”

Staab said he was able to get some of the runoff and stormwater documents he sought from the Butler County Conservation District office, and at a lower fee.

Staab said the district office charged $33 for the documents, while Adams told his neighbor the cost to make the copies would be about $250.

“We pay taxes, so we’re supposed to pay whatever their cost is (to make copies,)” Staab said. “(Adams is) trying to price us out of the market.”

The township website lists a fees section in a link detailing the procedure to request public records. It says the township charges 25 cents per page per side for copies, and $1 for each certification of a record.

Specialized documents would be charged according to the township’s costs to reproduce them, and prepayment is required if the total is estimated to exceed $100, according to the website.

For now, Staab plans to view the documents at the township building. He said code enforcement officer Gary Peaco has agreed to sit down with him to discuss the runoff situation.

Staab did not know when that meeting would take place, or when he will go to the township building to view the documents.

He said he gave the documents he got from the county to his neighbor, who is a geologist and whose property is also affected by runoff.