In a move to help protect the Big Darby Creek (both a state and national scenic river) and minimize problems to homeowners, the county commissioners approved a zoning amendment in 2008 establishing riparian setbacks for the unincorporated areas of Franklin County in the Big Darby Watershed. Franklin Soil and Water in coordination with the Franklin County Economic Development and Planning Department developed the regulations based on a model riparian setback regulation in the Chagrin Watershed. In the development of the setbacks, various analyses were performed utilizing our GIS and several graphic presentations for community input were developed from the data managed with our GIS.
The extent of the setbacks in the Darby Regulations was defined as the greater of: 100’ from the centerline of the stream, the 100-year floodplain, or the width of a variable width setback developed collaboratively by OEPA, ODNR, and our office. GIS was utilized to develop the variable width setback as well as the final riparian setbacks for the Big Darby area and is now available through the Franklin County Economic Development and Planning website.