Plans to create a storm water utility district in the county have been temporarily dropped.

The storm water management department, which was established in late summer 2004 by the Board of Clermont County Commissioners, was formulating the creation of a storm water utility that would have resulted in many county residents paying an annual fee of about $45.

The storm water management department was established last year by the commissioners to comply with the unfunded agenda of the state’s Environmental Protection Agency’s Phase II Storm Water permit program.

This program was designed by the state to address the many regional flooding and drainage problems created by storm water runoff of which, according to Clermont County Stormwater Department Program Manager John McManus, who has scoured the county in the past year attempting to sell the program, there are many.