On May 26, the Hilliard City Council will vote on a 79-home subdivision called Clover Meadows. If approved, at least eight of those homes would be built within 300 feet of Clover Groff Run — a stream that feeds directly into Big Darby Creek. The latest draft of the Big Darby Accord, a regional agreement between Franklin County communities to protect the creek's watershed, designates that same area as permanently off-limits to development.

Hilliard's city leadership has confirmed it will not apply the new accord's stricter standards. "We are not using the draft Accord guidelines in our review of the Clover Groff development because they have not been adopted," said Andrea Litchfield, Hilliard's director of community relations. But Columbus — another party to the accord — has already voluntarily paused similar approvals while the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) finishes a study assessing environmental stressors on the watershed. Hilliard should do the same.

Big Darby Creek is one of the most biologically diverse waterways in the Midwest. It supports rare species of fish and freshwater mussels found almost nowhere else in Ohio. Damage to its headwater streams — like Clover Groff Run — is permanent. Once those areas are built over, they cannot be restored.

The ODNR study is underway. The new Big Darby Accord is close to being finalized. All Hilliard needs to do is wait — and let the science guide the decision.

We're asking the Hilliard City Council to delay the vote on Clover Meadows until the ODNR study is complete and the updated accord is in place. This decision should be about making sure that development near one of Ohio's most treasured waterways is held to the best available standard — not decided under rules written 20 years ago.

Sign this petition to tell the Hilliard City Council: wait for the science before it's too late.