The entrance to Lost Hollow Campground.

The entrance to Lost Hollow Campground.

LOGAN – The Lost Hollow Campground on Harble Griffith Road in Logan is still technically non-compliant with state law, because people are currently staying there despite the fact that the restroom facilities have been shut down for the winter.

However, according to a county health official, members of the property owners’ association that runs the campground have made some efforts to address the situation, and know that in the future, Lost Hollow cannot allow campers to stay at the campground except at times when the restrooms are working.

“They’re on notice that for next winter, they must be in compliance,” reported Wendy Hanna, R.S., environmental health director for the Hocking County Health Department. Hanna said members of the Lost Hollow property owners’ association board attended the last county board of health meeting, and updated health officials on the situation at the campground.

As previously reported in The Logan Daily News, the health department had received a complaint about Lost Hollow, based on the presence of campers there over the winter. This is a violation of state regulations, because for a campground in Ohio to be approved by the local health department for occupancy, the requirements include having a specified number of working toilets and urinals based on the number of camping sites available at the campground.

Lost Hollow shuts down its restrooms over the winter, making the campground legally unqualified for occupancy.

When the POA was informed of the issue, Hanna reported, one of the actions it took was to bring in porta-johns to the site. This helped by providing bathroom facilities, did not actually bring Lost Hollow into legal compliance.

“The campground has to function as it was approved,” Hanna explained. “Technically, they’re still in violation… The porta-johns help with that, but they’re not technically approvable.”

Hanna noted, however, that while the site is in violation of the letter of state law because it does not have functional communal restrooms serving the entire campground, individual campsites actually do have their own sewer hookups.

“A big factor is, all of the (people) staying there are connected to a sewer, so they’re not creating a public health nuisance,” she explained.

Lost Hollow is different from many campgrounds in that individual parties own individual campsites, like homeowners in a housing subdivision.

Hanna noted that while the county health department has regulatory authority over campgrounds in the county, it has no authority to levy fines for violations. It pursues a progressive enforcement policy, whose first step is putting the campground on notice that it is in violation; ultimately, if the problem is not fixed, a campground could be a risk of losing its licensure.

Email at jphillips@logandaily.com.

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