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What is considered a parcel of land in the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD)? This is a question that MWCD's board of appraisers is trying to answer as it figures out what fees to collect from landowners in 18 counties.

Last summer, the Conservancy Court approved a 20-year, $270-million plan that aims to protect residents and property from flooding and improve water quality in MWCD's and reservoirs. MWCD board members plan to finalize the plan this month and formally fit it for review and consideration in February, according to the district.

MWCD officials have estimated the assessment will cost owners of residential and agricultural property about $12 per parcel annually. The question is what is a parcel, said Larry Gearhardt, Ohio Farm Bureau's director of local affairs.

"They have said they would allow contiguous parcels to be considered one parcel," he said. "We want to make sure MWCD is going to do that. We want to protect landowners from unfair assessments."

At its August meeting, the board of appraisers said the probable definition of a parcel was "one or more contiguous (adjoining) tracts of land with the same property use code (PUC) and the same owner of record, as determined by the county auditor's records. Such parcels may be divided by a public or private road(s) or a stream(s) and still be considered one parcel."

By the end of this month, MWCD plans to have a $110,000 Internet-based data portal set up so landowners can see details about their properties and assessment rates. Information about how to access the data on the Internet will be released later.

A complete copy of MWCD's plan is available on line at www.mwcd.org.