After two toddler drownings, Columbus council member pushes retention-pond barrier law
COLUMBUS, Ohio — After two toddlers drowned in apartment-complex retention ponds within two months of each other, Columbus City Council President Pro Tempore Rob Dorans wants the city to reconsider requiring barriers around its more than 100 stormwater retention ponds, the Columbus Dispatch reported on October 22, in Franklin County, Ohio. The deaths of Benny Mbombo in September and Georgina Villar in July are the latest in a series: at least 13 children have died in Columbus retention ponds in the last 13 years.
Dorans told the Dispatch he plans to introduce barrier legislation for a council vote by the end of 2026. He previously spearheaded laws in late 2024 requiring annual warning notices to tenants, life preservers and warning signs; at the time he considered a fencing requirement like the one for swimming pools, but landlords and some public safety officials opposed it, arguing fences around large ponds could hamper emergency rescues. Dorans says barriers can be designed to keep small children away from the water while still allowing responders access — fencing, boulder hardscaping or vegetative barriers.
He is also advancing two interim measures: a "no-mow" zone within 15 feet of the water, and a requirement that landlords hand residents a standalone risk notice written by Columbus Building & Zoning. Dorans held a council hearing on retention-pond safety on October 20. An attorney for the Columbus Apartment Association said the group would comment once it sees the legislation.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 哥伦布市中心资料照片。图片：Paul Wasneski，公有领域，经Wikimedia Commons。 / Downtown Columbus, file photo. Photo: Paul Wasneski, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
