SCIO, Ohio — The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District celebrated the grand opening of the new $4.9 million Tappan Lake Regional Safety Center with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday, October 30, bringing a dedicated law enforcement training center and the Tappan Lake Volunteer Fire Department together under one roof in Harrison County, according to an announcement the conservancy district published on November 3.
The center stands at 35400 Cadiz-Dennison Road in Scio, in the heart of the Tappan Lake area. According to the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD), the facility includes a modern training center for MWCD Rangers and other law enforcement agencies, with an indoor shooting range, dedicated classroom space and areas for specialized law enforcement training. It also houses the Tappan Lake Volunteer Fire Department and includes a helicopter landing zone to support emergency medical transport.
The district designed the building to serve multiple public safety agencies at once, rather than a single department. In its announcement, MWCD said the center will enhance emergency preparedness, expand professional training opportunities and improve coordination among first responders throughout the region.
The approximately $4.9 million project was paid for through a collaborative investment, according to MWCD: roughly $4.25 million came from the conservancy district itself, and $650,000 came from the One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund. Local officials, law enforcement representatives, emergency responders and community leaders joined the district for the October 30 ribbon cutting, MWCD said.
“This facility represents much more than an investment in buildings and infrastructure. It’s an investment in the safety of our communities, the development of our first responders and the partnerships that make our region stronger,” Pete Novotny, MWCD’s chief of recreation, said in the MWCD announcement.
The fire department that now calls the building home struck a similar note. “Today we dedicate more than bricks and steel. We dedicate a promise,” Stephen Keesey, chief of the Tappan Lake Volunteer Fire Department, said in the MWCD announcement. Keesey said in that announcement that the new station stands as a commitment that when an alarm sounds, day or night, help will come faster, stronger and better prepared than before, and he thanked the community and partners who made the facility possible, emphasizing that it will serve the area for decades to come.
The center is the latest chapter in a long story for the conservancy district around Tappan Lake. MWCD, a political subdivision of the state, was organized in 1933 to reduce flooding and conserve water in the Muskingum River Watershed, the largest wholly contained watershed in Ohio, according to the district’s own background material. The district says its 16 reservoirs and dams have been credited by the federal government with saving more than $9 billion in potential flood damage, while its lakes and parks draw more than 5 million visitors a year.
The road to the ribbon cutting ran almost exactly one year. MWCD broke ground on October 31, 2025, at the same site, according to the district’s groundbreaking announcement. At that stage the project was priced at $4.6 million, with collaborative training areas and classrooms for law enforcement, fire and emergency personnel, a helicopter landing zone, and space for public outreach and educational events. Construction was expected to be finished by September 2026.
“This project represents a major step forward in ensuring the safety and preparedness of our region,” Craig Butler, MWCD’s executive director, said in the district’s 2025 groundbreaking announcement. The finished center, opened a month after that original September target and at a final cost of about $4.9 million, delivers the main pieces promised at groundbreaking: the shared training space, the fire department’s new home and the landing zone.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on: What is confirmed, from MWCD’s November 3 announcement, is that the center is open, where it is, what it contains, what it cost and who paid for it, and that the Tappan Lake Volunteer Fire Department is housed there. What the announcement does not spell out is the center’s day-to-day schedule: MWCD has not yet published a first calendar of joint training sessions for outside agencies, dates for the public outreach and educational events described at groundbreaking, or details on how often the helicopter landing zone is expected to be used for medical transports. Those operational details will show how quickly the building moves from a ribbon cutting to a working regional hub.
For Harrison County residents, the practical change is proximity. Firefighters with a volunteer department, Rangers who patrol one of Ohio’s most visited lake regions, and officers from neighboring agencies can now train — and, when an emergency calls for it, coordinate — in the same building, minutes from Tappan Lake itself. MWCD framed the opening the same way in its announcement, calling the center a significant investment in public safety and regional collaboration.
What happens next is the working life of the building: MWCD Rangers and partner agencies are expected to begin using the classrooms, range and training areas, the Tappan Lake Volunteer Fire Department will run its calls from its new station, and the landing zone will stand ready for emergency medical flights. Residents can watch MWCD’s announcements for the first scheduled training and community events at the center.
Photo: Brian Rawson-Ketchum, CC BY-SA