Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Published in the Lancaster Eagle Gazette today.

United residents can stop sprawl



To the Editor:

Here's a civics lesson from Liberty Township to all the residents of Fairfield County worried about the dark clouds of high density housing coming their way.

We were first confronted with high-density housing by the Roshon project, 100 acres of farmland reclassified to accommodate 240 homes and condominiums. We petitioned the township trustees. We attended trustee and zoning board hearings where we protested the project. We thought they were listening to us. But we were too late. The fix was in. Some bright boys and girls had already paved the way for high-density sprawl. The hands of all the local officials were tied, they told us. There was nothing they could do. The processes of government had been followed. It wasn't their fault.
So we sued in the Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas and a judge ruled in our favor. The developers appealed and a different judge in the Ohio Fifth District Court of Appeals, with the same facts and the same law, ruled against us. Sorry all you folks over there in Liberty Township.

We used a different strategy for a second proposed high-density neighborhood, the Nicodemus Project.

To the dismay of the developers we forced this issue on the November 2005 ballot so that we, not deaf township trustees or distant judges, would decide the matter. We crushed the Nicodemus proposal. We ousted the two incumbent trustees who didn't listen to us on the Roshon project and replaced them with candidates who promised to defend against further unwise use of township land.

Residents who want to shape this county's future cannot remain passive against sophisticated, well-financed outside developers. To do so is to relinquish the quality of our lives to entities often ill-suited for that purpose: outclassed trustees and zoning boards, the courts, and of course those bright boys and girls working diligently and quietly to cram as many houses as possible into neighborhoods in which they themselves would never live.

- David Stone

Baltimore

Originally published February 13, 2006

Is our deaf Township trustees listening?

Nope, they're not

They are not listening and never will. They don't have to because they are never held accountable.

They have the answers to every question. Here they are:

1. We have no money.
2. We have no power.
3. Growth is healthy to every community.

and lastly the answer they dare not speak aloud - Bug off, we have our own farms, families and retirements to think of.

We used to have Gary W. who fought for us in these matters but he definitely saw the handwriting on the walls when only one person stepped up to make a half-hearted run against Myers and Dunlap. He has his own retirement to think of at the end of this term. Why make waves now? He is also a close ally to the self annihalating faction of the city government so he has that anchor around his neck too.

Previous topic

I think that you will find that this was a topic of the week a short while ago. Unfortunately it didn't get a whole lot of attention. Perhaps now those residents in the township will pull their heads out the sand and take notice as to what is happening in their area.

Oh and by the way, Violet Township Trustees, I know you read this blog. Perhaps rather than sitting silently by as though you're blind, you'll respond to some of these inqueries and tell us what you plan upon doing to control the growth in the township.

By Coyote

Gary Weltlich

Gary Weltlich has served Violet Township well. He never ''fought'' for us - he informed himself and then worked effectively behind the scenes to forge the relationships necessary to serve his constituents well. He has been a superb Trustee and we all owe him a debt of gratitude.

As far as being a ''close ally to the self annihalating faction of the city government so he has that anchor around his neck too'', I don't think so. Gary has always tried to do the right thing, and people know that. We've all supported people for office at one time or another who have disappointed us. Mr. Weltlich will not be implicated in any upcoming scandal. Any effort to throw dirt on him will fail.

By Daphne Duck