Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Commercial development booms this spring
Thursday, June 1, 2006
By SEAN CASEY
ThisWeek Staff Writer


Regardless of the implementation of impact fees, commercial development in Pickerington is on the rise.
In May, city council and its committees approved plans for three major projects along the state Route 256 corridor. Pickerington also has initiated negotiations with developers interested in filling the empty Big Bear grocery store and a project that could result in as many as 10 office buildings in the 600 block of Hill Road North.
''I think, in a lot of ways, developers are starting to discover Pickerington,'' said Councilwoman Cristie Hammond, who also serves on the city's planning and zoning commission. ''We have a market for these businesses. We're ready for them and they are ready to build here.''
On May 9, the city's planning and zoning commission approved rezoning and preliminary development plans for a 67,287-square-foot assisted-living facility on four acres just south of the Pickerington Health Center.
Two days later, at council's service committee meeting, members consented to the final platting for Ashton Crossing, a 13-acre retail development planned near the corner of state Routes 256 and 204.
The service committee also approved a preliminary plat for Stone Creek Station, a retail and office development proposed for the 17.7 acres just south of the Kohl's department store on Route 256. Equity Inc. intends to renovate the 16,000 square feet of existing office space there, add 40,000 square feet of office condominiums and construct an approximately 45,000 square feet of retail space.
Hammond said Equity has committed to construct an 1,100-foot extension of Stone Creek Drive west of Route 256 through the development, which may be augmented to create a bypass from Route 256 to Refugee Road, depending on the future development of the area.
She said this activity also could help attract a tenant for the Big Bear space and encourage development of the proposed office park in the 600 block of Hill Road, two projects the city currently is negotiating.
Pickerington has historically struggled to establish a commercial counterbalance to the explosion of residential growth it has experienced in the last 15 years. The prospect of these developments, however, offers promise that the city can increase tax revenues and pay down debts it incurred servicing the flood of new subdivisions.
Despite the stresses new residents placed on city finances and infrastructure, the recent wave of commercial activity is a direct result of that population growth, according to John McGory, Pickerington's economic development consultant.
''In a bedroom community, you're going to need doctors, lawyers and accountants and those kinds of services, and you need offices to house them,'' McGory said.
Generally, the upswing in commercial development is attributable to an improving U.S. economy, but more specifically, businesses are attracted to safe, affluent communities, he added.

This Week continued

?“Pickerington is an attractive community, and it is the third-highest income community in the area, behind Dublin and New Albany,'' McGory said. ''Retailers love that.''
Commercial developers are moving forward with these projects, despite being subject to Pickerington's impact fees, which the city charges to finance the infrastructure necessary to support new development.
Under the impact fee ordinance, which city council passed in September, Pickerington assesses $3,470 to each newly constructed single-family home. Commercial development is charged between 46 cents and $2.50 per square foot of space.
Although impact fees would appear to be a deterrent to commercial developers, that has not necessarily been the case.
According to Equity development officer Dan Horne, these fees are comparable to some of the cost of requirements other communities impose on developers, such as traffic studies.
''Impact fees are always a concern, but we plug them into the budget and make them work,'' he said.
The fees also are becoming less of an aversion for developers because they are becoming more prevalent, he added.
Delaware and Lancaster have already implemented impact fees; many other cities in the area, including Columbus, Reynoldsburg and Newark, have considered them, as well.


scasey@thisweeknews.com

Making Road Runner Happy

Changes in works for Refugee Rd., Route 256

Thursday, June 1, 2006

By SEAN CASEY

ThisWeek Staff Writer
Safety improvements are planned at Pickerington's most dangerous intersection.
Earlier this month, the safety committee of council reviewed preliminary designs for the changes at the crossroad at Refugee Road and state Route 256, the nexus of Pickerington's commercial district.

According to Councilwoman Cristie Hammond, the initial plans include widening southbound Route 256 to provide for two left turn lanes, two through lanes and one right-turn-only lane. The city also would widen Refugee Road west of Route 256 to Windmiller Square and east of 256 to just past the Giant Eagle grocery store.

Hammond said the design also calls for construction of boulevard dividers on Refugee Road, ''but we may not include them if they cut off access to surrounding businesses.''
The city plans to reduce the speed limit through its commercial district on Hill Road North from 50 mph to 45 mph, as well.

The project would require the acquisition of easements from property owners, who Hammond said the city would consult with to draft the final design plans.

Safety improvements also would include traffic signal-preemption devices, which allow police and firefighters to turn stop lights green using transmitters in their vehicles. The devices facilitate faster response times while stopping crossing traffic at intersections.

In April, Pickerington applied for a safety grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation that would cover 90 percent of the project's estimated $3.22-million cost.

Pickerington became eligible for the safety grant after a traffic study conducted last year showed the number of accidents that occur at the intersection of state Route 256 and Refugee Road exceeds frequency standards established by ODOT.
City engineer Jennifer Frommer said ODOT is in the process of reviewing the grant application, and Pickerington should know the agency's decision within the next few weeks.
If the city receives the grant, construction would begin in early 2008.

Councilman Ted Hackworth said the safety improvements at this intersection, which has the highest vehicle crash rate in the city, have been a priority, but state aid could get the project in motion much sooner.

''We've had it on our (capital improvements plan) for about a year, but if we can get ODOT to pay for 90 percent of that, we are going to move faster on it,'' he said.

Service director Ed Drobina said at the May 11 service committee meeting that the city now would begin reviewing traffic flows at the intersection of Columbus Street and Hill Road to determine if improvements are needed there as well.

A TIF that works

Pickerington TIF helps schools

June 5, 2006


By Rick Palsgrove

Southeast Editor

Pickerington City Council will consider a commercial development plan at its June 6 meeting that will keep tax funding flowing to Pickerington Local Schools.

At a special Pickerington Finance Committee meeting May 30, the committee approved two ordinances to be forwarded to council that will amend a current tax increment finance (TIF) district and institute a new a new TIF agreement for two parcels totaling about 17 acres that Equity Inc. is planning to develop commercially.
What?’s a TIF?

According to the state of Ohio, Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is an economic development mechanism used by local governments to finance public infrastructure improvements.
A TIF locks in the taxable worth of real property at the value it holds at the time the legislation is approved. Payments derived from the increased assessed value of any improvement to real property beyond that amount are directed towards a separate fund to finance the construction of public infrastructure defined within the TIF legislation.

Local governments may authorize TIFs to fund a number of infrastructure needs including public roads and highways, water and sewer lines, remediation, land acquisition, demolition, provision of gas, electric, and communications service facilities, and the enhancement of public waterways.
The plan

The 17 acres in consideration for the new TIF are located just west of state Route 256 and will involve the extension and accompanying improvements of Stonecreek Drive 1,143 feet westward from state Route 256.

Equity Inc. plans to renovate existing office buildings in the area as well as develop: three to five new office buildings of approximately 8,000 square feet each; a strip shopping center of approximately 44,600 square feet of retail stores; and an outlot development of two to three buildings aggregating 7,000 square feet.
Attorney Steve Grasbaugh explained to the finance committee that one ordinance will remove the 17 acres from the existing 10 year, 75 percent TIF which expires in six years; and place them into a new non-school, 30 year, 100 percent TIF, which would be enacted by ordinance.

Unlike other TIFs, this non-school TIF is beneficial to public schools because the school district will continue to receive funding just as if the taxes had been collected without the TIF.

Following the meeting, Pickerington Councilman Brian Wisniewski said the non-school TIF is a first for the city.

?“It?’s phenomenal for the schools,?” said Wisniewski.

He added that the proposed TIF will be good for the city, too.