Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Article published Apr 19, 2006
Violet Township trustees delay vote on rezoning issue
Residents voice opposition to changing residential property to commercial at public hearing
By ALAINA FAHY
The Eagle-Gazette Staff
afahy@nncogannett.com
VIOLET TOWNSHIP - Marvin Capehart remembers when John and Rita Ricketts called him and his mother to ask them to sign a petition to slow growth in Violet Township. Now the Ricketts want to sell about 70 acres of their farm to a developer.
The Ricketts and two other families want the trustees to approve a zoning change from residential property to commercial property. The change would mean big-box retailers could move into the area.
About 300 residents attended the sometimes tense public meeting Tuesday night to voice their opinion about the rezoning request. Capehart was among those at the meeting. And he's not happy with the idea of a big-box retailer opening in the township.
''Don't do it,'' he said to the township trustees listening to public comments.
But the Ricketts say they don't have a choice because they can't afford to keep up with the development and continue to run their farm.
''We never ever dreamt that we would be asking to change from agriculture. But we couldn't control the development,'' John Ricketts said to the crowd in the Pickerington High School North auditorium.
More than 300 residents attended the first hearing for the zoning request in March. About as many people went to Tuesday's meeting where the Fairfield County Sheriff's Offices supplied extra security to help control the crowd, and one man was escorted out of the building after shouting at Rita Ricketts.
People distributed fliers with information about the negative impact a Wal-Mart would have on local communities prior to the meeting. Some people fear that a Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, may be one of the big-box retailers to build on the land.
The fear was compounded by telephone calls from Sprawl-Busters, a Massachusetts-based grassroots organization, encouraging residents to attend a public hearing March 23 and take a stand against Wal-Mart. An organization official said 5,000 residents were called.
But a Wal-Mart official said the company does not have any plans to build a store in the area in question.
Don and Carmella Smith and their daughter and son-in-law Kelly and Michael Saunders own 36 acres they also want to sell. Neither the Smiths nor the Saunders spoke at Tuesday's meeting.
A rezoning change would allow the land to be used for a potential development project that would include big-box retailers, offices and outparcels. TLG Development Company Inc. would be the developer of the potential project. David Fisher, attorney for TLG, refused to say what big-box company may move in.
The Ricketts say it's their right to sell their land.
But some at the meeting don't think the Ricketts realize how many people the property rezoning will affect.
''They have the constitutional right to sell their property,'' said Pickerington resident Julie Myers who attended the meeting. ''But their constitutional rights cannot interfere with the 300 of us.''
Violet Township Trustees listened to the public and tried to address questions ranging from what big-box retailer will move in to what will happen to traffic in the township.

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News continued

They looked to Fisher for many answers after public comment ended. But Fisher had few answers to give. They did not vote on the rezoning. Fisher was given a continuance for 90 days. He plans to begin a traffic study to answer some questions about what changes the township can expect.
But some residents are concerned about more than the traffic issue in the township.
Brenda James, 59, of Pickerington, and her husband, Herb, 59, enjoy watching their grandchildren play in their front yard. But the couple is afraid that may change if a big box commercial building moves in to the township.
The roads would have to be widened, Herb said. And that means his front yard on Pickerington Road will be used to make that widening happen.
Brenda said when she and her husband moved to Pickerington 30 years ago, it was because of the quiet and peaceful community. Now that has all changed.
It used to take Herb about 20 minutes to get from his house to work in Columbus. Now that time has doubled because of congested streets. He's afraid the commute may be even longer if a big box store comes into the township.
''I don't care who it is, we don't have room for another big box,'' Herb said.

Doug Parker's words of wisdom

Last time I heard the plea that rezoning was necessary to allow a property owner to sell their land, it was Doug Parker speaking. He, and his Pickerington City Council buddies supported the rezoning, of the farm land on Diley Rd., to residential. This land, with prime access to the new Diley interchange on 33, would have been optimal for commercial use. Instead, hundreds of more homes have been built/are planned. Not only have these homes added to the overcrowding of the schools, but they also contribute to the traffic on Diley Rd.

More homes will bring traffic problems on Refugee, as well as road wear and tear. More homes means more kids in our already overcrowded schools. Commercial development offers some (school property) tax relief to residential property owners. Certainly, any commercial development should be approved responsibly, with roads, traffic, lighting, etc. taken into consideration.

I'm not convinced that the current landowners' request is all that unreasonable. Certainly, there's room for negotiation and Violet doesn't have to ''give away the store'' to attract businesses to this area. I'd prefer commercial to residential, even if in my own backyard. This area has changed drastically from even 15 years ago. I sure didn't get any promises, when I built my house, that rezoning wouldn't occur on nearby roads, that high density housing wouldn't be built across the street, or that a freeway interchange wouldn't be around the corner.

Big Box Costs and Benefits

As I've said before, this is a tough one.

I sympathize with the Ricketts family. It has become impractical to continue farming the 60 acres they wish to sell to the big box developer. You can't expect a farmer to hold onto land that he can't farm, and to continue paying taxes on it. And there are only so many buyers out there.

This community also needs to build a strong commercial tax base, to take some of the burden of funding our schools off the backs of homeowners. But not all commercial development will accomplish that result.

This proposed development not only is flat contrary to the township's new land use plan, but cannot be supported by current roads and infrastructure. The developer proposes a new connector from Ault Road to Allen Road, running through the middle of the property, to take some of the burden off Refugee Road. But I cannot honestly see how that would help.

The big question, though, is whether there are any benefits to this project that would outweigh its obvious costs. The developer claims the big boxes and their offspring would produce additional tax revenue, including $500,000 per year for the school district. But the developer also wants tax increment financing (another ''TIF'') and other tax abatements for the project. So there go the tax revenues.

Indeed, this project would be, not a revenue producer, but a revenue drain for this community. Not only would we collect little, if any, additional tax revenue, but we taxpayers also would be required, in one way or another, to pay for the proposed Ault/Allen connector, as well as for widening Refugee Road, among other things. It is far from clear that we could afford all of this.

This connector has never been part of the township's land use plan, and it is hard to see any use for it, except to serve the proposed big box development. Indeed, I doubt that it would even do that development much good.

I see lots of costs, and few benefits. In addition to traffic congestion, we would be bringing another potential Brice Road into our midst. These big box retailers seem to move from one community to another, as their tax abatements run out, leaving urban blight in their wake.

Such a development also would place a tremendous burden on our police and fire departments. I am told that our fire department already must respond to repeated emergency calls from the Reynoldsburg big box village. And big boxes breed crime -- all of this kitty-corner from our North school complex.

The big boxes would create additional jobs -- but most of them low-pay, low-benefits jobs that few of us would want. They likely would be filled by outsiders who, not living in the school district (or even being able to afford to live in the school district), would pay no school district income tax.

When all is said and done, the only real benefit to this community that I can see in all of this is that these 106 acres would, at least, not add any enrollment to our schools. But this benefit seems overwhelmed by the project's costs.

Why should we open our wallets, offer some developer tax and other incentives, and make a major departure from our land use plan, for a project that clearly will do this community considerable harm and no good?

As much as I sympathize with the Ricketts family, it all comes down to that. And I do not have any answer. Does anyone else?



By Yosemite Pam