Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance Discussions


PATA and the CEDA

1-25-2001
The proposed CEDA between the Violet Township Trustees and the village of Canal Winchester really sticks it to the residents largely served by these same Township Trustees. As I have repeatedly heard members of PATA and this community at large, we want industrial development to offset our property tax base.
This CEDA will further delay if not totally close off the possibility of the City of Pickerington's industrial park.

This area established is in the Canal Winchester School District. This area is also at the ''vital to industrial development'' 33 corridor. All talk the importance of location..location..location! Whether the parties want to admit the effects or not, this does cut off the City of Pickerington at the knees! Don't fool yourself! The makers of the CEDA also know it!

I am sick of the continued one-upmanship displayed. PATA member and Violet Township Trustee, Gary Weltlick supported this CEDA agreement. Truth be known, I bet he is largely responsible. How about those campaign promises and touting of the need for cooperation? What happened? Did you get caught up in the revenge game, Gary?

Is this the way we want the leadership to head when our community also needs the industrial development and is also relying on the 33 corridor? Our Township Trustees sat in joint community meetings with the City of Pickerington and the School District. All along they have been negotiating with Canal Winchester whom they never invited to these same meetings. A CEDA certainly didn't spring up over night!

Mayor Hughes did invite Violet Township to get their attorneys together with the city attorneys for the discussion of CEDA's and JEDD's in his letter dated 1-16-01 as Bob Harding so generously posted on your website.

Further, the Violet Township Trustees did not unanimously support this CEDA. However, being a gentleman, I do believe Mr. Diley moves on when the vote has been counted.

Why are my tax dollars being spent specifically to upgrade roads for a very small portion of the Township that will never benefit our school district? I know some of the tax dollars belong to the Canal/Violet Township residents, but they are small in comparison to the whole. Just which bed have their boots been under?

Just why does Violet Township think that Canal Winchester is going to be so sharing of the ''booty'' proceeds? In similar fashion, as seems to be relevant to such political matters, I guess we are going to get to watch ourselves get the boot in the ''end''. Yes, folks I believe Canal will be laughing all the way to the bank!

How about some real cooperation here with some other kind of agreement that will not close off the door to that industrial park? After all has there not been enough yammering yet about the need to offset the property tax base with industrial? That involves adding more than Canal Winchester to your agreement. I do believe most of us already know that the geography places Canal on the map before Pickerington in that corridor. Let's look down the road! Better yet, why don't you just insert this CEDA into the shredder? Then go back to the table with the best interest of the whole at heart and craft a good agreement for this community. Plan not revenge!!!
-By Anonymous





By Fallen Soldier

Hope lost in Gary Weltlich

Lisa Ross?’ answer to anonymous above

City can do a CEDA too

1-25-2001
Jan 25, 2001
I see that school district officials appear to be worried about the ''lost'' industrial park potential. Why doesn't Pickerington enter into a CEDA with the Township now to build that industrial park in our school district? Nothing is stopping them except for their desire to have absolute control over everything in the Township. They decided long ago to annex all land on the way down to that ''industrial corridor'' on SR 33 and in the process, they fill up the annexed land with thousands of single family homes to reach their goal. Then they will quickly tax abate the industrial park and another generation of our children will pay the price of bulging, underfunded schools while we wait for this industrial tax revenue to come in. Oh, of course they will ''make the district whole''.....after it is assailed by the population of students from the homes that they loaded the land with.... in order to annex to the location of the cherished industrial park. They will be unable to ''make the district whole'' for the increased student population...the taxpayers will have to do it once again. Bottom line...Pickerington needs to sit down with township officials and form a CEDA now for the ''mythical industrial park'' in our school district. Then the pressure to annex all the land in the township to get there will decrease, and the waste of duplication of infrastructure systems can stop. Both sides would ultimately win. Of course,The city would lose it's ability to have absolute control and would have to share revenue. The cost of doing it the other way is too great to the community! Sacrifice is absolutely essential on the part of the city or as taxpayers, we are doomed to endless pleas to fund increasing demands with our dollars
-By Lisa Ross


Although I respect Lisa Ross and her work aa a community activist she was off base in 2001 when she made this posting on the PATA web site. CEDA are noting more than a pre-annexation agreement. Now looking at a new group of administrators and city hall officials in Pickerington the same thing happened as happened in 2001. Many of us scoffed at Anonymous and his posting here but in retrospect he was right! He was probably on the inside of city Hall and knew the truth. I am afraid we were all suckered in 2001 and the Trustees were taken in by Canal Winchester. Clearly for Pickerington to get to US 33 and develop the
''mythical industrial Park as Lisa describes it is lost forever now. Canal Winchester and I understand they have started the process to continue Annexation down south to totally block Pickerington fro US 33. I would look for the Snyder property to announce they have applied to annex into Canal once the current law suit in front of the Ohio Supreme court is settled.




By Fallen Soldier

Time for a paper township

I am applaud by what I have been reading on this web site. In 2001 we had all of these guys out in the Township wearing White hats telling everyone how they will save our school district from the evil Pickerington. I had so much hope for Gary Weltlich and he has failed us all.

I will tell you that the City and it?’s residents are faced with a dilemma in where and what it will do in the future. In the past it was suggested that The City of Pickerington and Violet Township merge. That was promptly met with a survey much like our school surveys that the township resident would NEVER agree to a merger.

They claimed amount other things that the taxes were too high in the City. They claimed that got good service from the Fire Department and their road crews. Most in the township viewed those at 100 Lockville Road as crooks and were not bashful about stating that publicly. For years now there have been wars between the City and the Township over annexations. I am hopeful that some of that has subsided. However it concerns me that absent of township activists, Harry Meyers takes it upon himself to blast the City Council in their chambers in front of the press. Harry I didn?’t miss the comment in the paper about the city taking in the half million dollars in impact fees. If you and your counter parts on that trustee board had some balls you would impose impact fees for the fire department. So stop the damn whining about money when you have been rapping the city taxpayers for years now. Exactly where does OUR city taxpayers money go? What do you use that $180,000 per year for administrative costs? It appears you use it to sue Pickerington on a regular basis.

I have been house bound this week with a very sick family member. It has given ample time to take some long hard looks at the truth about the two communities of Violet Township and the City of Pickerington and how they are funded.

I am so upset with what I know so far that I am encouraging the Pickerington City Council to form their own township and fire department. Clearly Violet has totally block Pickerington from EVER getting to US 33. What Ms Ross fails to address in her comments is how does the Township pay for infrastructure by itself? To develop US area it will require huge amounts of cash and that will come from whom ever. I doubt if it will be Pickerington. To make the project worthwhile it will require revenues in the future. Maybe some from income taxes some from property taxes.

It looks to me that the City could fund a Fire department and manage what ever administrative costs are associated with the Township .6 mill inside millage. In fact I think the City could save its taxpayer money by a simple tax reform and levy reform.

Clearly this is the ONLY option left to Pickerington.


I will be visiting a lawyer this week to discuss how we can circulate a petition to form a City Township. I think the City has changed their method of approving initiative petitions. I will also be talking about the process of forming a City School district.





By Fallen Soldier

You do not have enough money

The city is in so much debt now, how do you think they will create a fire department? With what?

You duplicated sewer and water for many years, and now after the Bushman adminstration gave away all the tap fees revnue by waiving it in pre annexation agreements, your utility system cannot support itself with out huge fee increases while the developers go to the bank with many millions of free water and sewer.

WE already have police cruisers passing each other on the streets, now fire engines and emergency services....go take a drive down Tussing Road in Columbus, enjoy the smooth pavement, the lack of response time for emergency services and the people there do not even know what a snow plow looks like...why, paper township...no money to pave plow or improve. All you have to do is look to Columbus for your example of brillance.

Then drive up Mink Road in Pataskala, or frankly any road in Pataskala. They cannot pave them because they are broke! Why, when they merged they got the responsiblity for hundreds of addtional miles of roadway, it is easy to tell the Pataskala border, it is where Licking County paves the roads and they are smooth and maintained.

There have got to be more solutions than repeating the mistakes of others, learn from them.

Fallen Soldier, you will fall on your sword in this effort, most people do not understand it, nor do they wish to.

By to pay for fire