Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Let me try to recap some of the issues currently causing polarity in the community. Perhaps if Coyote and Roadrunner list them as separate topics of the week, some clearer understanding can be realized through a more focused discussion on each.

1. Creation of a City Township. It has been suggested that since the city and township are again at a stalemate regarding ?“cooperation?” between the entities, that the city secede from Violet Township and create their own. This will result in the need for the city to capitalize the percentage of the Fire Department that they have paid for and establish their own Fire Department. Reading the press and this website, it appears that all of the elected officials in Canal Winchester and the city have changed since the last attempt at JEDDs, CEDAs or other avenues of ?“cooperation?”. The only constant is the township trustees.

There are some who expressed interest in once again studying the potential of a merger between the city and township to end annexation wars, lawsuits and the constant turmoil between the entities.

Is the creation of a city township a prudent course of action that the city, in defense of its residents and taxpayers, look into or would a merger be a more sensible course of action?

2. Economic Development. The developer for the big box project in the township has withdrawn their rezoning request. While countless people, initiatives and elections have resulted in what is perceived by some to be slow growth advocates in office, and while the township has for years accused the city only of unrestrained growth, now an opportunity has passed for the township to make their case after all these years of accusations to take a large parcel of land in the township that, with some foresight, would have been a beneficial economic boon to entities such as the schools. They missed their golden opportunity to rub the city?’s nose in their success.

Do you feel ?“the people have spoken?” with the organized opposition that formed against the rezoning and development? Or do you feel that a small population of NIMBYs have subverted all the anti-residential / pro-commercial progress that has taken place in the last couple of years?

How do we want to grow?

3. There is apparently a faction that has taken it upon themselves to look into the possibility of creating a city school district and seceding from PLSD and leaving the township schools to their own devices.

Is there any possible upside to a permanent division in the only facet of Pickerington not already divided by geography or tax rates? Talk says one way to get the attention of the State in listening to an argument to create a city school district is to allow the current district to qualify for State watch. Obviously we won?’t fall under academic watch but if the city residents are convinced that a city district is the best course of action and vote against each and every levy, we could potentially fall under economic watch.

To what ends will the group investigating a city school district go to in order to get their way? Will it be like the anti-big box advocates? Will it be like the citizen-driven initiatives that changed the face of city government?

I feel we are at an historic crossroad in this community. Although I feel fortunate to be living history I am concerned that there are too many individuals who are strong players who have very personal agendas and serving the best interests of the community and looking to heal rifts and join forces for the greater good will take a back seat to personal prosperity.

It is one thing to have been a resident of Gettysburg and when the battle began, pick up a weapon and pick a side. It is quite another to stop along the road and look at the train wreck that has already occurred.

More homes coming to Violet Twp

Your summation was very good and very near the points being discussed at Council. I think at this point none of us know the full story. After reading this web site and going down to the Library and reviewing some documents in the local papers I find that in 2001 the Violet Township and Canal Winchester entered into a CEDA. During those meetings Pickerington was NOT invited and it says so in the local media at the time.

In the current CEDA area there are very few Violet Township voters and taxpayers, if any, that are in the Pickerington Local School District. Most are in the Canal District. Why is this significant?

To answer the above question you must also know the answer to why the Diley Road US 33 interchange exists. At the risk of reviving the Diley Road widening debate. Clearly there were plans in place many years ago to development an industrial park at Diley Road and US 33. To make those plans work or be viable they had to have ALL of the pieces of the puzzle in place. They had to have the utilities (Water and Sewer) access and other safety services available.

On March 27th 1996 Pickerington and Canal Winchester entered into a water sewer agreement to service the area in question. Pickerington would provide the water and Canal would provide the sewer. Utilities normally do not make money for a municipality and by law they can?’t. Normally municipalities provide utilities to control development and to reap the benefits of that development. Do any of you believe that the officials in charge at Pickerington in 1996 were only interested in building more homes near US 33? I believe they fully expected to receive the benefits of their efforts of this agreement.

The location of the Diley Road interchange was also very important for an industrial park in the further you are away from an interchange the less value the property is for economic development. Look; who was in charge to locate the interchange right through the middle of the Canal Winchester School District. The second piece of that puzzle was that Pickerington agreed in 1997 to designate Diley Road as a Minor Arterial road. This set in motion and the commitment from ODOT to place the interchange right in the middle of the Canal Winchester School district. This gave Canal TWO interchanges within their school district.

For a municipality to commit to and build the required infrastructure for an industrial park it takes years of planning and huge outlays of money. Despite the willingness of Pickerington to spend their tax dollars to provide the infrastructure and to subsidize the township fire department they were not allowed by either Canal Winchester and Violet Township to join and reap any of the benefits no matter how small.

More homes coming Cont.

As posted below the City is in debt and to develop another interchange and create the infrastructures needed to attract another industrial park are gone. The trustees seem to be hell bent on denying the City of Pickerington from ever annexing any more township land and they have carried that to the point where they have cut their nose off to spite their face. The reality here is that there will probably never be any kind of economic development at Allen Road. The trustees seem to think that Canal Winchester will jump for joy to spend their taxpayer?’s dollars to develop an interchange at Allen Road and create the potential for another industrial park in the Pickerington Local School district. Despite that industrial zoning along US 33 it will be extremely difficult to do without a huge input of local tax dollars.


Is it in the best interest of the Pickerington City council to commit more tax dollars to an industrial park and interchange only to have the door slammed in their face 10 years from now? Is still making quotes about members of former Pickerington city administrations a valid excuse to continue to deny any cooperation from the Township? Have the Trustees over played their hand this time? Will the current City government overreact like the Joyce and Randy did in 2001 and make the trustees case? Is it about the 2% Canal income tax versus the Pickerington 1% that everyone wants to share? You can only divide that revenue so many ways.