Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Give it up Pickerington the fix is in or should I say ?“out?” as in out of touch with reality.

In 1996, 1997 and 1998 Pickerington worked with Canal Winchester and Violet Township to widen Diley Road, expand and provide water service to what is now Canal Pointe Industrial Park and then indirectly the new home buyers in the villages of Sycamore Creek and Fox Glen paid Canal their tap fees with the money channeled through our dear friends at Dominion Homes to pay for most of the Canal sewer plant expansion in 1999. So the Canal Pointe Industrial Park was made possible by the taxpayers of Pickerington. Yet they receive ZERO BENEFIT.

I am sure even the Former Pickerington City Manager would have expected something in return for all of the public funds and resources Pickerington committed in the late 90s to get something out of the future industrial development along US 33. NOPE NOTHING!! Canal Winchester partnered with Violet Township who had provided nothing to this development other that their geographies. In a fit of rage the Former Pickerington City Manager embarked on her annex to US 33 policy.

To not get into political jeopardy with the township voters (around 40% of whom live in Pickerington) they started their campaign to bash the former Pickerington City government. They successfully convinced many members of the newly formed PATA group that the entire Pickerington City Hall was evil and corrupt.

At the time, it was very easy to make that case based on some of the actions and comments coming out of the Pickerington City Hall. Pickerington had a City Manager that had taken purchase options on land later annexed and rezoned into the city for more homes. She negotiated annexations in her policy to annex to US 33 by giving away tap fee money and other incentives we will probably never know about.

However in light of the fact that these same two government entities (Violet and Canal) have now rejected a whole new Pickerington City government and including one of their own (Jeff Fix) it appears that there was some amount of truth in what Randy Hughes and Joyce Bushman were trying to warn the City voters about in 2001.




By Brit

OPPS continued


Despite the huge capital investments that the Pickerington Tax payers have made over the last ten years to make the Canal Pointe Industrial Park possible there will forever be only two beneficiaries of the revenue Violet Township and Canal Winchester. I can hear Jeff Fix asking now ?“say it ain?’t so Gary.?” Jeff there is still a Santa Claus. Honest!!

The annex to US 33 policy has been foiled by none other than the Village of Lithopolis. They annexed some properties along Winchester Southern Road last year which blocked the direct path of annexation to the Yaple Family farms in Bloom and Violet Townships. Remember Violet Township taking Canal Winchester part again by suing Lithopolis.

The only other path to the Yaple Farms is through the PLSD lands on either side of US 33 the same area that the Former City Manager wanted to annex in 2001. The master plan for this development consists of 1,400 homes plus a retail strip mall. Water and sewer will be provided by Fairfield County Utilities. Our wonderful Township Trustees claim to be looking out for the PLSD. Are they?

My friend in Canal says they are waiting for a court case to be settled and the next day or shortly after that they will file additional annexation applications to block Pickerington from going any further south and to protect the family farms and the interests of large land owners in the township down in that area.

They are actually trying to provoke the Pickerington City officials again to get them to commit more taxpayer money then slam the door in their face like they did in the late 90s.

The trustees are so confident that Pickerington will be stupid enough to bite again that they have hire Britney Spears to sing at the Township?’s Violet Festival in 2008 ?“OPPS I DID IT AGAIN.?”








By DEVA