Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Hold on just a durned minute! I need some help or education here. I need the Dans, the Teds, the Brians and other posters to this site who have demonstrated some articulation to tell me what is going on in the article below.

First, is this the reason that the city/township economic agreement was so imperative to get passed as quickly as possible?

Second, if the township is so eager to establish an agreement with the city, why the hell isn?’t the city named anywhere in this article.

Third, this deal reeks of ?“County Repulicanism?”. Consider the names and ties. Smith the Mayor of Lancaster, several Lancaster councilmen, our three favorite Republican Trustees and who from Canal??. Oh, and let?’s never forget our bestest buddy, good friend and all around do-gooder Steve FREAKING Davis.

This ?“deal?” is so overt that I want to vomit. Great job Fix and buddies. Great job at keeping our city from regional cooperation. Great job at allowing Lancaster to grow while you try to landlock us.

And last I say (and I was against this in the past) to the city of Pickerington ?– ANNEX EVERY SQUARE FOOT OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AS MUNICIPLY POSSIBLE. Scew that damned township. Screw Lancaster. Screw Canal and most especially, SCREW FIX AND SHAVER AND GILLELAND for allowing any of this to have gone this far.



Communities join to share developments
Lancaster, Canal Winchester, Violet Township propose extension to 33 Growth Alliance
By CARL BURNETT JR.
The Eagle-Gazette Staff
cburnett@nncogannett.com
LANCASTER -Lancaster, Canal Winchester and Violet Township are joining together to coordinate economic development in the State Route 33 Growth Corridor.
A resolution will be introduced to Lancaster City Council on Monday allowing the municipalities to create Joint Economic Development Districts in the area.
''We have been working collaboratively with each other about establishing JEDDs when opportunities exist,'' Lancaster Mayor Dave Smith said.
A JEDD is a way for municipalities and townships to encourage economic development without modifications to jurisdictional boundaries.
''What this does is establish a way for us to share tax revenues and provide services to the area,'' Smith said.
The agreement will be in the form of what is called a Memorandum of Understanding. The governing bodies agree:
?• When an opportunity exists for a JEDD, the parties will enter into negotiations with and cooperate with one another toward the goal of creating a JEDD.
?• The manner in which the revenues come from and costs of each district will be shared, and the terms will be negotiated by the parties to the JEDD.
?• The agreement does not obligate any of them to create a specific JEDD agreement.
Smith hopes other townships along the 33 Growth Corridor also will join this effort by signing the agreement.
William Yaple, Violet Township administrator, said the memorandum just lays the groundwork for any future economic development opportunities where a JEDD could be used.
''I look at this as just an extension of the 33 Growth Alliance,'' Yaple said.
The 33 Growth Alliance was developed to promote economic development along the 33 Corridor, which refers to the stretch of U.S. 33 from Franklin County border to Lancaster.
The alliance includes state and local governing bodies with jurisdictions along U.S. 33 in Fairfield County.
Yaple said separate agreements determine who would provide utility services and how the tax revenues generated from future development would be divided.
''There is no telling when a JEDD could be established,'' Yaple said. ''The goal is for all of us to cooperate on development of the 33 corridor.''



By Sam

You mean the last 3 years

It begs to ask how long these meetings have been in progress.

Seems to me that's what happened last time with Canal. Will Canal have to sign an agreement not allowing annexations? Oh yea, by the way, we were asked to the table this time. We were the pig with the apple in its mouth about to be eaten.

How long has Mr. Fix known about this or did his friends keep him in the dark? All we need is love, love, love.

How does the 90+ acre property that supposedly McGrory/Acari (former township, Pick, and Canal eco. dev. directors) are involved fit into this? Seems to me it makes Bushman's deal look like buying and selling a used car compared to buying or selling the automaker!

Our ''neighbors'' are so friendly. Didn't council sign some letter of agreement in the last couple of years with Lancaster about something trivial and our mayor/council gave the appearance of cooperation?

Didn't we just help Canal with emergency water?Didn't we taxpayers give the township $220,000.00 for nuttin', honey?

The mayor/council majority needs to explain this asap. If they are aware of this agreement and haven't said anything...that's terrible.

And if they didn't know about it...
Maybe I'll call Councilwoman Hammond at home. I'd love to hear her answer this morning without another councilman making her lips move.

Where are elected defenders of this city? Didn't they understand what we elected them to do? Sorry, boys and girls, you can't blame staff for this one. This on you.



By Not just 3 weeks

Time for Merger or paper twp?

Not knowing what is in this MOU (between Canal, Lancaster and Violet) it would be hard to comment on it?’s real meaning. I do believe that this does indicate the urgency that those who favored the development agreement between Pickerington and Violet was because they knew they (Violet & Canal) were working with others in the area. If Pickerington gives up its rights to annex and its rights to conform its boundaries these other parties with drain the Pickerington treasury dry in capital investments to develop others areas of the county with little or no return for the Pickerington Taxpayers. This development agreement would not have prevented this from happening. However it would have prevented the city from having any real leverage in any future negotiations.

The problem here is very simple. For Violet township to develop it needs capital investments into infrastructure. Being a township they have very little ability to borrow money or the authority to build that infrastructure. I am sure the leaders of Lancaster and Canal Winchester will not be giving away the store or their city treasury to these new potential developments. If a development agreement does result from this MOU, I can assure you it will be much different that the one currently before the voters of Pickerington.

Also it should be noted here that the council minority did offer the compromise in December and Fix rejected it. That compromise will probably be a better deal for the township than these other two cites will EVER give them.

Logic tells me that Lancaster is trying to keep Columbus out of this agreement. However Columbus has more resources than anyone else in central Ohio. They recently entered into a JEDD agreement for the Rickenbacker development. Same people different place. The fact remains that there is very little land available along US 33 that is also in the PLSD. The only significant piece (over 100 acres) is owned by the Dunlap family. I would look for 5 and 10 acres parcels to be scattered over the southern parts of the Township with different jurisdictions in each one and a nightmare to administer.

I will let you all connect the dots from here.

The township residents may take a second think about the idea of a merger.


By Dan

A sucker born every day

The Mayor and the majority of Council were suckered. No wonder that Fix was in such a hurry to get this agreement through committee and not wastes time with compromises. MOU's are not were the paper they are written on Let's see them now eat each other in this future JEDD.

By P.T. Barnum