By all accounts, the three year effort to create a JEDD is falling apart. I think the more people weigh in on the JEDD the more they realize the weakness and short comings of the idea.
Those that live in the city that supports the idea simply say that it is beyond the reach of Pickerington to ever annex the lands down along US 33 and this is free money. The initial investment stated in the agreement indicates that Pickerington would only spend $5,000. However further down in the document it states we (Pickerington) must help defend against lawsuits and others trying to annex the lands within these JEDD areas. As we have found out over the years defending annexation agreements are very costly and I don?’t think our city needs to be spending our money to help the township government defend their flawed agreements.
Those in the township promote this idea as an act of cooperation. However once the cities sign on to this agreement they no longer have any control over the future of any kind of development. The township do reserve the rights to ask for money to provide infrastructure for this future development. I think Canal Winchester is also realizing that they have spent their money to provide for an industrial park within their school district and made an agreement with Violet Township for a modest service payment each year to maintain the roads in their city. I doubt that Canal is rolling in the cash as they say they are. With its income tax sharing they are helping their school system despite the massive lay offs that the CW district is facing now.
The fact is this is not an act of cooperation on the part of the township. They simply can?’t develop any commercial property in the township without the debt capacity and the borrowing ability of a municipality. If they could they would have already have been doing it. The only commercial development you will see is going to be on existing hard roads with the utilities in the ground. With the hard feelings recent created by the challenge for Commissioner Shupe's office by Mr. Weltlich and most of the Pickerington City Council don?’t look for a lot of help coming from the commissioners anytime soon.
This proposed JEDD creates an area within Violet Township that will be off limits to any municipality wanting to annex except those closet to the prime development properties along US 33. This is an act or an attempted act to create a dead zone in the township that protects the township from annexations. Or at least that is the goal of the trustees. No one on either side has bothered to analyze the numbers to see exactly how much growth is going to be there and when. Without a project in mind and without numbers to look at this JEDD will flush away most of the good developments within the Pickerington School district and leave us more of a bedroom community than we are currently.
Clearly we need some new direction and some new ideas to solve this community?’s development issues. I think before we get any new ideas we need to see what the community will support. I don?’t think the JEDD is the answer.
By Ted Hackworth
Those that live in the city that supports the idea simply say that it is beyond the reach of Pickerington to ever annex the lands down along US 33 and this is free money. The initial investment stated in the agreement indicates that Pickerington would only spend $5,000. However further down in the document it states we (Pickerington) must help defend against lawsuits and others trying to annex the lands within these JEDD areas. As we have found out over the years defending annexation agreements are very costly and I don?’t think our city needs to be spending our money to help the township government defend their flawed agreements.
Those in the township promote this idea as an act of cooperation. However once the cities sign on to this agreement they no longer have any control over the future of any kind of development. The township do reserve the rights to ask for money to provide infrastructure for this future development. I think Canal Winchester is also realizing that they have spent their money to provide for an industrial park within their school district and made an agreement with Violet Township for a modest service payment each year to maintain the roads in their city. I doubt that Canal is rolling in the cash as they say they are. With its income tax sharing they are helping their school system despite the massive lay offs that the CW district is facing now.
The fact is this is not an act of cooperation on the part of the township. They simply can?’t develop any commercial property in the township without the debt capacity and the borrowing ability of a municipality. If they could they would have already have been doing it. The only commercial development you will see is going to be on existing hard roads with the utilities in the ground. With the hard feelings recent created by the challenge for Commissioner Shupe's office by Mr. Weltlich and most of the Pickerington City Council don?’t look for a lot of help coming from the commissioners anytime soon.
This proposed JEDD creates an area within Violet Township that will be off limits to any municipality wanting to annex except those closet to the prime development properties along US 33. This is an act or an attempted act to create a dead zone in the township that protects the township from annexations. Or at least that is the goal of the trustees. No one on either side has bothered to analyze the numbers to see exactly how much growth is going to be there and when. Without a project in mind and without numbers to look at this JEDD will flush away most of the good developments within the Pickerington School district and leave us more of a bedroom community than we are currently.
Clearly we need some new direction and some new ideas to solve this community?’s development issues. I think before we get any new ideas we need to see what the community will support. I don?’t think the JEDD is the answer.
By Ted Hackworth
