Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

about Pataskala

I am glad the disaster in Pataskala is playing out before our eyes, we can learn from this!!

One thing you have to remember is that the merger in Pataskala was not some back room deal made by a few people, it had to go through he same steps we would have to take and it had to be voted on! Obviously those on the commission there and the voters had to study the issue and they made some mistakes. Could the same thing happen here... I think so! Has everyone on the board here been happy with past leadership in this community and has it always led us down the path to better things???I think not!

I think Pataskala merged because it did not want Columbus moving in around it not Reynoldsburg. Reynoldsburg depends on Columbus Water and sewer, as some of you know if you accept Columbus as your utility provider, well the contract stipulates you have to leave annexation corridors open for Columbus to continue to expand around you. This is why Columbus is not surrounded by suburbs in many places that stop its growth and a key reason why it has thrived in some respects versus Cleveland and Cincinnati. Whether this spider armed metropolis of Columbus provides a decent level of service to all of its residents is of course a topic of debate, and many would say the service is piss poor!

Anyhow some like Pickerington, Fairfield county even pataskala or Licking County decided to spin up their on utilities to be able to direct their destiny without having to go begging for services to flush and drink, and then they would not be dictated to by Columbus. It is very expensive to do this, but it sure has shaped the East side in many respects.

Reynoldsburg will annex along Palmer Road in LIcking county in the next few years once the housing market rebounds. They will develop that strip along the fairfield/ licking line that abuts Haaf Farms and Chevington Woods, runs past NE Acres and out farther east behind Violet Meadows out to SR 310. IT will take a long time though whenever the housing market rebounds... look for that high density reynoldsburg stuff out your back window.

You guys/gals have a vision on how this merger idea could work, if it does come to pass, I would hope you would vie to sit on any merger commission, you ask the right questions and maybe could convince those in the township that paying more would be worth it. Thank you for an intelligent discussion on this forum, it is very welcome!



By closet philosopher

School district at risk

Since the court ordered busing of the 60s and 70s we find a lot of different strategies being used by large cities to gain land and shift the infrastructure burdens off onto their neighbors. This has been a chess match for over 40 years now and those that are not prepared have drawn the short straw. As the Closet Philosopher stated Columbus has used its water and sewer systems to leverage land owners into annexing into Columbus. Even cities like Gahanna, Reynoldsburg and Groveport all took the bait and contracted with Columbus. Those politicians that agreed to these terms are all probably long gone by now but the control by Columbus over these cities still stands. I believe at one time the Pickerington Utilities Commission considered contracting with Columbus for sewer capacity. I believe it was quickly discarded.

Clearly water and sewer are two big infrastructure needs of any community. The third piece of infrastructure is the school system and how it is funded. Columbus kept the heavy industry and tax producing properties within the Columbus school district taxation areas. In areas where the land being considered for annexation was residential and that property was in a suburban school district they build as many homes as they could get away with and didn?’t worry about the consequences of providing education to their own citizens. For the most part, education in Central Ohio in growth areas has fallen on the shoulders of the suburban property owners and taxpayers. I think we can all point to areas where the commercial is in the Columbus public system district and the residential ends up in a suburban school district.

This strategy is a win-win for Columbus. They use their ability to provide just the water and sewer to annexed lands and not have to take on the burden of education. I think we could fill this site up with examples of what I am talking about. Just follow Refugee Road west and look at the run down stores and properties.

So how can the Pickerington Local School District prevent the lands within its district from being developed as residential and have control over future annexations into our school district. I think the trustees would have you believe that they have protected us all with this JEDD agreement and now their port authority. They basically have reserved some swamp land down along U.S. 33 that has very little future commercial value and could very easily be gobbled up by an adjoining municipality. Look at what Lithopolis did to Violet Township and Canal Winchester a year or so ago.

I believe there is a real threat to the school district and its future if the community sits back and does nothing over the next ten years. The township does NOT have the wherewithal to develop the lands they want without outside forces and those outside forces will extract a pound of flesh for their help. I think the citizens of the city and the residents of the township have one common bond (despite efforts to split the two) and that bond is the school district. I believe the City and Canal have a decent relationship at the moment but that could change in an election cycle or two. I believe we also have a threat from the north side and that is from Reynoldsburg. They have already shown signs of expansion into Licking county and will they see an opportunity in northern Fairfield county? I know one way to stop this and control our own density. Merge

By BB