Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

answer of 2 out of 3

Well Tim,

We must have a growing number of gamblers out there that like to increase their odds with multiple guesses. Maybe this web discussion would be a good lesson in statistical odds and probability.

On the probability side I?’ll tackle your guesses in order. (but have to continue to an additional posting for the third)

#1 Obetz ?– Good try. As you pointed out they have given the tax abatements and will soon be receiving the advantages of the expiration of some of these. It?’s a wise move for City?’s (or Village?’s) to plan and expend their resources for a positive cash flow in the future. It?’s interesting that our Community?’s Economic Director was a Zoning Official in Obetz in the past. Once hired here you?’ll note that she is the contact person for the multiple subdivisions that are being rammed through our zoning process. It?’s got to be trying to schedule all of these 10 minute ?“Public Hearings?” into the meeting schedules. If only we could get these hearings out of the way the Dominion, Homewood, Fannin folks could get on with our Community?’s ?“Economic Growth?”. However, Obetz?’s Council has fallen into the trap of ?“Emergency Legislation?” of zoning issues and faces opposition from its citizens in the form of referendums and initiatives. It is still a community where its citizen?’s want do process. No, ?“Mystery Community?” XXX isn?’t Obetz.

#2 Groveport ?– Another stab, but alias just a stab. Groveport is flooded with upcoming housing projects. They have residents attending public meetings opposing sites where commercial / industrial projects are proposed. The win-win situation with Columbus to provide sewer & water service has them landlocked. That agreement will be flooding this already strapped school system with even more load. They do have commercial / industrial, yet struggle to keep these industries in town when abatements expire. Community?’s that stay vibrant ?– with good schools ?– have an easier time attracting and maintaining their business clients. By citizen initiative, Groveport?’s population did enact a Charter amendment to limit the use of ?“Emergency Legislation?” a few years back. The challenge for Groveport ?– like so many other communities ?– is to get a handle on the number of residential housing starts. Continue their efforts to improve their schools and keep a community environment where businesses what to be. They sure have a lot of geographic advantages and need to take advantage of them. Zoning decisions are about LAND USE. We continue to get the dribble about property owner?’s rights ?– which are an annexation issue. Zoning is about what is the right application of uses on the land within a community. Groveport ?– like Pickerington ?– just doesn?’t get this. ?“Mystery Community?” XXX isn?’t Groveport either.

3rd of your guesses

#3 Canal Winchester ?– Again a good try ?– did the 950 acres of land lead your to this one? I was wondering when someone would guess our neighbor. Canal did identify their commercial / industrial needs to broaden their tax base in 1990. They focused on the area where Canal Pointe Industrial Park now stands. It?’s ironic that in 1993 Pickerington identified much of this same land for their ?“Business Park?”. Monkey see ?– Monkey do? There are 2 major differences.
1. This land is within the Canal Winchester School District ?– not the PLSD. It begs the question of why our residents didn?’t stand up and shout this fact years ago? Those of you that have received our most recent Newsletter (or seen the posting on ?“Our Pages?”) have seen the maps and know the facts.
2. Canal Winchester took action and in 1995 they purchased land in some of this area through a bond and began to market the potential of the land use that is now Canal Pointe. Their willingness to utilize their debt capacity has paid off. Their city officials keep statistics and actually publish them in the newspapers for all to read about the economic balancing effects of this tax base for their schools. Canal officials steadfastly involve their schools about potential businesses ?– abatements ?– and protection of their schools wellbeing is foremost in their decisions.

Canal, like Groveport, is hampered by Columbus residential zoning decisions within their school district?’s northern boundaries. Isn?’t it ironic that we here keep shouting about how Columbus gave us the houses in our school district boundaries and Columbus put the businesses along Tussing Road just outside our boundaries. If you look at point #1 above (and the maps) ?– a rational person could be stating the same thing about Pickerington. Except Canal didn?’t just talk about their diversified tax base, they took action.

Canal sure has been active in cooperative issues like the Canal-Pickerington Sewer & Water Agreement of 1994 and the recent CEDA with Violet Township. Cooperation seems to pay off for them. They even were agreeable to invite Fairfield County & Pickerington into the CEDA region, but nothing has moved forward at this posting.

Canal has also utilized their alternative transportation mode to attract business ?– that being the rail line in their community.

Even with all these points ?“Mystery Community?” XXX isn?’t Canal Winchester. Canal had to bond for land ?– improvements, Canal usually doesn?’t abate ?– XXX does. The land involved in XXX is 950 acres. The CEDA land is less today ?– with the potential of growing toward 1200.

Canal Winchester is a great guess ?– a community moving in the right direction, but not ?“Mystery Community?” XXX.

So Tim - some great guesses, but the prize is still ?“at large?”.

Can it be...??

Is it New Albany? From what I've seen, there is some real controlled progress up there. I don't necessarily agree with some of the strange rules they impose on homeowners, like the fence fee, but I'll never totally agree with anyone. They have impressive commercial development mostly north of 161 where there is ample highway access and very few of the residents have to see them, although they're not too hard on the eyes.

Guess what? They actually built the infrastructure first. Who would have thought of such a revolutionary idea? Not our puppet council, that's for sure. New Albany might be run by the businessmen at the New Albany Company, but at least they're not being run people like MORON-da, Lee Homewood-Gray, Daryl I-control-all-the-commercial-property Berry, or the Queen of Hearts (OFF with their heads), Mrs. B.

By Soap Box Hero

A stab

New Albany's possible deal with Columbus on land Northeast of the city(Columbus)....Columbus provides utilities, New Albany will annex the land... the key is the deal preserves an annexation corridor for Columbus into Licking County. I believe this is currently opposed by township residents who are instead supporting a plan to run sewer and water from Newark, past Granville to serve the area to stop Columbus growth into Licking County. Look Out Granville again.

By the way, Canal Winchester is part of Win/ Win so any land Columbus annexes from the Canal area goes into Columbus schools now... so the likelyhood of homes on that land falls exponentially! Canal was smart moving to develop the CEDa and other commercial as they would have lost all of their potential commerial land to Columbus through annexation. In this area it will always be easier to develop homes if the school districts are decent, so the quick buck is in the single family home development if you have city council persons and Township Trustees who just can't say no to developers even if the homes are right along the railroad tracks or right next to I-70. Soon we will be living in a 35 square mile Bexley.