As many of you know the third reading of Ordinance 2002-94 The Reserve at Pickerington Ponds was passed September 17th.
A Referendum Petition was filed on September 20th with Linda Fersch.
Currently 358 homes are approved by City Council to be built at The Reserve at Pickerington Ponds, in 3 phases ?– the developer is Homewood.
Our Community is growing faster than our schools can possibly catch up. While landowners do have the right to sell their property & developers should have the right to conduct business - when it is at the expense of our children the Community needs to say, ?“NO !!!?” or at least, ?“WAIT !!!?” We need to send a message to the Pickerington City Council that we want responsible planned development. We believe asking the City Voters if they want Ordinance 2002-94 passed does just that. While I do not believe it will stop the development of this parcel putting it before the voters will buy time for the school district as well as the possibility of lowering the density of the development.
At one child per home, there will be an additional 358 children for the schools or 27.5 kids for every grade from K ?– 12. That?’s 13 classrooms or ~ 45% of one Elementary School.
The Homewood Developer has pledged to donate $300 per home to the school system ?– which totals ~ $102,000 ?– this point is not mentioned in the Ordinance passed by Council. The cost of a new Elementary school is $11 million dollars. The residents living in the school district are making up the difference. The current levy before us is for a tax increase of an average of $500 for a $200,000 home ?– the levy is necessary because the current schools cannot support the new development occurring in the school district.
The needs of the schools will not stop until the development is under control & the local residents ask the City Council to act responsibly.
One Option, which has been discussed with Council, was the possibility of an impact fee for new development. If new homes were assessed an ?“impact?” fee of $5000 that went into a ?“Community Authority?” that would help fund needed items within a growing community ?– rolled into a 30 year mortgage would be less than the cost of basic cable monthly. I was told by a member of the City Council that most families moving into Pickerington could not afford that ?– yet the levy cost per month for the average School District resident would be just over $40.
Other communities have taken steps similar to this in both New Albany & Granville ?– our community is standing back & watching our kids flirt with disaster.
Council has not reacted to that or any other concerns for our children or our school system. They have not come up with alternative solutions. One member has even told me that School Funding is not a local issue. I believe we will all feel differently on that statement in November.
If you are interested in signing the petition or would like more information ?– please contact me.
Thanks !!
A Referendum Petition was filed on September 20th with Linda Fersch.
Currently 358 homes are approved by City Council to be built at The Reserve at Pickerington Ponds, in 3 phases ?– the developer is Homewood.
Our Community is growing faster than our schools can possibly catch up. While landowners do have the right to sell their property & developers should have the right to conduct business - when it is at the expense of our children the Community needs to say, ?“NO !!!?” or at least, ?“WAIT !!!?” We need to send a message to the Pickerington City Council that we want responsible planned development. We believe asking the City Voters if they want Ordinance 2002-94 passed does just that. While I do not believe it will stop the development of this parcel putting it before the voters will buy time for the school district as well as the possibility of lowering the density of the development.
At one child per home, there will be an additional 358 children for the schools or 27.5 kids for every grade from K ?– 12. That?’s 13 classrooms or ~ 45% of one Elementary School.
The Homewood Developer has pledged to donate $300 per home to the school system ?– which totals ~ $102,000 ?– this point is not mentioned in the Ordinance passed by Council. The cost of a new Elementary school is $11 million dollars. The residents living in the school district are making up the difference. The current levy before us is for a tax increase of an average of $500 for a $200,000 home ?– the levy is necessary because the current schools cannot support the new development occurring in the school district.
The needs of the schools will not stop until the development is under control & the local residents ask the City Council to act responsibly.
One Option, which has been discussed with Council, was the possibility of an impact fee for new development. If new homes were assessed an ?“impact?” fee of $5000 that went into a ?“Community Authority?” that would help fund needed items within a growing community ?– rolled into a 30 year mortgage would be less than the cost of basic cable monthly. I was told by a member of the City Council that most families moving into Pickerington could not afford that ?– yet the levy cost per month for the average School District resident would be just over $40.
Other communities have taken steps similar to this in both New Albany & Granville ?– our community is standing back & watching our kids flirt with disaster.
Council has not reacted to that or any other concerns for our children or our school system. They have not come up with alternative solutions. One member has even told me that School Funding is not a local issue. I believe we will all feel differently on that statement in November.
If you are interested in signing the petition or would like more information ?– please contact me.
Thanks !!
