Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I see the WEB master has posted the article from Business First in ?“OUR PAGES?” to the left. Before reading any further on this posting please click on BIA entry in the ''Our Pages'' to your left.

Clearly we, as a City, are about to be sued by the Building Industry Association that has made millions of dollars from the current and past residents of this City. We, as a school district, have spent millions of dollars building schools and providing the operating monies to run those schools. Even in a poor economy this same Building Industry is saying to us we don?’t care how high your taxes are you must dig even deeper in your pockets to support OUR BUILDING ASSOCIATION members.

Clearly the Pickerington City voters told the city and the developers you must find a way to control the residential growth in our city on November 5th, 2002. We, as voters, must be included in every step of the way in the development process.

There is more than one community in Central Ohio that is resisting uncontrolled residential growth. So why would the BIA want to test this residential growth rate resistance in Pickerington?

Maybe you can look at the comments from Mr. Mapes. By his comments he has already given the BIA their victory without ever going to court. Clearly Mr. Mapes is representing the majority of our city council not the majority of the voters. I am not going to point out the flaws in Mr. Mapes?’ quotes to this magazine. I think the viewers of this WEB site are smart enough to see what is about to happen to Pickerington and we will put up absolutely no defense if this goes to court.

What about Malpractice ??

What grounds would we have for a malpractice suit if Mr. Mapes did not do his fullest to defend the Citizens of Pickerington in the Density issue ??

Denying residents

Did Pickerington secede from Fairfield County?

After reading the Pickerington Law Directors comments I found some interesting Public Information from the Fairfield County Regional Planning Commission 2001 Annual Report. In that report there is a section titled Zoning Administration. It states, ?“Zoning is a legislative method of regulating land use by dividing areas into districts that permit specific types of uses, such as agriculture, residential, business and industrial. Additionally, regulations are adopted that specify minimum width and area requirements for individual lots in each district. Also zoning regulations typically include setback requirements, height limitations and density standards.?”

Is Mr. Mapes not aware of this?

Don?’t the residents of the incorporated portions of our community deserve the right to this same interpretation of the practices of zoning that the rest of Fairfield County enjoys?

Didn?’t the residents who pay Mr. Mapes salary state their preferences to zoning densities standards at the ballot box in November in a legal initiative measure?

Why would Mr. Mapes choose to side with the BIA on such a topic?

Should any reasonable elected official support the 77% affirmative citizens wishes in the zoning density issue by correcting the apparent misrepresentation of the public?’s desire by removing Mr. Mapes from the responsibilities as the Law Director?

Who better than the wishes of the residents, by large majority, does Mr. Mapes choose to side with?

Nothing new from the city

Normally a malpractice law suit is filed by the client of an attorney that feels they were not fully represented. In the Case of the Pickerington Law Director his Client is the majority of the Pickerington City Council. Even though over 77% of the voters want the residential density in Pickerington to be 2 lots per acre our city council now finds a way around the newly passed ordinance by the voters.

If you remember in October the council started passing ordinances to approve the final plats of some properties that would have been subject to the new rules that issue 17 would have imposed. They even went so far as to hire two additional building inspectors and they have kept them in the 2003 budget. Remember when Parker tried to rescind the first ordinance and somehow the city council chambers were packed with Pickerington area residents complaining? Saying the petitioners were unfairly targeting the Reserve the petitioners then dropped off four more referendums to call for the public to vote on these final plats as well.

At this point the city council (Parker) tabled his ill advised ordinance to rescind and pass as emergency ordinance 2002-126. They also didn?’t try to pull the same thing on the other four ordinances that were now on a referendum. They tried to blow them off by putting on their arm their legal shield in the name of City Finance Director Linda Fersch. They hired a lawyer to find some case law to challenge whether these were legislative or administrative.


The petitioners then got their own lawyer and their lawyer challenged the city?’s position. Fearing a loss in court the City has now developed a new tactic. They will have their buddies, the BIA, or one of their BIA members to sue the city. Of course the Law Director who has over a quarter of a million dollar budget for outside legal help will roll over and play dead. Please note that the City of Pickerington paid for the legal fees for these developers when they developed and annexed into Pickerington. The Diley farm for example cost the Pickerington taxpayers $39,000 for legal fees for them to annex and rezone into Pickerington.

So here is the way this will play out. The builders sue. Then Mapes fails to file a response or accidentally screws the one he files up and the Judge rules in favor of the builders. To make it look legal they will probably put up an inept defense. Then when the Judge awards the builders with damages the City tells everyone how stupid they are for following these initiatives leaders. After all they will have a legal judgment behind what they are saying. They will expand that judgment to mean that we can not control growth in Pickerington our only hope is that the judge is busy and they don?’t hear the case until late fall when a new group of City Council men and the new Mayor take over.

I think they should erect a large sign like they did for the last election with their names on it along the Hill Road, gobble your taxes, project and this sign should list their names along with a note of your tax dollars working for you.


By Grandfather time