Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

You can come too !!!

The reason the School Board has to potentially keep kids at Heritage is because of the growth. The specific people you can thank for that are the Pickerington City Council that continues to add homes without regard for the impact on the kids.

Most of these guys will tell you School Funding is not a local issue. You can see from the PLSD website that we already get more state funding per pupil than other surrounding districts - 52% prior to the cuts made a couple of weeks ago by Governor Taft. But the point remains we have proportionately more State Aid than other near by School Districts because of our poor Commercial Tax Base.

If this City Council put as much energy into developing Commercial Business as they do with the BIA we would be in a different place.

Come & tell them you want your child in Middle School & thanks to their lack of planning or only planning new sub-divisions that now that won't happen !!

By PickeringtonMom

Sewer or not..

The idea of controlling residential growth by restricting sewer taps, hook ups and availability has been a viable alterative until you throw into the equation the antics of those in their current positions.

I?’ve asked our webmaster to augment the ?“Our Pages?” section of this website with the particulars as to how Pickerington officials have made a mockery of the proposed sewer plant expansion. I?’ll oversimplify this by stating that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has a Central Ohio sewer process known as the 208 plan. In this plan the OEPA attempted disincentives toward sewer providers that would duplicate services in the region when another provider could provide the service. Thus it was the OEPA?’s intention to use it?’s restrictions of low interest loans available to sewer providers to not see taxpayer waste in duplication of services. However, the OEPA wrote some very loose guidelines to this in our area. The chief author of the OEPA plan is a Pickerington resident. That 208 plan is on file here at PATA.

Through the OEPA Pickerington held a Public Hearing as to their plans for sewer plant expansion on August 29, 2002. It was repeated by speakers concerned with duplication of services that Pickerington would embark on such a tactic and would be using low interest OEPA monies. In the follow up notes from the OEPA they flatly stated that Pickerington, who had skirted around a plant renewal permit to also include a plant expansion permit would not be using these low interest funds.

In her Press Conference of 3/21/03 City Manager, Joyce Bushman, has now proven the fact of OEPA funding requests. Additionally she is intending to make a $9,000,000.00 sewer plant expansion include new collection systems and funds to buy lands raising the debt to $15,440,000.00. The copies of these permit applications for loan funds will be difficult to read (as they are on gray scale) however an additional sheet lists the pertinent information. You note that the filing for this loan took place on October 25, 2002 prior to the results from the OEPA hearing of August 29th being released. Interesting to note is the land option extension that is to expire on March 31, 2003 and a written contract to be negotiated by April 18, 2003. None of this has been voted on by City Council. The City budget also doesn?’t note this funding addition, just the submitted $9,000,000.00 for sewer expansion.

So after all of those facts are digested by this website?’s readers it appears that one City Official has taken the ability to limit sewer taps, expansions, and the growth control methods that make sense and is attempting to deprived this community of that vehicle.

Factor in Ms. Bushman?’s use of her discretionary spending limit of $15,000.00 and her use of that limit, along with the threat of eminent domain to get the Parade of Homes access to a sewer line. The use of the Council and Law Director for a resolution of such actions to take the lands via the eminent domain vehicle all showing that there is a sitting city government that wants NO CONTROLS via this rational approach.

Sewer or not .. part 2


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To execute such controls would require an immediate injunction against the current actions, an investigation into who was involved in this attempt to confuse and misdirect the sewer plant expansion issue, a review of Council?’s votes on these points, etc.

If one were to read the comments of early this year by numerous City government officials they have NO INTENTION of placing any restrictions on growth control that will impair their ability to enlarge this sewer plant. In so doing, Dr. Rigelman and others, your schools will be flooded with homes.