Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Can anyone supply some details as to the meeting??

By Wondering

Liberty Township Zoning Meeting

What happened at the 6/9/03 meeting was a ?“true?” community outcry.

The meeting did not begin on time as it was moved from the Township Offices to the Fire Station to accommodate the crowd. Most of the citizens walked the 3 blocks to the Fire Station and the Engines were pulled out of the building to make room. Beginning comments were roughly 8:45 pm.

The ?“rules?” of the meeting were presented so that all those that wanted to comment were allowed 2 minutes and were not to ask questions of the development presenter or members of the Zoning Board; however the board was allowed to question any and all speakers.

The attorney for the ?“property owner?” presented the conceptual, preliminary renditions of a Planned Unit Development (PUD) before a crowd of approximately 125 concerned citizens. 100 acre parcel was proposed in a semi- rural area to include 137 homes, 75 ?– 100 condominiums, 2.8 acres of ?“local?” commercial (i.e. retail or service business) and 28% ?“green space?” with 3 retention ponds. The surround properties are of size between 1 to 5 acre lots.

Discussion was very much against the damaging impacts of this proposed development. Other than the attorney only 3 speakers spoke in favor of the proposal all he remaining speakers spoke against. The discussion ended after 11:30 pm. One by one for 3 hours people spoke against the proposal. It was good to see Assistant PLSD Superintendent there and speak to the damaging effects of this sub-division proposal on the PLSD, since the lands are within the PLSD boundaries, though in Liberty Township. It was the first passionate impact of zoning speech and discussion of follow-up questions I have heard from a PLSD Administrator in my many years of attending zoning issues. It comes as some surprise, as this was just ?“only?” an additional 200 ?– 250 residential units compared to the 2,000+ plots approved in September of 2002 at an in town meeting.

During the entire discussion period former City of Pickerington Councilman Jeff Monebrake stood in the back round making no public comments. No name of the developer, contract option holder or any of the principles in this proposed development were given, just the names of the current property owners ?– and by rules it was not allowed to ask these details. But it was stated more than once that Mr. Monebrake was involved, with no rebuttal.

The Zoning Board, through non-verbal communication appeared to not be dismayed by the many speakers and while making no formal decisions it was clear their approval is likely.

I spoke last of the speakers and reminded the audience that this was clearly an attempt to bring Pickerington style development and tactics to their Township and they DO have the recourse should approval come forth from the Zoning Board and their Trustees to referendum the issue to a public vote. I believe that citizens there have demonstrated their willingness to oppose odious development and can and will do so in the future.

Does a like attitude exist here in our backyard?