PATA History Pages

City Poised to Annex & Zone Potential Commercial Land for Homes

Diley Annexation Vote Looms in City Council, More Homes Planned

Pending annexations are as follows:

Diley LLC – 245 acres with a pre- annexation agreement of PR4 zoning. This issue has been approved (as a single partition signing annexation) by the Fairfield County Commissioners. Pickerington City Council will vote soon to accept this annexation. Part of the land in question was previously listed in the 1993 Comprehensive Land Use Plan of the City of Pickerington to be Commercially zoned. The current property owner (Dominion Homes aka Diley Associates, M/I homes is involved also) has plans for approximately 560 homes. This property is completely within the Pickerington Local School District, it is approximately .6 of a mile from construction of the Diley – Rt. 33 Interchange – which begins construction in one year.

City officials have previously stated at the December 7, 1999 council meeting when questioned by concerned citizens, “The zoning for this particular piece of property has not been completed, it will still need to be completed after the annexation process is finalized.”

In this upcoming final annexation process, the city council will vote to assign a legal zoning classification at the same time as they vote on to accept the annextion in a two part legislation piece. (contemporaneously) They then will rely on a final platting process which includes public hearings AFTER the legal zoning classification is assigned during the annexation of the property. A legal zoning classification gives a landowner certain uses of his land according to the zoning code and Ohio Law. They further stated to assure the public that “There will be a public hearing and the zoning will have to be approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission and then ultimately by Council and those issues are open public hearings.” “The pre-annexation agreement does not zone the property, it states the terms the City will agree to accept the property and allow it to be annexed to the City.” Read the pre- annextion agreement on the "Our Pages" section of this web site, the terms they promise are a specific density number which equates to 560 homes to the developer before any public hearings have occured as they vote to assign the zoning and keep their promises in the final process. This pre-annexation agreement also clearly states that the developer can and will terminate his annexation if he does not receive the zoning and density numbers promised from the city! What effective input will the public have to change this zoning to reduce the impact on our schools in the public hearing portion of this process given the promises the city makes to this landowner? It appears the city has set into motion in a legal document, the final plan for this land and will hold public hearings to collect "comments" about the zoning classification and housing numbers that council has already voted and promised to allow. The vote on the final plat in the process must keep the promised density or the developer will withdraw the annexation.

Kohler Painter next to Pickerington Ponds

Kohler – Painter – 148 acres also with a pre-annexation agreement of PR4 zoning. Homewood Corp has plans for over 400 additional homes. The City filed this annexation on February 13, 2001. The parcels in question are slightly further north on Diley Road, within the PLSD, and abut a portion of the Pickerington Ponds State Natural Preserve.

Water and Sewer agreements are included with each of these annexations. It was noted by the public comments of John O’Meara, director of the Metro Parks, that the well field testing results did indicate a potential aquifer connection and a limited water availability from an expanded Diley Road well head before concerns with the Ponds would be realized.

Viola Park on Pickerington Road South of High School

Viola Park – After discussions with concerned Township residents the, residential development of Viola Park Ltd. has decided to pursue annexation by the City of Pickerington. This development is south of the High School on Pickerington Road. The developer has in hand an agreement to apply City approved R4 zoning to nearly 120 acres of land. Look for an additional 350+ homes. This developer has requested Fairfield County Utility services.

What advantage will this developer have in annexing to the city since the county will provide utilities to this land so utility sevice is not necessary from the city. One advantage is that the City promised to allow the developer a higher density of homes in his development than what the Township citizens committee who negotiated with him said they thought was reasonable and tolerable for impact on the Pickerington Local Schools. Did the city have to hand over this excees density to gain his favor, or could this have been a win/win situation for the citizens of the community with insistence of both the Township and City to build at lower densities to protect our overburdened school system and allow this development to match the rural character of current development in this area of the community?

We applaud the city for backing away their earlier insistance to the developer that the city provide city sewer and water service to this parcel,even though the new Fairfield County Water tower is directly across the street and the water lines are in the ground next to this project. The city saved it's utility system users from paying for duplication of services like they already do along SR 256 where the county has water and sewer lines on one side of SR 256 and the city installed the same on the other side to serve the Cross Creeks development and other parcels the County is capable of serving.

Contact your city officials and let them know what you think about these plans for development! click on the link below to comment directly to the city council and mayor.

Contact City of Pickerington Officials

City of Pickerington, contact elected officials