From the 1/19/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Changes in works to preserve county’s rural areas

By Candice Brooks

 

HAMILTON — Residents in rural Butler County townships may not have to lose their picturesque country roads and developers may still get to bring more housing and business development to the western side of the county.

 

After nearly two years of work, proposed changes to the county’s zoning code that aim to preserve the rural character of some western townships will go to the public for review next month.

 

The county commissioners agreed Thursday to initiate the process for the adoption of the changes. The public will get three chances to give input about the changes — at a Feb. 14 public hearing with the county planning commission, then later with Butler County Board of Zoning Appeals, and finally in front of the county commissioners.

 

If there are no delays or changes, the proposal could be approved in March. Residents have 30 days after the approval to file a referendum to stop the changes from taking effect.

 

If approved, the changes will affect the townships under the county’s zoning jurisdiction — Oxford, Milford, Hanover, Ross, Madison, and Lemon townships.

 

The changes give landowners and planners more flexibility and options to control how development changes the look of the townships, Butler County Department of Development Director Mike Juengling said.

 

“We are trying to make a concerted effort county-wide at least in the areas that are still under county zoning o maintain the rural character that our people have told us adamantly they want to maintain,” Ross Township Trustee Tom Wilsey told the commissioners Thursday.

 

Wilsey added that the proposed changes would allow residents to dictate how their community is developed. Wilsey was among several township trustees who attended the meeting to show support for the zoning changes that have been mapped out with the input of township residents and local developers.

 

Many of the major changes are focused on allowing the townships to maintain low-density, agricultural land, rural roadside views, country-style architecture, and the natural features of the area.

 

For example, the minimum lot size for a parcel zoned agricultural is 1 acre under existing law. With the proposed changes, a landowner could increase the minimum lot size up to 20 acres to ensure that if the property is sold it will likely be used for farming, rather than a sea of houses.

 

The landowner also has the option to sell to a urban developer who can build one house per acre.

 

In addition, more green space would be preserved with the zoning changes. All residential developments would require 35 percent open space. In proposed conservation districts, half of the land would be continuous open space, trees would line the roadsides to keep the look of country roads, and natural features like creeks would be left untouched.

 

At the request of Commissioner Michael Fox, residents living in affected areas will be mailed an executive summary of the changes before the public hearings begin.

 

For more information about the changes call the Butler County Planning Department at (513) 887-3413 or go to www.development.butlercounty.org and view the Butler County Rural Zoning Resolution.

 

Contact Candice Brooks at (513) 820-2175, or e-mail her at [email protected].

   

http://www.journal-news.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/01/19/hjn012006zoning_s.html

 

From the 1/20/06 Oxford Press:

 

 

Light appears green for 27 North widening

Construction expected by late summer

Friday, January 20, 2006

 

In spite of missing a December target date for the widening of U.S. 27 North, the Oxford service director expects to see construction crews on site by late summer.

 

Service Director Michael Dreisbach noted everything appears to be on schedule, and projected the estimated $4 million improvements will be certified by the Ohio Department of Transportation by February at the latest. Bidding for contracts should begin May 26, he said.

 

Speculation of delays began after city council failed to tally the required votes, during the Dec. 6 meeting, to immediately enact legislation, which would allow the county courts to begin the mediation process with disputing property owners. The city overshot their projected ODOT target date by 20 days.

 

According to Law Director Stephen McHugh, the mediation process should soon be underway. The city has deposited checks with the Common Pleas Court, which will provide the remaining nine disputing property owners with compensation for the land taken.

 

“(The property owners) have the right to pursue the matter further through the courts with a decision by a jury,” McHugh said.

 

Dreisbach explained a number of the property owners are holding out because they disagree with the appraisal’s value of the land being acquired. In November 2004, the city hired an ODOT-certifed M*E Company to appraise the land. The city also requested an independent firm to act as a check to the M*E Company’s appraisals.

 

There were a number of other contentious points the disputing property owners possessed as well. Some of the issues included driveway access location and the process in which appraisals were executed. The 11 remaining properties’ values ranged anywhere from slightly under $1,000 to over $60,000.

 

While Dreisbach could not say for certain why the city was not bumped because of the delay, he suspects it was the success of settling with the majority of the property owners. More than 70 parcels of land are involved in the project. He added city engineer Victor Popescu played an important role during the negotiation process.

 

“Victor (Popescu) has done an outstanding job being the liaison between the property owners and the M*E company to make sure there are no misunderstandings and to get agreements,” Dreisbach said.

 

If ODOT had delayed the project, the widening would have likely been delayed three months. Dreisbach explained ODOT funds projects on their list on a quarterly cycle. Should a project miss a deadline, they are sometimes bumped to the next quarter.

 

The road improvement will include the construction of a center turn lane on U.S. 27 North from the Locust Street intersection to the Melanee Lane/Merry Day Drive intersection. This is the second phase of a three-tier project. The first phase involved updating water services along the road. The final phase will eventually extend the center lane to the city limits.

 

Dreisbach believes this project will not only improve the streetscape with sidewalks and curbs, it will also enhance the quality of life in Oxford.

 

“The city has tolerated the current conditions (on U.S. 27 North) for a number of years,” he said. “The center turn lane will increase safety on the road.”

 

http://www.oxfordpress.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/01/20/OP012027north.html

 

RECENT ARTICLES OF NOTE:

 

1) Muhlhauser barn may be reborn as shelter (Enquirer, 1/12/06)

The historic Muhlhauser barn in Beckett Park will likely be converted into a park shelter, at a cost of $3M-$5M.

 

2) Office complex looks like a go (Enquirer, 1/13/06)

Plans are expected to be approved this month to build four three-story office buildings on 12 acres along the north side of Smith Rd., just west of OH-747.

 

3) Bike-hike trail will be extended in Liberty Township (Enquirer, 1/18/06)

    Hike-bike trail extension plan in the works (Pulse-Journal, 1/27/06)

The Wetlands trail will run off Lesourdesville-West Chester Road between the Knolls of Liberty Reserves and Estates subdivision and the township’s Wetlands Park.

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From the 1/21/06 Enquirer:

 

 

PHOTO: John and Cheryl Tagarelli moved from a larger house in Wetherington to Harbour Town Village. They still have access to the golf course.  The Enquirer/Tony Jones

 

Smaller homes still say luxury

Harbour Town even has gates

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Greater Cincinnati's first gated subdivision, Wetherington, is seeing the transformation of an old mobile home park into a development of custom homes.

 

Unlike other larger family homes in Wetherington, these smaller lots are aimed at empty-nesters and younger professionals without children.

 

Construction on Harbour Town Village at Wetherington began in fall 2004 and is expected to wrap up by mid-2008.

 

Up to 84 homes are going up on 26.5 acres along the south side of Hamilton-Mason Road between Cox and Cincinnati-Dayton roads, including a section that had been a trailer park until 2002.

 

People have already moved into 13 homes at Harbour Town. Another 11 will be occupied soon, said Chip Browne, sales manager for the Blue Ash-based Great Traditions Land and Development Co.

 

The homes, built on narrower lots than in the rest of Wetherington, range from 1,600 to 3,500 square feet. Prices range from the high $300,000s to the mid-$500,000s.

 

The development also features courtyards, walkways, lakes, and the option of joining the nearby private Wetherington Golf and Country Club. Like Wetherington, Harbour Town has gated entrances to its private streets.

 

John and Cheryl Tagarelli said Harbour Town was a perfect fit for them. John, 60, retired last year. The couple had been thinking of moving out of the home they already had in Wetherington, but they didn't want to give up their golf-course lifestyle.

 

"We have our golf cart and a lot of our friends are here," John said. "We may have downsized but we didn't downgrade."

 

Harbour Town has two sets of gates: one for the main entrance off Hamilton-Mason Road and another that connects to the Wetherington subdivision to provide access to the country club and golf course.

 

And like the original Wetherington gates, these gates came with a bit of controversy.

 

For example, only Harbour Town residents can use the gate connecting the two neighborhoods. Wetherington residents cannot.

 

When Harbour Town was first proposed in 2003, some Wetherington homeowners feared the project would cause unwanted cut-through traffic. Wetherington resident Tammie Harrison, 42, said 84 new homes are too many. "It's going to increase traffic. There's no way it can't," she said.

 

Browne disputed that, saying empty-nester neighborhoods generate less traffic than traditional neighborhoods.

 

The Harbour Town project is not the final piece of the Wetherington development. Wetherington's last five lots still are available.

 

Another 40 homes (starting in the mid-$500,000s) to be called the Preserve at Wetherington will be built farther east along Hamilton-Mason Road, off Tylers Place Boulevard.

 

However, there will not be gates restricting access to the Preserve at Wetherington, Browne said.

 

E-mail [email protected].

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060121/BIZ01/601210381/1076/rss01

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From the 1/26/06 Fairfield Echo:

 

 

Boom towns

What happens when the boom is silenced

By Michael D. Pitman

Fairfield Echo

Thursday, January 26, 2006

 

Growth can’t last forever. When developers pull up their signs and the growth cash-cow moves on to more fertile ground for commercial and residential business, what are city and township officials banking on to reinvigorate economic growth?

 

 

Fairfield

 

Fairfield has experienced tremendous business and residential growth in the past three decades.

 

The city’s population has nearly tripled since 1970. Only 2,405 acres of land remains undeveloped in the 20.5 mile municipality. The lion’s share is zoned for either commercial or industrial development.

 

Development Services Director Tim Bachman said as of Monday, there are 48 companies in Fairfield that receive some type of economic incentive, the vast majority being enterprise zones. There are about 1,800 businesses in Fairfield.

 

Taxes the city collects from these businesses, 1.5 percent of an employee’s income, pay for street improvements and capital improvements such as parks and the Community Arts Center. Last year the city collected more than $21 million from this base and residents’ incomes.

 

Business property taxes help pay for fire and police levies, and fund schools.

 

Hanson said when the time comes to change the income tax allocation, the share for the capital improvement fund may decrease in favor of increasing the general fund.

 

Currently, 1.1 percent of the income tax goes to the general fund, and 0.2 percent goes to capital improvement and 0.2 percent goes to road maintenance.

 

Bachman said the city is already looking at balancing new growth with reinventing vacant buildings.

 

“What will be interesting is, as the city tries to rejuvenates itself, the redevelopment aspect will begin,” Bachman said. “After the 2,400 vacant acres is developed you have the redevelopment of the under-utilized sites and vacant sites.”

 

Mayor Ron D’Epifanio said the focus now is already on developing these under-utilized and vacant sites.

 

“If we can maintain the properties, improve them and enhance them, it would make the city a more desirable place to live,” D’Epifanio said.

 

While annexation would grow the city, D’Epifanio said that should not be a focus.

 

“We need to concentrate on what we have at hand, and concentrate on improvements here.”

 

Once the growth stalls in Fairfield, Fiance Director Jim Hanson said the city leaders will likely ask residents — through a vote — to reallocate how the money is spent.

 

“We’ve been very fortunate for the last 25 years we’ve been growing at a fairly good pace,” said Hanson. “There will be a day when that tax will no longer grow at the pace we have been accustom to.”

 

Hanson said the city would likely look to cut expenses before any increase in revenues would be considered.

 

“Once you stop seeing the growth in the income tax that would be a concern,” Hanson said. “We’re in a good position because we have a tax rate less than Hamilton or Cincinnati.”

 

Fairfield Chamber of Commerce President Ginger Shawver said her organization helps maintain the business base.

 

“We put our efforts towards calling on existing businesses, finding out if they are thinking of expanding. We want them to expand here and not look elsewhere,” Shawver said. “It’s a lot less costly to keep the businesses we have rather than try to fill the empty space after they are gone. When the vacant land is gone, the task of retaining what we have continues on as always. That challenge will never end as long as there are businesses in Fairfield.”

 

Other Butler County communities are experiencing growth at a significant rate. They, like Fairfield, are taking a look at how to continue after the boom has passed them by.

 

 

Liberty

 

Liberty Twp. Fiscal Officer Roger Reynolds said once growth starts to subside, the township should have in place a sound economic district that coincides with a desirable bedroom community.

 

“So the end result is, though building may stop, the balance that is intact will continue to provide sufficient revenues for the township to maintain top level service for residents.”

 

Hence, Liberty’s need for a Joint Economic Development District that will collect a tax from workers at area businesses, he said.

 

“What the JEDD will provide for us is a source of revenue from our commercial area that will continue to grow,” Reynolds said. “Because growth stops, our revenues due to the JEDD and other commercial development will not decline.”

 

 

West Chester Twp.

 

West Chester Twp. is successful today because of strategic planning that considered the future, said Township Administrator Judi Boyko.

 

“We’ve always looked 10, 15 years out. We’ve always tried to be forward thinking,” she said.

 

By identifying future goals, the township was able to lay the groundwork to attain those goals. If the township consistently reevaluates and drafts new plans for the future, it’s possible growth will never pass West Chester Twp. by, Boyko said.

 

The most basic key to previous and future success is the ability to control local zoning, she said. In 2004, trustees approved an updated comprehensive land use plan that serves as a guide for any future development.

 

The test may not be too far into the future. According to the 2004 land use plan, 93 percent of land planned for commercial use will be developed by 2010.

 

Although physical growth at that time may dramatically slow down, economic growth and regional significance does not have to.

 

“Growth doesn’t stop when you run out of land, you never run out of land,” Koehler said. “When large amounts of land are no longer available, development occurs on an in-fill and redevelopment basis where smaller properties are developed and bigger properties are redeveloped for a higher purpose.”

 

http://www.fairfield-echo.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/01/26/fe0126growthgone.html

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Here go the townships sucking off businesses from already established areas....

 

 

Long-time Hamilton car dealership moving

Fiehrer Buick joins businesses flocking to Fairfield Township

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

FAIRFIELD TWP. - A car dealership is pulling out of Hamilton after 74 years and moving east into this neighboring Butler County suburb experiencing explosive growth.

 

And a second may be coming soon, township officials confirmed Wednesday.

 

Fiehrer Buick has bought a 28-acre parcel at the southeast corner of Gilmore and Princeton roads, just southwest of the Ohio Bypass 4 and Princeton Road intersection.

 

Construction will begin this year on a $4 million, 35,000-square-foot dealership that will be next to a $13 million, 150,000-square-foot shopping center set to open in September and anchored by a 90,000-square-foot Kohl's store.

 

An Office Depot and H.H. Gregg appliance store, which also recently announced a move to the township from Hamilton, will open there as well.

 

About 50 dealership employees will shift to the township. Owner Tom Fiehrer said he hasn't decided whether he also will move his body shop, which employs five people.

 

"We have been at this location over 70 years, and it has served us very well," Fiehrer said. "But we have outgrown the facility. The township does have a very strong trend as far as the economic and demographic growth that is taking place out there."

 

A second car dealership is likely at the Gilmore/Princeton crossroads, Township Administrator Michael Rahall confirmed.

 

"There is another car dealership, but we don't know who that will be," he said.

 

Even though some businesses are relocating from Hamilton into Fairfield Township, it doesn't mean the city is losing out.

 

"We tried everything we could to meet their needs," Mayor Don Ryan said.

 

Connex Group, of Fairfield, a nonprofit agency that serves the disabled, recently purchased the dealership's three-city-block-wide site on Ohio 4. The agency, with a $3.5 million annual payroll, plans to move its corporate office with 100 jobs there, CEO Teri Shirk said.

 

Ryan said the city is undergoing renewed business vigor. For instance, a new Kroger shopping center with a fuel center soon will be built at Ohio 4 and Grand Boulevard, he said.

 

Interest in the township and Hamilton shot up after the December 1999 opening of Ohio 129 (the Butler County Veterans Highway). Its Bypass 4 interchange near Princeton Road opened a large area in Fairfield Township to development.

 

About 20,000 residents live there, up from about 15,000 in the 2000 U.S. Census. The 18-square-mile township is nearing residential build-out, Rahall said.

 

Businesses came with the influx of residents and highway access. Home Depot has a store on Princeton Road, west of Bypass 4, across from Wal-Mart. On the east side of Bypass 4, also on Princeton, is the 60-plus-acre Bridgewater Falls development, which includes J.C. Penney; Michael's; Dick's Sporting Goods; Best Buy; Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Old Navy.

 

Wal-Mart's expansion from 150,000 square feet to a 225,000-square-foot supercenter is expected to be complete by May.

 

E-mail [email protected]

 

More business coming

Kroger may build a 125,000-square-foot superstore on a 40-acre parcel on the north side of Ohio 4 near Ohio Bypass 4.

 

Meijer wants to build a 200,000-square-foot-plus store on about 40 acres at the northwest corner of Hamilton-Mason Road and Ohio Bypass 4 near Gilmore Road. Plans are on hold while traffic concerns are worked out.

 

Paul Hemmer Companies in Fort Mitchell is considering a $30 million retail-office project called Fountains of Fairfield Township on 40 or 50 acres at the southwest corner of Princeton and Gilmore roads. It may also include a hotel.

 

Source: Fairfield Township

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060126/BIZ01/601260344/1076/rss01

 

I thought this project was sufficiently large enough to get its own thread, plus it's got a housing component.  The thing is, the fact that it's "mixed-use" probably means that it won't happen.  Sure, that makes sense!  God forbid a person should live near work....

 

 

Development plan under review

Liberty Township considers proposal for condos, offices

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

LIBERTY TWP. - A special township zoning commission meeting is being held Tuesday night to hash out concerns over a multimillion-dollar medical office complex with condominiums proposed on 70 acres slated for only business development.

 

Developer Bob Hutsenpiller wants to build 325,000 square feet of townhomes targeting professionals, medical office buildings and six commercial out lots on the north side of Hamilton Mason Road.

 

The project would rise between Cincinnati-Dayton and Maud-Hughes roads, behind an existing Kroger shopping center, and back up to Ohio 129.

 

The new businesses would, in theory, boost township tax revenues and offset the demand on residential taxes for services such as police and fire.

 

There would be a 100,000-square-foot medical office center, a 150,000-square-foot office warehouse building, three 15,000-square-foot office buildings and a 30,000-square-foot medical office building.

 

But the housing portion of the project has caused it to hit some recent snags.

 

Liberty leaders are scrambling to preserve as much land as possible for business development amid rampant residential growth.

 

The Butler County Planning Commission rejected rezoning for the project Jan. 9 primarily because of the 126 condominiums on 21 acres and concerns over density.

 

Most of the property is zoned for agriculture but about 15 acres are zoned for community businesses, said Jon West, Liberty's director of planning and zoning.

 

The township's land-use plan calls for the entire parcel to eventually be developed as business, he said.

 

Hutsenpiller asked the township for a special meeting to explain his idea and to seek input from the zoning board. The project won't be voted on until the board's Feb. 7 meeting.

 

Hutsenpiller did not return calls seeking comment.

 

Tom Farrell, chairman of Liberty Township's zoning commission, said the development appears so far to be a good one, even the condominiums. "We only have so much land set aside for business in the township," he said, "but this is a favorable proposal because the residential they are putting in will not impact the schools.

 

"If we don't have the right mix of business and residential, we will financially fail. Every square foot of business zoned property in Liberty Township needs to be business. We don't have a whole lot of leeway."

 

Some Liberty residents have traffic and density concerns over the project. They also question how the entrance road to the project would be built.

 

"They need to be concerned with the traffic and how it gets and off Hamilton-Mason Road," said resident Greg Walton, who owns 5.5 acres near the southwest corner of the proposed development

 

Walton said he knows how crucial it is for the township to lure more businesses - but he doesn't want the project to be at the expense of the Lakota school district.

 

"If they keep the quality up of their residential development to encourage people without families, that would be good for the community," he said.

 

E-mail [email protected]

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060123/NEWS01/601230350/1056/rss02

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Liberty project prompts concerns

Residents protest plan for mixed use

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

LIBERTY TWP. - Concerns loomed Tuesday over a proposed $50 million to $75 million mixed-use development that would bring more than 300,000 square feet of business and 126 condominiums.

 

About a dozen residents attended a special meeting of the township Zoning Commission to question the Liberty Office Park.

 

The commercial section is expected to bring 867 jobs, while the condos would range in price from $210,000 to $300,000. The project would sit on 70 acres on Hamilton-Mason Road west of Cincinnati-Dayton Road.

 

Gerald Parks, 50, who lives in the area, said neighbors wanted to see studies showing how it will affect traffic, utilities and sewers before the township decides.

 

"We know it's going to be developed," Parks said. "But this is not a good plan."

 

Liberty Township developer Bob Hutsenpiller and George Flynn, general manager of North Ridge Realty Group of West Chester, are targeting young professionals and older residents with the homes; the plan also includes medical office buildings and six commercial outlots.

 

They said the new businesses would boost tax revenues to offset the demand for services such as police and fire protection.

 

And because the housing would target people without children, there wouldn't be an impact to the Lakota school district, the developers said.

 

The Butler County Planning Commission recently recommended against the project.

 

Most of the property is zoned for agriculture, but about 15 acres are slated for businesses.

 

The rezoning will be decided at the board's next meeting, on Feb. 7.

 

E-mail [email protected].

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060125/NEWS01/601250348/-1/rss

 

From the 2/9/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Liberty Twp. considers change to home rule

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

LIBERTY TWP. - Trustees on Wednesday started looking into becoming a home-rule township, which ultimately would give them more authority.

 

Home rule designation allows township officials broader abilities to meet specific needs without turning to Butler County departments or officials for help.

 

Liberty would be able to borrow more money over a longer period of time for road and other projects, Township Administrator Dina Minneci said.

 

The township also could get a higher bond rating, which allows for lower debt costs and allows combining different debt obligations under one general bond. Larger issues can reduce interest costs.

 

Township trustees can adopt home rule without a vote of the public because Liberty has more than 15,000 residents and is an "urban" township. Trustees would have to hold a public hearing and residents could still petition for a vote.

 

Should Liberty choose to become a home-rule township, leaders would have to hire their own law director. The township's legal fees have been mounting anyway as it keeps up with growth, officials conceded Wednesday.

 

Last year, Liberty's legal costs hit $125,000, which included the cost of using a private lawyer to help set up a complicated special tax district with Mason and Middletown to partly fund the $30 million to $50 million Liberty interchange.

 

Trustees are expected to meet on the issue again in about a month. They will weigh pros and cons of home rule and consider a list of major road and other projects that eventually will need funding.

 

"I need to see where home rule will save us money," Trustee Pat Hiltman said, though later he added: "I still think ultimately we are going to wind up there."

 

Other local townships that operate under home rule include Deerfield, Hamilton and Clearcreek townships in Warren County and Fairfield and West Chester townships in Butler County, according to the Ohio Township Association.

 

There are 20 home rule townships out of 1,308 in Ohio, according to the association.

 

Last year, Liberty residents were surveyed on whether they would support home rule designation, and results were mixed. Of the 8,898 households surveyed by mail, 259 said they would support it, while 92 were opposed and 246 were neutral. Most respondents, 790 people, or 56.9 percent, did not answer the question.

 

The survey cost the township almost $2,500 and also indicated residents are happy with police, fire and snowplowing services.

 

E-mail [email protected].

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/NEWS01/602090374/1056

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From the 2/9/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Zoning panel approves more homes, condos

Leaders push adding businesses

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

LIBERTY TWP. - Leaders in this Butler County township want more businesses to move in, but its zoning board continues to support plans that put houses and condominiums on land earmarked for commercial developments.

 

The Liberty Township Zoning Commission late Tuesday approved two developments, which include 350,000 square-feet of medical offices and more than 400 homes.

 

The projects are expected to start construction later this year, pending trustee final approval at the Feb. 21 township meeting:

 

Liberty Office Park: a $70 million development with medical office buildings and 126 condominiums on 70 acres along Hamilton-Mason Road between Maud-Hughes and Cincinnati-Dayton roads. The commercial portion is expected to bring 867 jobs. The condos would range in price from $210,000 to $300,000. The plan also includes six commercial lots.  (GRASSCAT: There is a thread started on this.)

 

Rhein Interests plans to build 210 homes and 90 condominiums targeting "empty-nesters" on 154 acres along LeSourdesville-West Chester Road near Ohio 4. The condos would range in price from $130,000 to $215,000. The homes would start in the mid $400,000s. Another 4.5 acres would be set aside for unspecified commercial development.

 

Township resident Gerald Parks lives next door to the site on Hamilton-Mason Road. He said the property cannot handle more traffic. He also worries that six proposed commercial "out-lots" could turn into bars or drive-through restaurants.

 

"Our way of life is being threatened," said Parks, 51. "We are used to a quiet, peaceful surrounding. No one wants to look straight out their door right at a strip mall."

 

Township staff recommended approving the commercial portions of both projects, but not the housing. Staff members say the township land-use plan calls for all the land in both projects to be developed as business.

 

Liberty, whose population now stands at 33,000, is trying to preserve more land for business development to offset residential taxes for services such as police and fire protection.

 

Over the next few decades, its population is projected to grow to 86,000.

 

Zoning commission members said both projects include some business. The proposed housing would use land that made no sense for business development - and the township needs more housing for empty nesters and young professionals without children, they say.

 

Besides, the township's land use plan is changing. New zoning rules are likely to support these kinds of mixed-use developments, said Tom O'Farrell, zoning commission chairman.

 

"These developments make sense for Liberty Township and residents long-term," he said. "They will bring us more tax dollars than ones with just businesses. If we put all the businesses in one area, on Friday at 5 p.m., (the road) will be packed solid. It makes sense to diversify your traffic as best you can."

 

Because both projects feature condos that would target people without children, there wouldn't be an impact to the Lakota school district, added George Flynn, general manger of North Ridge Realty Group of West Chester Township.

 

He is working with Liberty Township developer Bob Hutsenpiller on Liberty Office Park and noted that other communities such as Anderson Township recently have identified a need for "empty nester" housing.

 

E-mail [email protected].

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/NEWS01/602090375/1056

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From the 2/1/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Lowe's looking at Tylersville Wal-Mart site

 

WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP — The vacant Wal-Mart lot on Tylersville Road near Interstate 75 may soon be put to use.

 

Brian Elliff, township planning and zoning director, confirmed that Lowe’s, a national home improvement retail store, submitted an application Jan. 23 for the lot.

 

The zoning commission must approve the application at a Feb. 27 hearing before it can be approved, Elliff said.

 

“The zoning commission has to review the details, but the planned use is similar to the old use,” he said.

 

The submitted plans for the Lowe’s indicate it will be an 117,000-square-foot building facing Tylersville Road. The old Wal-Mart will be torn down and a new, all-brick building will be constructed, Elliff said.

 

Lowe’s spokesperson Jennifer Smith said she is unable to comment on prospective properties, but confirmed the retailer is exploring opportunities in the state as part of its expansion plan.

 

“At this time, we have not issued any formal announcements regarding West Chester Township,” Smith said.

 

The site became available in August when Wal-Mart opened a Supercenter on Cincinnati-Dayton Road.

 

As America’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart is constantly expanding, converting traditional stores to one-stop Supercenters. In its wake, the company leaves hundreds of buildings empty each year, but they are not abandoned.

 

”One of the things we try to do, as soon as we know we’re going to relocate, we immediately begin working with brokers and local officials to try and figure out what is the best use of that property, because it makes a lot of sense to put that building back into productive use,” said Dan Fogelman, Wal-Mart spokesperson.

 

The company has a full-time team of real estate professionals and an entire department dedicated to selling or leasing former properties.

 

“We will do any deal that makes sense,” Fogelman said. “We want to get that building back into productive use as soon as possible.”

   

http://www.journal-news.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/02/01/HJN020206LOWES.html

 

From the 2/14/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Ohio 747 housing plan hits snag

County board OKs zoning changes for western townships

 

HAMILTON — Liberty Township and Ross Township might not have too much in common now to the casual observer, but residents who spoke at Tuesday afternoon’s meeting of the Butler County Planning Commission delivered the same message.

 

On one hand, scores of Liberty residents protesting a 28-home subdivision with higher density than their own would change the character of their neighborhood got their way. Residents in the western half of the county looking to preserve the rural character of their townships also scored a victory.

 

For more than an hour Tuesday, residents of Providence Ridge and other nearby neighborhoods complained about an application by George Thomas Homes to rezone about 13 acres in the southeastern corner of Ohio 747 and 129.

 

The plan calls for a change from rural residential estate zoning, which would allow just more than two homes per acre, to a residential planned-unit development zone, which would require a fifth of the land to remain open, but could have allowed private streets.

 

Residents complained about the potential for increased traffic, and the negative impact the smaller, less expensive homes could have on their own land values. Residents also complained about the proposed development’s streets, which did not include a sidewalk, curb or gutter.

 

Planning Commissioner Larry Frimerman led the vote to recommend that Liberty Township trustees deny the rezoning application, stating that he didn’t believe the developer had addressed neighbors concerns about density or a buffer between the two subdivisions.

 

“There are just too many unanswered questions here,” Frimerman said.

 

Meanwhile, the commission moved along substantial changes to the county’s zoning code for Ross, Hanover, Milford, Oxford, Lemon and Madison townships

 

Many of the suggested changes promote the clustering of development in order to preserve more open space. One new zoning district would require builders to preserve at least half of the open area of a parcel. If the changes are approved, all residential developments would have to maintain at least 35 percent open space.

 

New businesses would have to buffer and screen their buildings from residential areas. In addition, 90 percent of the parking for these types of buildings would have to be located to the side or to the back of buildings.

 

The zoning code changes are subject to a public hearing before the county’s rural zoning commission on Feb. 27 and another before county commissioners on March 21.

 

Contact Chris Dumond at (513) 820-2025, or e-mail him at [email protected].

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/02/14/HJN021506PLANNING_s.html

---

From the 2/8/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Miami moving on township branch campus

 

WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP — After a decade of planning, construction on a Miami University learning center at the Voice of America Park may begin by the end of the year.

 

The project, called the Voice of America Learning Center, was revitalized three months ago after laying dormant for almost two years, said Robert Keller, Miami University architect and campus planner. Keller has met with different academic units within the university and will hold more exploratory meetings over the next few weeks with a committee of West Chester Township representatives.

 

Citing state budget reductions as the primary cause for delay, Keller said time restrictions on the land agreement with the federal government have prompted the project’s revival.

 

Although an architectural firm had been chosen and schematics drawn up, changes in the community and elsewhere forced a change in the center’s plan.

 

“We need to revisit what our original expectations were,” Keller said. “We need to better define just what it is we want to accomplish.”

 

Original plans detailed a 21,000-square-foot facility on about 20 acres of land on the east side of Cox Road and north of the commercial development. The center, expected to cost $5.5 million dollars, will primarily be funded by the university.

 

Township Trustee Catherine Stoker said the township agreed to a proposal in 1995 to begin the project because of the high proportion of professional people in the area who take continuing education. With the announcement of a new 160-bed, full-service hospital to be built across from the Voice of America Park in 2008 and a Cincinnati Children’s outpatient surgical center in Liberty Township, that need has increased.

 

A satellite campus in West Chester Township has cost-saving advantages, too, Stoker said.

 

“Having a local learning center where (students) can take some classes before they move away to college can help save families a significant amount on their college education budget,” she said.

 

Some discussion has been held about the potential of Miami University to include a township library branch, Stoker said.

 

Miami University acquired the land from the federal government in 2000. The original building plans called for five classrooms, two computer labs, one conference room and various administration rooms. The building could potentially hold 100 blocks of classes per week. Miami will likely be the primary source of course offerings, Keller said, a change from the original plan to create a multi-institutional center.

 

Contact Cameron Fullam at (513) 755-5127 or [email protected]

   

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/02/08/HJN020906MIAMIU_s.html

 

From the 2/14/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Elections board strikes down Ross referendum challenge

 

HAMILTON — The Butler County Board of Elections Monday denied a Ross Township developer’s request to toss out a rezoning referendum.

 

Township resident Randy Lane submitted the 494-signature referendum petition to county commissioners late last year. Lane’s petition would put the commissioners’ rezoning of about 115 acres near the intersection of School and Layhigh roads up for a vote in the township this May.

 

“This is another step in the right direction to allow the people to get to vote on this,” Lane said after Monday’s hearing. “This protest by the developer is a case of them using deep pockets to try to keep the people from being heard on this.”

 

Lane said plans for a 230-home subdivision on the property could lead to increased runoff into Dry Run Creek, traffic jams and overcrowding in the schools.

 

The developer, Red Pine Properties, alleged that the referendum petition was misleading because it didn’t include all the conditions under which the commissioners approved the rezoning in November. Among those conditions, developer Andy Temmel noted that the subdivision would include about 34 acres of open space and stricter stormwater detention standards than typically required by the county.

 

Red Pine also complained that the map attached to the petition didn’t include enough information about housing density on the farm and in surrounding existing developments.

 

At the conclusion of the hearing, board of elections Chairman Dan Gattermeyer found no fault with the petition because it included the full text of the commissioners’ resolution subject to the referendum. Gattermeyer also noted that unlike township zoning referendums, county referendums do not require maps. He said the map, a copy of one prepared by the county during public hearings last year, showed the general area of the property in question and was not misleading.

 

Fellow board members John Holcomb and Judy Shelton supported the decision. The board’s fourth member, Joe Schwarz, was absent.

 

Red Pine may now appeal the board’s decision in the county’s court of common pleas. The developer’s attorney, Richard Paolo, declined comment after the hearing.

 

Board of elections Deputy Director Betty McGary said her experience has been that courts try to resolve ballot issues with the election’s time frame in mind.

 

McGary said the board will meet next Tuesday to certify candidates and issues for the May election.

 

Contact Chris Dumond at (513) 820-2025, or e-mail him at [email protected].

   

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/02/13/HJN021406ROSS_s.html

 

From the 2/19/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Ross school officials seeking more input in development issues

By Linda Ebbing

 

ROSS TOWNSHIP — Increasing development in the Ross Local School District has prompted administrators to take steps to assure that the community has input on the potential impact to its schools.

 

Superintendent Todd Yohey and board member Ed Bosse on Thursday volunteered to represent the district on the Land Use Planning Committee for Ross Township after an invitation from township trustees.

 

To give residents the opportunity to contribute feedback, a series of small group discussions — coffees — have been scheduled.

 

“I wanted to go out and start engaging our community in small informal groups regarding school issues,” Yohey said. “And the impact of growth on the school district was a very good issue to begin with. My hope is that we can continue the small group format for other issues in the future.”

 

In the past four years, enrollment in the Ross Local School District has increased by 332 students. As a result, increased development is becoming a greater community concern.

 

In a survey taken several months ago by district stakeholders, growth topped the list in weaknesses, threats and opportunities.

 

More recently, administrators in November presented Butler County commissioners with a resolution asking that those responsible “for future growth in our district seek our consultation on the potential impact to the schools in the community.”

 

The community discussions are one way for school administrators to get feedback. Along with discussing growth issues and potential short- and long-term options to help with overcrowding, Yohey also talks about student achievement and district finances — an overview of the state of the schools — at the meetings.

 

So far, he said, several coffees have been held and have been “fantastic.”

 

“I’ve had many people who attended say they felt they really had a chance to ask questions and provide input on the growth issue in particular,” he said.

 

Information has been sent to residents about the meetings.

 

Gerri Bolin — along with several other residents — is helping to schedule the coffees.

 

After hearing several different accounts of what school administrators were planning to do next year to alleviate the overcrowding at Elda Elementary School and the middle school, Bolin said she attended a board meeting to “ask directly what the plans were to alleviate the overcrowding.”

 

She was told that no decisions had been made and administrators were planning to focus on growth at the beginning of 2006.

 

Bolin said she believes the coffee meetings can make a difference.

 

“If people are involved and feel as if they are providing feedback to the decision-making process they are going to buy into the decision instead of feeling as if the decision was made top down with no community input.”

 

Contact Linda Ebbing at (513) 820-2158, or e-mail her at [email protected].

   

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/02/19/HJN022006ross.html

 

From the 2/22/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Liberty officials exploring change

 

With more than 32,000 residents and more growth sure to come it’s only natural that Liberty Township officials would begin exploring the option of home rule.

 

While it is the township’s decision to make, we have not heard any negatives from West Chester Township or Fairfield Township officials who previously adopted home rule.

 

But residents of Liberty Township should appreciate the cautious manner in which their township officials are moving ahead on the decision.

 

Since a Feb. 8 work session exploring limited home rule, Liberty Township Administrator Dina Minneci has met with officials from West Chester and Fairfield townships. In the week to come, she said she plans to meet with officials from Colerain, Union and Batavia townships, as well, the latter of which opted for home rule in 2005.

 

“We’re just taking in how each of those entities has used home rule to help benefit the township,” Minneci said.

 

Following Minneci’s research, Liberty Township officials will meet again March 20 to discuss the pros and cons of adopting limited home rule.

 

Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox said adopting home rule would be a positive step for Liberty Township.

 

“Township home rule would be a wonderful thing for them,” said Fox. “It gives them a lot more flexibility in governing. I’m amazed more townships don’t do that, particularly the larger townships.”

 

Limited home rule would enable Liberty Township to enact legislation in a broad range of areas that it cannot enact as a statutory township. And it could mean some independence from Butler County when it comes to funding various infrastructure projects.

 

One of the biggest benefits would be the ability to issue debt, which could help fund the $30 million to $50 million Liberty Interchange, Minneci said.

 

Home rule could also translate into a higher bond rating, meaning lower debt costs and the ability to combine different debt obligations under a general bond.

 

But there are some associated costs. Under home rule, the township would be required to hire a full- or part-time law director.

 

“Routine” township issues are currently handled free of charge through the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office.

 

We don’t think that additional cost alone is enough to offset the advantages, however, and we’d be surprised if Minneci’s research comes to a different conclusion.

   

http://www.journal-news.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/02/21/HJN022106HomeruleEdit.html

 

Best quote in this article:

"The more people that come in, the more the demand for services - and then the more the taxes, because the residential growth does not pay for itself," Warren County Commissioner Mike Kilburn says. "It's a bleeding ulcer that never corrects itself."

 

 

About time someone realized this!

 

 

 

Why your taxes are so high

Levies drive up bills - with more on way

BY JANICE MORSE AND JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Across Greater Cincinnati's northern suburbs, first-half 2006 property-tax bills are landing with a thud.

 

A decade's worth of mostly tiny tax increases - a little here, a little there - have added up to some of the highest taxes in the region for places in Butler, Warren and Clermont counties.

 

An Enquirer analysis of tax increases since 1995 finds that clear differences that existed a decade ago between tax rates in those counties and traditionally higher-tax areas of Hamilton County have all but disappeared.

 

 

Property tax rates in some outlying cities, villages and townships have climbed 10 percent, 28 percent, even more than 40 percent. The rising rates reflect voters approving more than 200 new and increased tax levies, mostly for schools, but also for fire, police, senior services and more.

 

While local leaders say tax increases help pay for services needed by growing populations, increasing numbers of taxpayers say they are frustrated by the ever-bigger bills.

 

In 1996, Ginny Sundin paid $1,105 in taxes on her 1,700-square-foot home in Mason. Opening this year's tax bill stunned the retired schoolteacher.

 

"Oh, man. Are you ready for this? It's up to $2,428," Sundin says.

 

That 120 percent increase in her tax bill reflects the combined effect of higher tax rates and a home that has grown in value.

 

Now Sundin worries about how many more tax hits she can sustain while living on a fixed income. Already, she shops for generic pain relievers and store-brand groceries to save money.

 

"It's just too hard on us - and a lot of the seniors," Sundin says. "We don't want to sell our home and move."

 

Property taxes have grown so fast for many residents of Butler and Warren counties - and some in Clermont - that they now pay higher property taxes than several high-income parts of neighboring Hamilton County.

 

That means many people who moved away from Hamilton County - partly for better schools and lower taxes - may be paying higher taxes than if they had stayed put.

 

"Every time you turn around, they are coming back to us for more money, more money, more money," West Chester resident Keith Davis says.

 

One of the hardest-hit areas has been Mason, a Warren County city that has pumped millions into expanding its highly rated schools.

 

In 1995, Mason residents enjoyed lower tax rates than people in Cincinnati, Sharonville and many other communities. But the taxes on a $200,000 home in Mason have grown nearly 42 percent - from $2,952 in 1995 to $4,178 in 2005.

 

Now, Mason property taxes exceed those in Anderson Township, Terrace Park, Montgomery, Madeira and nearly everywhere else in town.

 

In addition to property taxes, local sales-tax rates have been rising. And in a few places, so have local income taxes.

 

Even more taxes may be coming for thousands of area residents. The May 2 primary election includes eight school districts asking for more money and three townships that say they need more taxes to support fire services in their growing communities.

 

THE PRICE OF GROWTH

 

Local leaders know no one likes taxes.

 

But officials in fast-growing places like West Chester, Loveland and Deerfield Township say they are scrambling to catch up with demands of growing populations that need more roads, schools, firefighters and social services.

 

"The more people that come in, the more the demand for services - and then the more the taxes, because the residential growth does not pay for itself," Warren County Commissioner Mike Kilburn says. "It's a bleeding ulcer that never corrects itself."

 

Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes cautions residents from reading too much into data that show declining property-tax rates in Hamilton County.

 

For example, Hamilton County's recent reappraisal has increased the property values used to calculate taxes. In many communities, the effective tax rates were dropped to compensate for the higher home values.

 

That means even though tax rates have dropped, many residents will still get bigger tax bills than in past years, Rhodes says.

 

Inflation does not affect property-tax rates, but it can affect the size of a homeowner's tax bill. For example, many more homes are valued at $200,000 now than a decade ago.

 

FRUSTRATIONS GROW

 

Suburban taxpayers have responded to rising taxes with more organized resistance to school levies, calls for freezing property-tax rates for seniors, and overwhelming rejections of new taxes for parks and transit systems.

 

Local leaders have responded with calls for state lawmakers to change Ohio's school funding formula, which relies heavily on property taxes. They also urge lawmakers to grant high-growth counties the right to charge developers "impact fees" to pay for services that residents of new subdivisions need and expect.

 

Until more solutions emerge, taxpayers such as Keith Davis may simply vote with their feet by moving to lower-tax areas.

 

The Davis family moved in 1992 from a high-tax suburb in Montgomery County to Butler County. They were hoping to get into "excellent"-rated schools yet still pay moderate taxes.

 

But Davis, 47, has watched annual taxes on his $320,520 brick home in West Chester skyrocket to $5,810 this year - $1,494 more than he first paid after moving there in 1998.

 

The most recent West Chester tax increase was a 7.73-mill operating levy and bond issue for the Lakota schools, which passed last November after three previous defeats. It raised annual property taxes $472 per $200,000 valuation.

 

This spring, West Chester residents are being asked to dip into their wallets again. On the May 2 primary ballot, voters will consider a 6-mill fire levy so the fire department can add staff, training and equipment. If approved, that levy would cost $92 more per $200,000 valuation.

 

"It just seems like they are not planning ahead properly for the schools and townships and prioritizing their projects," Davis says. "It's like: 'I want to do this. Let's just hit the taxpayers up for more.' "

 

Gia Borgerson's family moved to Butler County from Hamilton County in 1994. Then in 2003 they moved to Mason, in Warren County, specifically to gain access to one of Ohio's top-rated school systems.

 

Though Mason school taxes continue to climb, Borgerson said, the price is worth it.

 

"Nobody jumps up and down (in joy) when their tax bill comes," Borgerson said. "But I firmly believe our excellent Mason schools give us a great bang for our bucks."

 

THE PRICE OF LOWER TAXES

 

Some northern suburbs still offer modest property-tax rates - but the price can be less-desirable school conditions.

 

In Warren County's Hamilton Township, taxes on a $200,000 home increased about 6.3 percent since 1995. The township is enjoying less-dramatic increases than other areas partly because voters rejected three bond issues for Little Miami Schools in the past two years.

 

The result: postponed efforts to build schools.

 

The district is about 1,000 students above building capacity now and keeps adding students. In May, the district faces a fourth ballot campaign in three years.

 

"It has been devastating to our district and has split our community," Dan Bennett, Little Miami's superintendent, says. "But this is our only option to get new buildings."

 

Little Miami parent Mike Harris says his family may move out if the bond issue doesn't pass.

 

"We're not taxed to the hilt now," Harris says. "But education is also a huge part of the reason we moved here."

 

Yet many students have been placed in trailer-like portable classrooms. Some, including Harris' 6-year-old daughter, are learning in a leased church basement.

 

"That was a slap in the face," Harris says.

 

Allen Baxter, 75, moved to West Chester from Lawrenceburg in 1997. This year, his total property tax bill will be $3,479 - up $300 from 2000.

 

"If the community cannot support the services with the rising population, then they have to cut back somewhere," Baxter says. "We've gone too far in what we offer. We need to get back to basics and stop that giant sucking sound."

 

Enquirer staff writer Michael D. Clark contributed.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060226/NEWS01/602260355

From the 3/11/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Tylersville thoroughfare to be widened

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

WEST CHESTER TWP. - A $5.6 million widening project is coming to one of the region's most congested thoroughfares: Tylersville Road.

 

Starting in 2009, Tylersville will be widened in three places:

 

From two to five lanes from Wetherington Drive west to Cincinnati-Dayton Road, the Butler County Engineer's Office announced Friday.

 

From two to three lanes from just west of Cincinnati-Dayton Road to Lakota Hills Drive.

 

East of Interstate 75, crews will add a center turn lane in front of the Kohl's department store that will run east to Butler-Warren Road.

 

In all, the project runs about a mile long.

 

"This is a project that's been on the drawing board since the early to mid 1990s," said Chris Petrocy, spokesman for the engineer's office.

 

The year-long job will be paid for with federal and county money, Petrocy said.

 

The road work is expected to reduce traffic congestion on one of the township's primary east-west thoroughfares. The road connects West Chester and neighboring Mason in Warren County to I-75.

 

Some 60,000 vehicles a day travel Tylersville Road at Cox Road; about 16,000 vehicles a day use the road west of I-75 at Cincinnati-Dayton Road, Petrocy said.

 

Steve Moore said Friday he will pay close attention to the construction. He owns three houses and operates his dental practice in a fourth building on Tylersville Road near Cincinnati-Dayton Road. He still has safety concerns about the road, despite the planned improvements.

 

"It would be nice if the large hills along Tylersville could be reduced or eliminated," he said. "Now seems like the time to make that road as safe as possible."

 

It wasn't clear Friday what other improvements will be made on Tylersville Road, especially east of I-75 where construction on a $200 million community hospital is expected to begin this summer.

 

The township and the county engineer's office have been working to come up with a plan to possibly widen and improve Tylersville Road at Dudley Drive.

 

E-mail [email protected]

 

What it means

Starting in 2009, about a mile of Tylersville Road will be widened, mostly west of I-75.

 

A center turn lane will be added to part of Tylersville Road east of I-75.

 

The road work will take about a year to complete.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060311/NEWS01/603110449/1056/rss02

 

Greater Cincinnati will soon be known as Greater West Chester

Tylersville widening hits resistance

Some say West Chester road would have too many lanes

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Some residents say a $5.6 million widening project along Tylersville Road west of Interstate 75 goes too far.

 

The county plans to widen the often-congested road from two lanes to five from Wetherington Drive west nearly to Cincinnati-Dayton Road, and from two lanes to three from near Cincinnati-Dayton Road to Lakota Hills Drive.

 

The Butler County Engineer's Office said the plan has been on the books since 1997.

 

But Larry Brueshaber, who chaired West Chester's 1993 and current vision committees, told township leaders late Tuesday the project comes as a surprise and conflicts with the township's land-use plan.

 

He called for the five-lane part of the project to be scaled back to three lanes. Fewer lanes would mean fewer problems for businesses that could wind up with excessively steep driveways after the road is widened, he said.

 

"This project is way down the road and there's been no dialogue with the township," he said.

 

Some township trustees said they learned about the project only from media reports. But a spokesman for the engineer's office said the project was not a secret.

 

"West Chester Township has been well aware of our plans for this project," said Chris Petrocy, spokesman for county engineer's office. "Moreover, common sense would indicate as one drives that stretch of road that improvements of some type are probably imminent."

 

Trustee Catherine Stoker said the road work has been needed for a long time.

 

The year-long job will be funded with federal and county money. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2008.

 

As part of the project, Tylersville road also will gain a center turn lane in front of the Kohl's store, eastward to Butler-Warren Road.

 

Earlier this month, 43 property owners in the project area received letters alerting them to the plan. Some landowners will lose their homes, but it remains unclear exactly how many, county officials said.

 

The county will hold a public meeting in the spring or summer to unveil a detailed design and to gather public comment.

 

The results could alter the design. The county also will have to do appraisals on any affected properties.

 

E-mail [email protected].

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060316/NEWS01/603160399

From the 3/18/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Road plan called unsafe

State senator takes up case

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Dick Clarke agrees that increasingly busy Cincinnati-Dayton Road needs to be widened.

 

But that's no excuse, he says, for leaving his waste-hauling business stuck with a driveway so steep that it might not be safe for his trucks to use.

 

Butler County plans to take a 21-foot strip of a 30-acre parcel used by Clarke Inc. when it widens about two miles of Cincinnati-Dayton Road from two lanes to three.

 

Construction on the $3 million project is to begin in 2007.

 

Clarke, 66, says the widening project will leave his property - between Gano and Allen roads - with a driveway that has a 10-degree slope, twice as steep as it is now.

 

The implication: trucks will struggle more often to get up the driveway from the road and will have more trouble stopping when waiting to get out, especially on rainy or snowy days.

 

"They are leaving me in an unsafe condition," Clarke says. "They aren't dealing with the problem."

 

Clarke is the only property owner along the project who still has concerns about the plans. Unsatisfied with the local response, Clarke sought help from state Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester Township.

 

Cates took up the matter earlier this week, showing up in person Monday before county commissioners and Tuesday before township trustees to criticize county engineers for doing the "minimum" to address Clarke's concerns.

 

"When it comes to eminent domain taking, even when it's for a legitimate government purpose, it is important for government not to be arrogant," Cates said. "That is someone's personal property and government needs to be sensitive to that."

 

Chris Petrocy, spokesman for the engineer's office, denies that the office has been unresponsive.

 

"We regret that Sen. Cates felt it necessary to take this issue to the (county) commissioners without bothering to discuss it with us and help resolve the issue to Mr. Clarke's satisfaction," he said. "We have worked in good faith with Mr. Clarke, having made numerous suggestions and modifying the plans within reason, none of which he is willing to accept."

 

County and township leaders agreed to look into the situation. One commissioner joined Cates in criticizing how the engineer's office handles road projects.

 

"They focus more on the property they are acquiring than the property they leave behind," County Commissioner Mike Fox said.

 

E-mail [email protected].

 

About the project

What: Cincinnati-Dayton Road in Butler County will be widened from two lanes to three for about two miles, from Crescentville Road to West Chester Road.

When: Construction starts in 2007, and would last six to eight months. Some utility relocations have been completed.

Cost: $3 million, in county and federal funds.

 

Source: Butler County Engineer's Office

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060318/NEWS01/603180412/1056/rss02

 

From the 3/21/06 Enquirer:

 

 

PHOTO: Dick Clarke claims taking some of the land at his business to widen Cincinnati-Dayton Road will make his driveway too steep for trucks.  The Enquirer / Tony Jones

 

Butler engineer defends road widening

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

HAMILTON - Butler County Engineer Greg Wilkens appeared before county commissioners Monday to rebut allegations raised last week by a state senator about an upcoming road project.

 

Wilkens said State Sen. Gary Cates left the wrong impression that the Butler County Engineer's Office was uncooperative and imposing an unsafe project on the public.

 

"It is an insult to me and my staff," Wilkens said. "I would hope when he is preparing legislation he does a little more research."

 

The Butler County Engineer's Office plans to take a 21-foot strip of a 30-acre parcel used by Clarke Inc. when it widens about two miles of Cincinnati-Dayton Road from two lanes to three between Crescentville Road and West Chester Road. Construction on the $3 million project is to begin in 2007.

 

The property owner, Dick Clarke, agreed that increasingly busy Cincinnati-Dayton Road needs to be widened. But he said the plan will leave his waste-hauling business stuck with a driveway so steep that it might not be safe for his trucks to use.

 

Clarke appealed to Cates, R-West Chester Township, for help. Last week, Cates made appearances before Butler County commissioners and West Chester Township trustees to plead Clarke's case.

 

Cates said engineers were doing the minimum to address Clarke's concerns. Cates said he felt compelled to appear in person before elected leaders because Wilkens did not return his phone message.

 

Wilkens said Monday he never got a phone message from the senator. He also denied that his office has been unresponsive to Clarke. The office was aware four years ago when the project began how crucial Clarke's property was, he said.

 

Engineers have spoken with Clarke about a dozen times, and made several suggestions and changes to the plans, none of which he is willing to accept, Wilkens said. Clarke has denied this and insists the engineer's office isn't listening to his safety concerns.

 

Another business owner, Carol Johnson, told county leaders she also was having difficulties with the engineer's office.

 

Johnson, owner of Bethany Grocery & Carryout in Liberty Township, sued the county in August over a property dispute with the engineer's office.

 

She objects to plans for her land as the engineer's office widens Cincinnati-Dayton Road 1.5 miles from two to three lanes just north of Ohio 129 to Millikin Road.

 

County commissioners told her they could not comment on her case because the lawsuit is ongoing.

 

Wilkens said his office tried without success to work with Johnson.

 

"We thought we had a win-win situation for everybody," he said.

 

E-mail [email protected].

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060321/NEWS01/603210351/1056

 

From the 3/21/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Butler twps. getting zone tweaks

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

HAMILTON - With home developers heading west into Ross and Hanover townships, Butler County commissioners are changing zoning codes to increase regulation and housing options for developments in six townships.

 

The changes have been in the works for two years and are expected to be approved in a special 7 p.m. meeting today.

 

They affect only the communities where the county controls zoning: Oxford, Milford, Hanover, Ross, Madison and Lemon townships.

 

No land is being rezoned and all existing uses would be permitted to continue, said Mike Juengling, director of the Butler County Department of Development.

 

Some of the changes are simply options, not requirements, being added to the code to give communities and developers more up-to-date zoning, such as cluster zoning for residential developments.

 

Other stipulations focus on preserving low densities, roadside views and natural features such as trees and other landscaping.

 

Other changes include:

 

* A 35 percent open-space requirement for certain residential zoning districts, including the most common "planned unit development."

* A 50 percent open-space requirement for "conservation development districts." These are for residential districts with higher density of 4.8 units per acre. This also is known as cluster zoning.

* Landscape buffers between homes and businesses.

* Businesses must put most of their parking to the side or back of their properties.

 

In Ross Township, Trustee Tom Willsey said Monday he is eager for the zoning changes to take place.

 

His community, which has about 8,000 residents, is expecting more than 600 new homes.

 

Growth controversies have erupted as a result. Township residents will vote in the May 2 primary whether a 230-house project can rise near Layhigh and School roads.

 

The county approved the project last fall, but now some residents are seeking to overturn that decision via referendum.

 

Willsey wouldn't comment Monday on the referendum, but said his community needs more variety in its zoning.

 

Otherwise, the expected growth will come at the expense of greenspace - and it could prevent business development, he said.

 

"We don't want to stop growth. We just want common-sense growth," Willsey said. "We are growing way beyond our means to maintain what they are building. We don't have the roads, police and fire to maintain all these changes."

 

Home builders have been consulted on the new rural zoning rules throughout the planning process and endorse them, county leaders said.

 

"While we didn't get everything we wanted, we do support them," agreed Etta Reed, president of the Ohio Valley Development Council, a subcommittee of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati. "We realize that change has to occur."

 

Reed said the new rules will give builders more choices and flexibility in creating housing developments.

 

E-mail [email protected].

 

If you go

What: Butler County commissioners vote on zoning code changes for Oxford, Milford, Hanover, Ross, Madison and Lemon townships.

When: 7 p.m. today

Where: Government Services Center, 315 High St., Hamilton.

Information: Butler County Planning Department, (513) 887-3413, or go to development.butlercountyohio.org and view the Butler County Rural Zoning Resolution.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060321/NEWS01/603210346/1056/rss02

 

From the 3/27/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Bypass Ohio 4 a traffic headache

Fairfield to discuss improvements to its section of roadway

 

FAIRFIELD — One of the biggest traffic headaches for motorists is Bypass Ohio 4.

 

Since the two-lane bypass is crowded, an access road to several industrial businesses in Fairfield, is taking on more and more traffic.

 

“Seward Road is acting as a bypass to the bypass,” said Tim Bachman, Fairfield’s development service director.

 

The bypass is one of several roads slated for improvements on Fairfield’s proposed city thoroughfare plan.

 

City Council will hold a first reading on the plan at Tuesday’s council meeting. A public hearing will be held on the issue at a later date.

 

A possible fix for Bypass Ohio 4 would be to widen the regional road from two to four lanes, and in some areas add a turn lane in both directions from Symmes Road to Ohio 129, Bachman said.

 

“If you fix the bypass, you probably fix Seward,” Bachman said. “(Seward is) becoming, and is there now, a heavily traveled roadway to facilitate and feed all the business traffic that it needs, but unfortunately it’s getting all the consumer traffic all the way through because the bypass isn’t doing its job.”

 

Widening Bypass Ohio 4 is not a project the city can do alone, since only about one-quarter of the road runs through the city. A similar share runs through Hamilton and the remainder is in Fairfield Township.

 

The three local jurisdictions and Butler County are working with the Transportation Improvement District to complete the engineering for the road, Bachman said.

 

John Fonner, TID executive director, could not be reached for comment.

 

Right now, a possible extension of Nilles Road to Symmes Road is just a line on a map.

 

The connector shown on the city’s proposed 2006 thoroughfare plan has many obstacles to be a reality — at least anytime soon, said Planning Manager Erin Donovan.

 

The proposed extension was included in the city’s Insight 2010 plan to find an east-west connection from Interstate 75 to Ross Township, said Bachman.

 

The most logical route to connect Nilles Road to Symmes Road would be through the Fairfield High School football stadium.

 

However, “there’s been no analysis, there’s been no study, there’s been no logical discussion from a traffic engineering stand point,” Bachman said.

 

Contact Michael D. Pitman at (513) 755-5112 or e-mail him at [email protected].

   

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/03/26/hjn032706thoroughfare.html

 

From the 4/2/06 Middletown Journal:

 

 

Forum to focus on preserving rural quality of life

 

HANOVER TOWNSHIP — Butler Advocates for Responsible Development is sponsoring a forum Monday night to explore the idea that the rural quality of life can be preserved by improving the quality of life in the city.

 

BARD Secretary Mark Boardman said the forum marks a transition from explaining land use concepts to presenting tools and options that the community can actually use.

 

“The goal here is to create a land use situation that really is quite attractive for a variety of people — for city dwellers and farm dwellers,” Boardman said.

 

Making sure that cities are attractive places to live also ensures that fewer people will feel the need to spread out into the countryside, he said.

 

“For the long-term sustainability of the region, we really don’t want to misuse land for one-acre and two-acre homes because we want to make sure we will have land for other purposes,” he said. “Those other purposes would be farms — not big farms, but sustainable farms and things like wind power.

 

“As soon as oil hits $80 or $90 a barrel, wind power, even here, will be in demand. You need a lot of area to do that. It’s a longer view strategy.”

 

Monday night’s forum also will cover the concept of cluster development that allows smaller lot sizes while preserving open space, he said.

 

The forum is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Marshall Elementary School, 3260 Oxford-Millville Road, in Hanover Township.

 

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/02/MJ040206BARD.html

 

From the 4/2/06 Enquirer:

 

 

PHOTO: When complete, this home, the Carmel, will be the model home at M/I Homes' Grace Meadows in West Chester Township.  The Enquirer/Tony Jones

 

M/I Homes targets move-up buyers at its Grace Meadows

West Chester site near expressway, in Lakota district

BY MIKE BOYER | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

M/I Homes is targeting move-up buyers in Grace Meadows, its new 70-home community off Tylersville Road in Butler County's West Chester Township.

 

"This is definitely an 'in' location in Butler County," said Mark Horner, vice president of sales and marketing for M/I's Cincinnati division.

 

The 100-plus-acre site, a former horse farm, is in the Lakota School District and is about five minutes from Interstate 75.

 

"Most of the (home building) activity is farther north. One advantage of this site is its proximity to the Union Centre area," Horner said.All the homes in Grace Meadows will be M/I's upscale Showcase line, four-bedroom houses priced at $500,000 and up, which the Columbus-based builder is re-introducing in the Cincinnati area after about a seven-year absence.

 

"We think we're well-positioned for buyers in this price-range," Horner said. "We have several thousand home owners in this area who are ready to be move-up buyers."

 

M/I, which builds in 11 markets in Ohio, Indiana, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia, constructs about 300 homes annually in the Cincinnati area, typically from just under $200,000 to $400,000.

 

The seven homes in the Showcase line feature wide-open floor plans and optional three-car garages. The Carmel, the community's model home opening next month, features a multilevel master suite.

 

M/I also plans a second Showcase model priced from $610,000 in the Hearthstone Estates subdivision, off McKinney Road in Symmes Township.

 

E-mail [email protected]

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060402/BIZ01/604020415/1076/rss01

---

From the, uh, archives and stuff:

 

 

Muhlhauser Barn will return

Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/1/06

After months of debate and years of delays, township leaders on Tuesday voted to reconstruct the historic, 1881 Muhlhauser Barn.

 

The plans have changed, however, and it wasn't clear late Tuesday if it would be used as a senior center.

 

The township once planned to convert the 125-year-old structure into a $3 million to $5 million senior and conference center/performance hall.

 

Instead, they opted late Tuesday to turn the barn into a more rustic, $3 million facility with a parking lot for community events at Beckett Park. That's where the barn has been, dismantled under a tarp, since it was donated to the township in 2002. A new road also will be built through the park to Beckett Road.

---

DEVELOPER GIVES 13-ACRE PARCEL

Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/11/06

Liberty Township officials have accepted a developer's donation of nearly 13 acres on the northwest corner of Princeton Road and Butler Warren Road. Rhein Interests Inc. was required to give the 12.8-acre parcel to the township as a condition of a 2000 rezoning for the Trails of Four Bridges subdivision. The land is to be used as a public park or school, Township Trustee President Christine Matacic said. The Lakota school district has no immediate plans to build on the site, she said. The township plans to leave the land in its natural state for the time being, she said.

---

Zoning commission approves retail center, prohibits automotive business

The Pulse-Journal, 3/16/06

Liberty Twp. Zoning Commission voted last week to allow a developer to build a multi-tenant retail center at 6871 Cincinnati-Dayton Road but prohibited using the northern portion of the site for automotive use, such as a car wash or oil change business.

 

The plan comes before the Liberty Twp. Board of Trustees Monday evening.

 

Residents of the neighboring Stonehenge subdivision believe their views still are not being taken into account, said Eileen Sorrows of Eldorado Drive.

 

“As much as they say ‘We’re trying,’ I don’t believe it,” Sorrows said.

---

LIBERTY TWP.: Developer pulls multi-tenant retail request

Middletown Journal, 3/22/06

A Kentucky developer withdrew plans for a retail development at the corner of Yankee and Cincinnati-Dayton roads Monday night when township leaders tried to restrict operating hours at the site.

 

During a presentation at the start of a zoning hearing, Jim Cook of Brandicorp said he would withdraw his application if trustees sought to further restrict the site’s hours of operations or the uses for the site above concessions he made at a meeting with officials last month.

 

Resident after resident from the neighboring Stonehenge subdivision stepped to the podium to complain about the four-acre development — especially plans for fast food restaurants — labeling it an eyesore that would increase crime and decrease property values.

---

Boos greet soccer fee plan

Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/26/06

The cost of playing soccer is going up in this fast-growing Butler County community.

 

And soccer parents and coaches aren't happy about it.

 

Township leaders are planning to impose a yet-to-be determined user's fee for the parks' soccer fields. They say the money is needed to help offset state funding cuts for local governments.

 

The fees would go toward improving the township's 14 or so soccer fields. If parents and users are willing to pay enough, township officials say, more fields eventually could be developed.

 

From the 4/3/06 Middletown Journal:

 

 

Maintaining cities key to land preservation , speaker tells BARD

BARD meeting discusses ways to save countryside

 

HANOVER TOWNSHIP — Making Hamilton and Middletown more attractive to young professionals will be key not only in preserving Ohio’s economic vitality, but in preserving western Butler County’s rural countryside, Greater Ohio State Director Gene Krebs said.

 

Krebs addressed a meeting of Butler Advocates for Responsible Development Monday night at Marshall Elementary School Monday evening. Land conservation through urban revitalization is a primary mission for Greater Ohio.

 

In the past, Krebs said, manufacturers chose their locations because of their proximity to raw resources. “The young and the restless,” that will drive economic development in the future, he said, will choose to locate in communities that cater to their tastes.

 

“They are attracted to a very particular downtown environment,” he said. “They want cool cities that are diverse, human-scaled, bricked and walkable.”

 

While developers are working to rebuild the cities, they’re not running bulldozers and pavement over farms and other open spaces, he said.

 

“If the question is saving farmland you make your cities a more attractive place to live.”

 

Recreating the types of consolidated communities where people live, shop and work in the same place will play into the system of tax collection and public services set up in the 1930s.

 

Continuing the sprawling residential and big box retail trends won’t work, he said, unless the state’s tax system adapts to it.

 

Advocates of high density development, though, have run into problems in western Butler County before and Monday night was no different. The debate started before Krebs got up to speak as Hanover Township resident Bob Krieger talked to the group about the higher density levels allowed under the county’s recently revised zoning code.

 

Under the county’s zoning rules, cluster development allows for smaller lot sizes than conventional residential development in exchange for the preservation of open space within the subdivision.

 

Krieger said the new code would allow smaller lot sizes in these developments than are allowed even for manufactured homes.

 

BARD’s next meeting is scheduled for May 1, when the group will discuss the concept of transferable development rights. More information about BARD is available at www.butlercounty-bard.org.

 

Contact Chris Dumond at (513) 820-2025, or e-mail him at [email protected].

 

http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/03/mj040406BARD.html

 

From the 4/15/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Business coalition members wants Ohio 4 right-of-way reduced

City officials propose 100-foot right-of-way

 

The Route 4 Business Coalition members they don’t want Ohio 4 to be a six-lane thoroughfare.

 

That widening could be a possibility under a new update to the city’s thoroughfare plan. The widening would bring the right-of-way for the road to 160 feet.

 

If it isn’t needed, why have it? asked Martha Tipton, coalition spokeswoman and a co-founding member.

 

Monday, the city council and the planning commission held a joint public hearing on a proposed update of the city’s thoroughfare plan. Development Services Director Tim Bachman defended the proposals against criticism by saying it is a fluid document and changes based on business trends and developments.

 

The road is now four lanes, with some areas having a turn lane, through most of town. It is as narrow as 60 feet of right of way in some sections.

 

Tipton said even a 100-foot right-of-way would devastate businesses in some areas. Some businesses had been constructed with a 60-foot right-of-way in place, such as near Boymel Drive.

 

“If you take one foot, if you take 61 feet, that kills their parking because they wouldn’t meet the criteria for their parking,” Tipton said.

 

Tipton said she would like to see the right-of-way at 60 feet remain.

 

“We’re trying to work with them on something that works for everybody,” Tipton said. “You might as well say, ‘Everyone, close up your doors, it’s all over.’”

 

A written recommendation from the planning commission will be submitted to city council, which will make the final decisions on the plan.

 

Widening of some of the road will begin in 2007.

 

Public Works Director Dave Bock said the city has received a grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation to widen Ohio 4 to add a third northbound lane from south of Muhlhauser Road to Crescentville Road in Hamilton County.

 

The $1.45 million project, which continues south to Interstate 275 in Springdale, will cost the city about $100,000 in construction costs, said John Belanger, city surveyor and traffic analyst coordinator. Springdale will be responsible for about $45,000.

 

Bock said the improvements were necessary based on a hazard elimination study which cited a significant number of traffic accidents in that stretch of Ohio 4.

 

Contracts are scheduled to be awarded in summer 2007.

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/04/15/HJN041606OHIO4.html

 

From the 4/19/06 Fairfield Echo:

 

 

City thoroughfare plan discussion continued

City, business leaders seek to be on same page with Ohio 4 updates

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

 

More public discussion on the city’s proposed thoroughfare plan update will continue at the May 10 planning commission meeting, but behind-the-scene talks will take place next week.

 

The city’s development services

 

Director Tim Bachman said an April 28 meeting between city staff will give them a chance to address concerns business owners have expressed about some road widenings encroaching on businesses.

 

Some Route 4 business owners complained about plans to widen that road in recent public hearings about the thoroughfare plan.

 

“We had put some things out there of some ideas to discuss, not even a recommendation but just possibilities,” Bachman said. “Some were challenged by the business community, some of them were favored by the business community. I would say there was a lot of dialogue between the two parties.”

 

The city’s thoroughfare plan is being reviewed and updated for the first time since 1992. Projects on the plan aren’t necessarily destined for completion, since some plan proposals in past versions had been removed because of development, Bachman said.

 

Bachman said the major concern of business leaders, and the Route 4 Business Coalition, is a proposal to widen to 160-foot that road’s right-of-way from the city line on Crescentville Road to Nilles Road.

 

Business leaders also think the proposed right-of-way increase to 100 feet is too wide in certain areas.

 

“Their major concern is that the thoroughfare plan is the first step for a major re-widening of three lanes in both directions,” Bachman said. “That isn’t the idea.”

 

Before last week’s planning commission meeting, Ohio 4 Coalition member and spokeswoman Martha Tipton and Bachman met for three hours and discussed some ideas.

 

“Certainly the needs are represented by Mr. Bachman, and the planning commission the seemed very receptive of that,” Tipton said. “Frankly the needs of the coalition did not conflict with the needs of the planning commission. I’m very optimistic.”

 

The significant issue for Tipton, the coalition members and the business community along Ohio 4 is the right-of-way should be less than 100 feet in some areas. Tipton said the 100-foot right-of-way could devastate some businesses. The right-of-way in many areas of Ohio 4 is 60 feet, and increasing it by a foot would encroach on parking lots, Tipton said. If there was a need for significant property improvement, a businesses may not have enough, he said.

 

The planning commission, which meets at 6 p.m. the second and fourth Wednesday each month, will make a recommendation to city council. Council has final approval on the plan.

 

Contact Michael D. Pitman at (513) 755-5112 or [email protected]

 

http://www.fairfield-echo.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/19/fe0420thoroughfarefolo.html

 

WEST CHESTER NEW OFFICE SUITES WILL BE SOLD AS CONDOS

Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/2/06

Construction is expected to start this month on the first three of up to nine office condos that will make up the Tylers Place Business Campus, a $12 million complex off Tylers Place Boulevard in West Chester.

 

Developer Bill Heckman said the office park, between Interstate 75 and Wetherington Golf and Country Club, is aimed at medical and professional office tenants.

 

The first two tenants are DeStefano Custom Builders and an undisclosed real estate firm, Heckman said.

 

All but two of the buildings will be one-story structures of up to 8,000 square feet. Two 2-story buildings of up to 20,000 square feet are also planned.

 

The 8-acre site will be surrounded by greenspace and parking for about 400 cars.

---

2 Lakota schools under way

Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/5/06

It took two years and four tax campaigns, but Lakota officials were finally able to push ceremonial shovels into the ground Tuesday for two new elementary schools.

 

Lakota officials hope the schools - plus a new freshmen school and additions to Lakota West and East high schools to be built later - will reduce the nearly 1,000 students being taught in 39 portable classrooms across the Butler County school system.

 

Voters approved an $84 million bond issue in November that will fund the $13.6 million elementary schools - one in West Chester Township on Smith Road just west of Princeton-Glendale Road, and the other in Liberty Township at Summerlin Boulevard and Cincinnati-Dayton Road.

 

Both are slated to open in August 2007.

---

Miami moving ahead with Voice of America facility

The Pulse-Journal, 4/12/06

Plans to build a Miami University learning center at Voice of America Centre are moving forward.

 

It will likely be about 15 months before the building is ready, but classes are currently being held at a bank building at VOA.

 

“We’re in the early design stages. It will be more than a year,” said university architect Robert Keller. “It was on hold for a couple years.”

---

Township trustees OK new development

Fairfield Echo, 4/12/06

Fairfield Twp. Board of Trustees passed a resolution Tuesday night that will allow for 16.6 acres of new residential development off Hamilton-Mason Road.

 

Located between Morris Road and Liberty-Fairfield Road south of Ohio 129, Avalon Station will include 36 lots, said Robert Rothert, Vice President and Chief Engineer of Abercrombie and Associates.

 

Lot sizes range from 9,000 square feet up to 21,922, a little more than half an acre.

 

The development will feature two open space lots that total 4.6 acres or 28 percent of the site. One lot contains an existing lake, the other will be an undisturbed, green space lot, Rothert said.

---

Liberty to continue to deal with multiple ZIP codes

Hamilton JournalNews, 4/13/06

For Liberty Township residents, sharing a ZIP code with Hamilton, Middletown or West Chester Township can be a headache.

 

Case in point: A Liberty Township couple fills out paperwork to adopt a child. One spouse writes “Hamilton,” the other spouse writes “Liberty Township.”

 

The slight deviation translates into paperwork and delays for all concerned.

 

“The township actually had to sign a letter stating that they were in Hamilton, 45011 and Liberty Township, 45011,” said Trustee President Christine Matacic. “In this particular case their address was the same address. One was not living in one location and the other was not living in another location.”

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Liberty sets home rule public hearings

Hamilton JournalNews, 4/17/06

The Liberty Township Board of Trustees met for a work session Monday night to discuss the pros and cons of limited home rule.

 

Trustees also set public hearings on the issue. The public hearings are scheduled during the board’s May 1 and May 15 meetings.

 

Township officials first discussed home rule during a work session in early February. Since then Administrator Dina Minecci has met with officials from several home rule areas, including Batavia, Colerain, Fairfield, West Chester, Union and townships.

---

Potential disagreement in RID agreement

Fairfield Echo, 4/19/06

The agreement regarding a residential incentive district in Fairfield Twp. has caused some concern between Fairfield schools and Butler County.

 

The agreement was made in June 2005 between the school district and the Butler County Commissioners. It redirected the property taxes that will be paide from some new residential developments away from schools and the traditional recipients of property taxes and to road construction and other county projects.

 

As part of the agreement, Butler County pledged to make Fairfield schools whole, paying them any money they lost, according to Fairfield Board of Education legal counsel John Clemmons.

---

West Chester hopes voters again say 'yes'

Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/21/06

A fire levy has never failed in this fast-growing township.

 

Fire officials hope to keep that streak going in the May 2 primary, when voters will consider the largest fire levy in township history: raising the current one from 4.5 mills to 6 mills.

 

The township says it needs more staff and equipment to keep up with the rapid pace of home building.

 

If passed, the five-year levy would generate about $10 million annually, up from $8.3 million last year. It would cost homeowners another $92 per $200,000 valuation.

---

Ross schools seek advice on growth

Hamilton JournalNews, 4/22/06

Residents in the Ross Local School District will have an opportunity to gather information and give input about the district’s growth at meetings set for Monday and May 2.

 

The Elda Parent/Teacher Organization is sponsoring a “coffee” discussion at the school from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday. The Morgan Parent/Teacher Organization is doing the same 7 to 9 p.m. May 2.

 

Small group discussions have been held over the last several months through out the district.

 

The purpose of the meetings has been to “gather feedback on what community members will support as the district faces a growing student population with limited space,” said Superintendent Todd Yohey.

---

Brown Farm set for resale

Hamilton JournalNews, 4/23/06

With the owners getting up in years and the costs of health care and long-term care mounting, the Brown Farm will be sold for development regardless of the outcome of a May 2 rezoning referendum.

 

"The need is not going to go away," 84-year-old Hazel Brown said. "That's not going to change because of a vote.?

 

A clamor rose almost immediately last summer as the family sought to rezone the 116-acre farm for the development of a 230 home subdivision. Residents complained about the impact building could have on Dry Run Creek, which runs through the center of the farm. Others complained about the prospect of overcrowded schools, more taxes and clogged two-lane roads running through the township.

 

When the Butler County Board of Commissioners approved the zoning change in November, those residents wasted no time gathering nearly 500 signatures to put the issue up for a vote.

---

Lakota East, West add on

Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/25/06

Lakota Schools Superintendent Phil Ehrhardt spent Monday doing something he would like to do more often - ceremoniously breaking ground for new classrooms.

 

With about 600 new students enrolling each year in Ohio's seventh-largest school system - and almost 1,000 Lakota students learning in portable classrooms because of a lack of space - Greater Cincinnati's second-largest district needs more classrooms.

 

Monday's ceremonies were for $8.5 million worth of expansions at both Lakota East and Lakota West high schools. The projects are the latest in school construction designed to try to keep pace with enrollment. Lakota East has 1,900 students, while West houses 2,000.

 

"With a growing district, this is a good habit to get into," said Ehrhardt before joining other Lakota school leaders and Liberty Township officials in shoveling soil in front of Lakota East High School. A 12-classroom wing will be built.

---

Ballot issue boils down to what can be done when property's sold

Cincinnati Enquirer, 4/30/06

Most folks know one another in this quiet rural Butler County town of about 8,000 residents.

 

It's safe and the schools are good.

 

People advertise homemade honey for sale with front-yard signs.

 

Now, new signs have sprouted in Ross. Some say: "Set The Standard for Future Development Vote No Issue 15." Others say: "Protect Property Owners Rights. Vote Yes Issue 15."

---

Farm's fate in voters' hands

Hamilton JournalNews, 4/30/06

Township voters will have the chance Tuesday to overturn or affirm the rezoning of the Brown Farm for a 230-home subdivision.

 

The Butler County Board of Commissioners approved the rezoning of the 115-acre farm in November from mostly agricultural use to a residential planned-unit district with about 150 single family homes and 80 ranch condos.

 

The farm sits west of the intersection of School and Layhigh roads and to the north of the cemetery there.

 

Russell Beckner, the son-in-law of one of the farm’s owners, said the family is selling the land in order to pay for health and long-term care costs of the owners, who are facing old age and some health troubles.

---

Land-use expert to discuss beating sprawl

Hamilton JournalNews, 4/30/06

You’ve heard of the “Dummies Guide” books, but the Butler Advocates for Responsible Development are making it local with a “Dummies Guide to Beating Sprawl in the Western Townships” presentation Monday night.

 

The group has invited land-use issues expert Sandra McKew to discuss some success stories from northeastern Ohio as well as the concept of transferable development rights.

 

The idea is to create a commodity of those development rights so that a farmer at one end of the county could sell the number of houses that could conceivably be built on his land to a developer on the other side of the county looking to double the allowable density of a given development.

 

The trade would allow planners to preserve the rural character of some areas while designating others for efficient, high-density development.

 

Liberty looks at adopting home rule

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

LIBERTY TWP. - Road projects could happen sooner rather than later if this fast-growing township adopts the home-rule form of government, leaders say.

 

That's because the township would have broader powers to meet specific needs without turning to Butler County departments for help. Now, county officials oversee road projects in Liberty and dictate when they receive funding to begin.

 

Under a home-rule designation, Liberty Township would be able to borrow more money over a longer period of time for roads and other necessities.

 

The township also could get a higher bond rating, which allows for lower debt costs and combining different debt obligations under one general bond issue. Larger issues can reduce interest costs.

 

But it's not known whether Liberty leaders will vote to adopt home-rule at their next meeting, May 15, or put the issue on the fall ballot.

 

If trustees pass the measure, it would take effect after 30 days.

 

In the first of two public hearings this month on the matter, Trustee Patrick Hiltman said late Monday that home rule designation makes sense for Liberty so it can have more control as it grows. That is especially important now, he said, as state funding for local governments keeps getting slashed.

 

About 33,000 people live in the township; in the next few decades, the population is projected to grow to 86,000.

 

"Any way you cut this, it boils down to money," Hiltman said. Mark Hendryx and a few other Liberty residents who spoke out Monday had questions and concerns about how the designation would affect them.

 

"I think this has merit, but we really need to do our homework and talk to other home rule townships before we proceed," Hendryx told trustees.

 

There are 20 home rule townships out of 1,308 in Ohio, according to the Ohio Township Association.

 

Other townships that operate under home rule include Deerfield, Hamilton and Clearcreek in Warren County, and Fairfield and West Chester townships in Butler County.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060504/NEWS01/605040349/1056

From the 5/9/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Little progress reported in bypass project

By Chris Dumond

Staff Writer

 

HAMILTON — The process of getting Fairfield, Hamilton and Fairfield Township officials together to agree on how to split up the cost of the Bypass Ohio 4 widening design work is moving about as fast as rush-hour traffic.

 

After the state tentatively agreed to pay half the $2.4 million cost in January, Butler County Transportation Improvement District officials spoke urgently about the need to hash out an agreement. At Monday morning’s monthly meeting of the TID, though, Director John Fonner said communication between the three has been unfortunately quiet four months later.

 

“What I’m hearing from each of the three partners separately is, ‘We’re OK, where is everyone else?’” Fonner said. “The hold up, as I understand it, is that the three parties have not met to talk.”

 

The TID Board of Trustees voted Monday to spend $2.4 million on the design work pending the three governments reaching a formal agreement on how to split costs. TID Chairman Jim Blount said trustees were pushing the two cities and the township to meet next Monday to wrap up the process.

 

“We need to quit dragging our feet,” Vice Chairman Don Hassler said. “We’ll keep dragging and dragging and there won’t be anything left.”

 

Local transportation officials have been pressing for the project since the late 1990s. In 1999, one official estimated that the project could take seven to 10 years. The talk at the TID in the spring of 2002 wasn’t much different from Monday, either, except the bill was then estimated between $12 million and $14 million.

 

Today the cost to widen the bypass from two to six lanes between Symmes and Tylersville roads and to four lanes for the remainder is estimated at more than $32 million. The roadway averages about 20,000 drivers per day, with between three and eight times the average number of wrecks as comparable roadways in the state, according to engineering consultant M-E Companies.

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2025 or [email protected].

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/05/08/HJN050906TID_s.html

 

Liberty Twp. trustees go slow on home rule

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

LIBERTY TWP. - A decision won't be made anytime soon on whether this fast-growing Butler County suburb should adopt a home-rule form of government so it can have more authority to operate on its own.

 

After discussing the issue for several weeks, township trustees agreed late Monday to hold off until they learn more about how it works and how it would affect the community's 33,000 residents.

 

"We want to take a closer look at it and make sure it is something worthwhile and beneficial to the community," Trustee Christine Matacic said.

 

 

Should the township adopt a home-rule form of government, projects such as roads could happen sooner because Liberty officials would have broader powers to meet specific needs without turning to Butler County for help.

 

That appeals to township leaders because Liberty's population is projected to skyrocket to 86,000 people in the next few decades.

 

Now, county officials oversee road projects in Liberty and dictate when they receive money.

 

Under a home-rule designation, Liberty Township would be able to borrow more money over a longer period of time for roads and other necessities.

 

The township also could get a higher bond rating, which can lower debt costs and combine different debt obligations under one bond issue. Larger bond issues can reduce interest costs.

 

The township would have to hire a law director. Now, it uses the Butler County Prosecutor's Office.

 

Trustees can either vote to adopt home rule or put the issue on the fall ballot.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060517/NEWS01/605170349/1056

 

Developer sees Bridegwater village as a focus for families

By Eric Schwartzberg

Staff Writer

 

FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP — The completion of Bridgewater Falls’ central village area means the shopping center’s parent company is ready to fill the almost 100,000 square feet of available retail space and to bring in family events.

 

Premier Properties, which finished construction of the center’s village area last week, hopes to create an atmosphere where people want to walk, shop, spend time and “make it more of an experience than your normal strip center is,” said Ryan Pennington, a leasing agent for the company.

 

“The way that the village is designed, it’s more pointed to a main street-type feel,” he said. “It’s a lifestyle component to our shopping center.”

 

Premier Properties is looking to stock the 30 to 40 expected storefronts with upscale salons, specialty clothing stores and fast-casual type restaurants, Pennington said.

 

“Restaurants in these types of projects across the country are what really drive the traffic and continue to get people to come back a couple of times a week, sit outside during the warmer months, take in the atmosphere and do some cross-shopping with some other tenants,” he said.

 

The company wants to provide more than just brand-name tenants.

 

“We’d like to definitely get the local merchants to be a part of this project, too,” Pennington said.

 

A weekend-long grand opening celebration tentatively is scheduled for the beginning of October, said Julie Smith, Bridgewater Falls’ marketing manager.

 

Sections of the village area may be cordoned off to accommodate crowds when the center offers farmer’s markets, comedians, concerts, art fairs, holiday celebrations and other fare to shoppers several times a month.

 

“We’re really looking at the center to be very family friendly,” Smith said.

 

With its already strong line-up of big-box anchor stores, the center will attract a sizeable amount of shoppers smaller retailers in the village area can draw from, said David Sheehy, senior vice president for Brandt Retail Group, which worked on securing Target, TJ Maxx and several other big-name Bridgewater Falls tenants.

 

“The site itself is a great site to capture the growing market along the Butler Regional Highway and Fairfield and Liberty townships,” Sheehy said.

 

Bridgewater Falls’ village area already houses a Factory Card Outlet, Books A Million, Mattress Firm, Cingular Wireless, Supercuts and LT Nails. Locations for Cold Stone Creamery, GNC, Pearle Vision and Kirkland’s are expected to open in the coming months.

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5126 or [email protected].

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/05/20/HJN052106BRIDGEWATER.html

 

From the Fairfield Echo, 5/24/06:

 

 

ODOT seeking input on Ohio 4 improvement plan

Project proposed from Crescentville to Woodridge.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

By Michael D. Pitman

Staff Writer

 

Ohio Department of Transportation wants to hear from the public regarding the planned Ohio 4 improvements from Crescentville Road to Woodridge Boulevard in Fairfield.

 

An open house meeting will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Community Arts Center, 411 Wessel Drive, for residents and commuters to voice opinions and concerns of the project.

 

The proposed project will add lanes north and south, improve signals and lengthen turn lanes at Crescentville Road.

 

“Public information is important to assess that all factors are being considered in the development of a project,” said Jay Hamilton, ODOT District 8 Traffic Planning Engineer. “Those factors include things like any environmental impacts, design impacts, as well as safety issues and how to avoid congestion issues.”

 

John Belanger, Fairfield surveyor and traffic analyst coordinator, said the construction is estimated to cost $1.97 million and Fairfield will pay 10 percent of that cost. The city will also be responsible for purchasing the right of way at a price that has yet to be determined, and all of the engineering, which is about $287,000.

 

Martha Tipton, a representative of the Route 4 Business Coalition, has worked with ODOT and the city to ensure businesses and non-profit organizations along that corridor have little negative impact and make it a “win-win” for everyone affect.

 

Tipton said businesses on the southbound side of Ohio 4 will be impacted less than the northbound businesses, mainly because she said the source of the congestion is from Interstate 275 and that widening of Ohio 4 near there is Springdale’s responsibility.

 

Belanger said the project will help with traffic flow and will reduce the number of accidents.

 

“More traffic can go through there and it will reduce the length of the backed up traffic,” Belanger said. “That has caused us to have accidents there four times the amount of accidents than the state average (of a similar intersection).”

 

Belanger said southbound lane improvements will begin about 400 feet north of Crescentville Road at Glenmary Trace. This will set up the Springdale portion of the project, Belanger said, where two lanes of traffic will added to access I-275.

 

Belanger said the new northbound lane will start at Crescentville and will tie in with the existing three lanes.

 

“It will improve the safety and make it a whole lot more convenient for the traveling public,” Belanger said.

 

The improvement, which is classified as a “minor” project, is scheduled for fall 2007 and Belanger estimates the project taking six to nine months to complete.

 

Project exhibits will be on display for visitors to view and discuss. Comments may be submitted at the open house or mailed to Hans R. Jindal, P.E., District 8 Planning and Environmental Engineer, 505 South Ohio 741, Lebanon, Ohio 45036. Comments mailed must be received by June 16.

 

For more information, call the District 8 Planning Department at (513) 932-3030.

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5112 or [email protected].

 

http://www.fairfield-echo.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/05/24/fe0525odot4.html

 

From the 4/23/06 Journal-News:

 

Hamilton, Fairfield Twp. under fire by non-profit group

By Eric Schwartzberg

 

HAMILTON — A Dayton-based non-profit organization is suing the City of Hamilton and Fairfield Township, asking the court to rule that annexation of its property by the city does not violate the terms of a joint economic development district between the two entities.

 

Graceworks Lutheran Services, which owns 186 acres of property on either side of Gilmore Road south of Ohio 129, claims in the lawsuit filed last month that a joint economic development district (JEDD) agreement signed in 1996 forbids Hamilton from annexing any property within the borders of the district.

 

Vandercar Holdings nixed plans last November to develop 66 acres of the site for a 207,000-square-foot Meijer store.

 

Fairfield Township Zoning Commission approved the plan last summer and scheduled a hearing, but Vandercar withdrew its plans without explanation.

 

The lawsuit maintains that annexation would not violate the terms of the JEDD agreement, as its property does not fall within the JEDD’s borders.

 

But Jack Grove, Fairfield Township’s law director, said the JEDD agreement prohibits Hamilton from annexing any part of the township, not just property within the JEDD.

 

“That’s what Hamilton and Fairfield Township agreed to when they signed the JEDD,” Grove said. “Fairfield Township paid a premium for that covenant.”

 

That premium was Hamilton receiving 75 percent of the net revenue on the original acreage, while Fairfield Township received the remaining revenue, Grove said. In 2004, that division of JEDD revenue was reversed when additional acreage was added to the JEDD, including the Bridgewater Falls tract.

 

“We’re not saying it’s in the JEDD — it isn’t,” Grove said. “But it is in Fairfield Township.”

 

Grove said the lawsuit surprised him, as such action is usually the end product of a conflict, not a starting place.

 

“We hadn’t heard from anyone ahead of the lawsuit. That comes as a disappointment,” he said.

 

Grove also said the lawsuit alleges there is a disagreement between the city and the township.

 

“There’s no correspondence or words about a disagreement and I don’t think Hamilton and Fairfield Township would have expanded (the JEDD) if there’s a disagreement,” he said.

 

Calls to Graceworks’ lawyers were not returned.

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5126 or [email protected].

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/05/24/HJN052506LAWSUIT_s.html

Developer considers residents' proposal

Cincinnati Enquirer, 5/4/06

A day after residents overwhelmingly overturned rezoning that would have transformed a 112-acre corn and soybean farm into a 230-unit subdivision, they began working toward a compromise with the developer.

 

Randy Lane, who led the petition drive against the project at the Brown family farm on Layhigh Road, called the developer Wednesday and told him: "We need to talk."

 

Lane said residents would be willing to accept:

 

* 160 houses on half-acre lots on the site. No condominiums. Each house would have to be at least half-brick.

* Each house would carry a minimum $1,500 impact fee to go to the school district to pay for school expansions.

* Work would have to be done to prevent a nearby creek from overflowing.

* A traffic light would have to be installed at Layhigh and School roads.

 

The developer, Andy Temmel of Red Pine Properties, said he is considering the proposal.

---

Liberty, W. Chester see need for joint plan

Cincinnati Enquirer, 5/11/06

Residents might get a chance later this year to voice their opinions about growth, taxes and schools as part of an effort to develop a combined long-range plan for West Chester and Liberty townships.

 

Leaders in the townships and Lakota schools have been saying for a while that they need to work together in more ways to cope with rapid growth.

 

"There are a lot of hard decisions coming up here for both communities," predicted Liberty Township Trustee Patrick Hiltman. "Our schools are a common thread. We need to look at what is in the best interests of the taxpayers so we are all on the same page."

 

Combined, the townships have about 90,000 residents. If they were a city, it would be the second biggest in the region, behind only Cincinnati.

 

Meanwhile, Lakota schools, which serve both townships, have grown into Ohio's seventh-largest system with 17,428 students.

---

Butler limits Ross Twp. home sites

Cincinnati Enquirer, 5/23/06

With home developers going west into Ross Township, Butler County commissioners changed the zoning code Monday to reduce the number of new homes permitted on land slated for subdivisions.

 

The changes have been in the works for months and take effect after 30 days.

 

Under the new code, an average of no more than 1.9 units can be built on one acre of land zoned "suburban residential."

 

Formerly, up to four homes could be placed on an acre of land under that zoning.

 

Ross Township officials approved the measure last month, but county commissioners have final say because Ross does not have its own zoning code.

---

Funding holds up library plan

The Pulse-Journal, 5/24/06

West Chester Library patrons, administration and township officials all agree — the current library at the corner of Tylersville and Cox roads is inadequate to serve the needs of the growing population.

 

Township trustees have earmarked funds for construction of a new, larger library off Union Centre Boulevard, but the uncertainty of future library funding has any movement on the project stalled.

 

“We are ready to move forward pretty much anytime the library board is comfortable they have adequate funds to operate a new library,” said Township Administrator Judi Boyko. “I just think it’s a matter of what the library is going to do.”

 

Tina Manco, director of community relations for the Middletown library system, which includes the West Chester branch, said the administration has advocated for years for a new library in the township.

 

However, a recent 21 percent reduction in the state income tax and a proposed Tax Expenditure Limitation amendment on the November ballot threaten the ability of the library to fund operations of a new library.

 

From the 6/9/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Fairfield demands threaten bypass widening, officials say

By Lisa A. Bernard

Staff Writer

 

HAMILTON — A major county highway project is once again being held up by disagreements between local municipalities over a special income tax district.

 

The often congested Ohio 4 bypass averages up to eight times more traffic accidents than other similar Ohio roads. Since a tentative commitment by the state in January to pay for half the engineering costs to widen the roadway, officials with the Butler County Transportation Improvement District have urged Hamilton, Fairfield and Fairfield Township to strike an agreement to split the remaining $1.2 million needed to move forward.

 

Last month, the Hamilton City Council and Fairfield Township trustees were poised to contribute about $456,000 each, or 38 percent, for their share of the funding. Fairfield had been expected to contribute about 24 percent, or $288,000.

 

However, the funding commitments have been put on hold following a decision by Fairfield officials to make their contribution contingent on the creation of a Joint Economic Development District with Fairfield Township.

 

The district would allow both local governments to collect city income taxes in the township.

 

This isn’t the first time a JEDD has snarled a TID highway project. Officials have been working for more than three years to create a JEDD in Liberty Township to help pay for the Liberty Interchange.

 

Likewise, Fairfield’s decision — according to some officials close to the project — poses a major threat to the expansion of the bypass.

 

Fairfield Township Trustee Steve Morgan said that while the township is interested in forming another JEDD, he sees no reason to tie up the bypass project over it.

 

“We need this done as soon as possible. You’ve got safety issues for the people of the township, the people of Fairfield and Hamilton.... I think the people’s safety is more important than who it is we are in a JEDD with,” he said.

 

On Thursday TID director John Fonner said he was still waiting to hear from Fairfield officials about their next move.

 

“The TID is really stuck at this point,” Fonner said. “Until we’re able get a signed agreement for the funding of the engineering, it’s wait and see.... I just think Fairfield is leveraging this approval process to get something else they want.”

 

Fairfield City Councilman Tim Abott said the council’s decision to tack on the requirement for the JEDD was one made in the best interest of his city’s residents.

 

“We certainly feel that the project will benefit the various political jurisdictions involved, but we want to make sure we’re pursuing all of our economic development options before we actually get into the bypass project,” Abott said. “We didn’t think this would come as a surprise to the other jurisdictions.”

 

Hamilton Mayor Don Ryan, who said he was taken back by Fairfield’s decision. Ryan said he and Abott were playing phone tag in reference to the issue.

 

“This is a critical issue for us,” Ryan said, adding that the expansion of the bypass greatly will determine future development within the nearby Hamilton Enterprise Park. “The city of Hamilton and Fairfield have had a good working relationship and we’re very anxious to resolve this outstanding issue so we can all move forward.”

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2186 or [email protected].

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/06/08/hjn060906bypass4_s.html

 

From the 6/12/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Bypass widening may not include Fairfield

By Chris Dumond

Staff Writer

 

HAMILTON — If Fairfield won’t cooperate, Hamilton and Fairfield Twp. could go forward with the Bypass Ohio 4 widening project without the city.

 

A month ago, Butler County Transportation Improvement District officials expected the three governments to divide half the $2.4 million cost to design the project with the other half paid for by the state. Fairfield was to pay 24 percent with the township and Hamilton splitting the remaining 76 percent.

 

Then at a conference between the three late last month, Fairfield officials said they wouldn’t contribute a nickel toward the project until they could establish an income tax district in the township.

 

The move caught some Hamilton and TID officials by surprise.

 

At the TID meeting Monday morning, board members voted to go forward with the design of 76 percent of the project — the portion of the highway in Hamilton and the township from Symmes Road north. That’s only if the Hamilton council members and Fairfield Twp. trustees take action later this month to finalize their share of the engineering costs.

 

“We want to do our portion of that highway,” TID trustee and Hamilton Councilman Ed Shelton said. “Now, if Fairfield chooses not to do their share of that highway and people continue to get killed out there, that’s their responsibility.”

 

He likened Fairfield’s late stipulation on its share of the funding to holding his city and Fairfield Twp. hostage.

 

TID Director John Fonner said he’s optimistic that Fairfield’s issues can be worked out before it’s too late. But, Fonner also cautioned that city/township income tax districts, known as Joint Economic Development Districts, are rarely established quickly. He also reminded representatives from each of the three governments of the possible consequences of not reaching a deal in time.

 

“Knowing the state’s financial pressures right now, I’d be concerned the state could pull that money out of Butler County and spend it some place that doesn’t have the controversy,” he said.

 

Without the upgrades, engineers estimate that every intersection on the bypass will fail state standards for traffic flow by 2030. The often-clogged roadway saw 237 wrecks between 1999 and 2003, between three and eight times the average for similar roadways in Ohio, according to a study by engineering consultants M-E Companies.

 

The study found that more than 65 percent of those were rear-end wrecks typical in rush hour. It also projected that widening the road could cut the number of those crashes by more than a third.

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2025 or [email protected].

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/06/12/HJN061306TID_s.html

 

From the 6/14/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Bypass funding goes before Hamilton council

By Lisa A. Bernard

Staff Writer

 

HAMILTON — Officials in Hamilton are being asked to approve $150,000 for engineering work to get the Bypass Ohio 4 project rolling.

 

The Hamilton City Council is expected to vote on the proposal tonight.

 

In recent weeks the project has been debated among the governments participating in its inception.

 

Butler County Transportation Improvement District officials had expected Hamilton, Fairfield and Fairfield Twp. to divide half the cost of the $2.4 million design work needed for the road widening.

 

The remaining $1.2 million is expected to be paid by the state.

 

However, Fairfield officials said late last month that they won’t contribute to the project until they establish an income tax district with the township.

 

The move caught some Hamilton and TID officials by surprise.

 

At the TID meeting Monday morning, board members voted to go forward with the design of 76 percent of the project — the portion of the highway in Hamilton and the township from Symmes Road north.

 

The proposal set to come before the Hamilton council tonight indicates that Hamilton’s total share for the engineering cost is more than $400,000.

 

However, TID Executive Director John Fonner said if Hamilton commits $150,000, the contribution “would be enough” to get engineering work started.

 

Fonner warned TID board members Monday that given the state’s financial pressures, money committed to Butler County for the project could easily be pulled and spent elsewhere.

 

On Tuesday Fonner said township officials planned to pledge their commitment by the end of the month. However, he added, there has no word yet from Fairfield about the city’s participation.

 

“The ball is in their court,” he said.

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2186 or [email protected].

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/06/13/hjn061406bypass4_s.html

 

From the 6/15/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Hamilton OKs bypass funds

By Lisa A. Bernard

Staff Writer

 

HAMILTON — The city of Hamilton has committed its share to get the Ohio 4 Bypass widening project started.

 

Wednesday night the Hamilton City Council voted unanimously to commit more than $450,000 for engineering work for the project, with $150,000 to be appropriated now.

 

The project is among Hamilton’s top priorities as it looks to develop its Enterprise Park on Hamilton-Mason Road and create quicker access into the city.

 

“This project is one of the most important projects that we have going on right now,” said Councilman Ed Shelton, a board member of the Butler County Transportation Improvement District.

 

Shelton added that potential development in and around the bypass “doesn’t stand a chance of happening if we don’t do these road improvements.”

 

In recent weeks the bypass project has been topic of debate among the governments expected to participate in its inception.

 

TID officials had expected Hamilton, Fairfield and Fairfield Twp. to divide half the cost of the $2.4 million design work needed for the road widening.

 

The remaining $1.2 million is expected to be paid by the state.

 

However, Fairfield officials said late last month that they won’t contribute to the project until they establish an income tax district with the township.

 

The move caught some Hamilton and TID officials by surprise.

 

At the TID meeting Monday morning, board members voted to go forward with the design of 76 percent of the project — the portion of the highway in Hamilton and the township from Symmes Road north.

 

On Tuesday TID Executive Director John Fonner said the township plans to commit by the end of the month. However, he added, there has been no word from Fairfield about its participation.

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/06/14/hjn061506hamcouncil.html

 

From the 6/28/06 Hamilton JournalNews:

 

 

Twp. raises concerns over bypass reimbursement

By Ken-Yon Hardy

Staff Writer

 

FAIRFIELD TWP. — Questions arose Tuesday night at Fairfield Twp.’s Board of Trustees meeting about the reimbursement of funding for the Ohio 4 Bypass widening project.

 

Trustee President Joe McAbee voiced concern about if half of the $2.4 million project — which is supposed to be split between Hamilton, Fairfield and Fairfield Twp. — would be reimbursed should the township move forward by committing money for the project.

 

The remaining $1.2 million is expected to be paid by the state.

 

“... I want to make sure that under the resolution that we did before, that the (Butler County Transportation Improvement District) is going to pay back the general fund if that’s where we end up spending the money from,” McAbee said. “I’ve noticed we have passed resolutions in the past about paying ourselves back out of TID’s money. Hopefully that will (not be a problem)... . If not, we are going to have to pass another resolution before we send any money.

 

“We need to make sure that we have a paper trail in place... so we can be paid back out of the TID fund.”

 

Fairfield officials said late last month that they won’t contribute to the project until they establish an income tax district with the township.

 

At the TID meeting earlier this month, board members voted to go forward with the design of 76 percent of the project — the portion of the highway in Hamilton and the township from Symmes Road north.

 

TID Executive Director John Fonner said at that time there has been no word from Fairfield about its participation.

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2190 or [email protected].

 

http://www.journal-news.com/hp/content/news/stories/2006/06/27/hjn062806fftwpmeeting.html

 

Damn, these are old.  Sorry.

 

Ross development headed for round two

Hamilton JournalNews, 6/12/06

Round two for landowners looking to develop the Brown Farm in Ross Township officially begins at the Butler County Planning Commission meeting this afternoon, but opponents may have gotten in an early punch.

 

The 113-acre farm sits west of the intersection of School and Layhigh roads. Last year, landowners applied to have the farm rezoned for a 234-home subdivision.

 

That plan was dashed 1,282 to 491 in a May 2 referendum. Opponents objected to the density of the development and the impact it could have on schools and Dry Run Creek, which runs through the center of the property.

 

The developer, Andy Temmel of Red Pine Properties, protested that his proposal for the farm was in line with the township’s land use plan, which called for as many as four homes per acre. Temmel already had an alternative plan on hold with the county for 341 houses and promised no compromises this time around.

 

That plan was officially accepted by the county on May 26 after the referendum was certified.

---

Lakota could hire 25 new teachers

The Pulse-Journal, 6/15/06

Twenty-five new Lakota teachers could be hired in time for the 2006-07 school year.

 

The positions are included in Lakota’s proposed budget of more than $184 million that was presented to the board of education Monday. Before the new jobs become official the board of education must vote to approve the budget.

 

Last month, a citizens’ committee of business leaders and financial professionals concluded the budget provides for new teachers to accommodate growth. In response, the district presented to the school board budget priorities that include 25 new teaching positions.

 

A total of 10.5 teaching positions are proposed for the elementary schools, keeping the average class size level at between 24 and 25 students. Superintendent Phil Ehrhardt said when the two new elementary schools open for the 2007-08 academic year, that number should decrease more.

---

Western townships showing high growth

Hamilton JournalNews, 6/21/06

Looking for the areas in southern Butler County with high growth rates? Try heading west.

 

In the past five years, commonly thought of growth areas such as West Chester and Liberty townships have been supplemented by townships west of the Great Miami River, according to the U.S. Census Bureau report.

 

Hanover, Madison, Milford, Oxford, Reily, Ross and Wayne townships all had growth rates in excess of 10 percent between 2000 and 2005. Over the same period, West Chester Twp. grew 2.8 percent.

 

Mike Juengling, director of the Butler County Department of Development, said his office is seeing more residential rezoning requests and subdivision plans in the western townships.

 

“Several of the townships are working on their land use plans,” Juengling said. “We as a staff go out there periodically to check with them, but they are all moving forward.”

 

P.S> For those of you who want to read the whole story, the stories in these papers disappear after 30 days.  After that they are only accessible through a pay-per-view archive.

 

This article really pisses me off, especially the quotes from the guy at the bottom.  How about this, why don't you never step foot in our City with our pro sports, unbelievable art and cultural amenities and anything else that is remotely fun!  Stay in your white bread highway interchange of a neighborhood and hang out at your chain restaurants.  Get off your high horse West Chester; in a few years a newer kid further down the highway will push you to the side and you will be left with your traffic and infrastructure you can't support.

 

Also, just another example of the Enquirer's anti-City bias, I will definitely be writing an opinion on this piece of crap!

 

The heart of West Chester growth

New highway interchange sparked development boom

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Ten years ago, farm fields blanketed much of this Butler County suburb along Interstate 75.

 

Then in 1997, Southwest Ohio's first new highway interchange in years went in along a new road called Union Centre Boulevard.

 

Since then, more than 1,000 acres of cow pastures and corn fields have been replaced by more than $1 billion in commercial development that has created about 14,000 jobs.

 

Every day, thousands of people flock to shopping plazas, office buildings, restaurants and nearby commerce parks that were built for easy highway access. There aren't any skyscrapers, but some say a new downtown of sorts is sprouting between the expanding metropolitan areas of Cincinnati and Dayton.

 

The most recent developments include the Union Centre area's fifth hotel, more office buildings and a $2.5 million urban park with a clock tower.

 

Paul Sturkey is opening a restaurant to be called Mesh.

 

And an unusual Starbucks store there will feature a drive-through.

 

More projects may be coming, including a small convention center, a sixth hotel, maybe a new library, and a chance that Union Centre could host the region's only Ikea furniture store.

 

Unlike other suburban communities such as Mason, West Chester's commercial and office development is spread throughout the township. The opening last summer, for instance, of a Wal-Mart Supercenter on the northwest corner of I-75 and Cincinnati-Dayton Road has prompted a flurry of business construction.

 

"We are becoming the place for businesses to relocate," says West Chester trustee George Lang, an owner of a Union Centre restaurant, Jags Steak & Seafood. "We are winning the office battle at Union Centre Boulevard."

 

Business and political leaders say the development largely matches the pace predicted 10 years ago - except for a proposed $34 million community center that voters shot down last year.

 

But some leaders and residents say the problems that come with growth have sprouted just as fast.

 

Traffic snarls popped up here faster than expected. Crowds of young people that congregate near the popular Rave movie theater have some merchants talking about a curfew. And politicians are starting to wonder again about converting to city status.

 

WHY THEY COME

 

Some are attracted by the location and the newness.

 

Danielle Adleta, 37, her husband and two daughters, ages 7 and 5, moved to West Chester from Milford a year ago to be closer to work and family. They spend a lot of time at the Streets of West Chester, a shopping center on the southeast corner of Union Centre Boulevard and I-75.

 

"It's amazing how it's built up over here. It's crazy," Adleta said. "(But) it's nice to have something in your hometown so you don't have to spend the gas money."

 

Others say people are coming here because it's not Cincinnati, which is losing people faster than any other big city in the nation, according to the U.S. Census.

 

"Who is his right mind would live in Cincinnati?" says Charlie Chappell, one of the original landowners of the Union Centre Boulevard area and president of West Chester 75 Inc., a group of investors who put up land for the interchange.

 

"We have better schools," he said. "We are more civilized. We have less crime."

 

But at the same time, township officials say they are not trying to steal business or residents from Cincinnati or Dayton.

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060706/NEWS01/607060353

Development upheaval seen as a mixed blessing

By Andrea Yorke

Hamilton Journal News

Staff Writer

 

 

LIBERTY TWP. — For Elaine Poynter, leaving her Liberty Twp. home after 20 years is a blessing and a curse.

 

The commercial development surrounding her home, and those of her neighbors, on Cincinnati-Dayton Road has driven her to sell.

 

However, as she looks around her house, the memories of anniversaries, birthdays and family gatherings over the last 20 years come flooding back.

 

“When I leave, I’ll be sad. I will be happy, but I will also be sad,” she said.

 

The string of homes is well-kept and tidy. Many have landscaping that look like they were just put in recently.

 

But all the neighbors, clustered along Cincinnati-Dayton Road north of Cimmeron Drive, have decided the same thing — it’s time to go.

 

One neighbor, Molly Jones, who lives on Wyandot near the Cincinnati-Dayton Road intersection, said her opinion of what is happening near her home isn’t favorable.

 

“I don’t like all the development,” she said.

 

Poynter said living amidst the commercial development sprouting all around her would make her too unhappy to stay.

 

“The quality of life would be diminished, the quality of life that I want,” she said.

 

Poynter said when commercial development and road construction began on their portion of Cincinnati-Dayton Road this year, she began thinking about her neighborhood.

 

She contacted a Realtor, Betty Poynter, to find out her options.

 

Elaine Poynter decided to write a letter to her neighbors to gauge their interest in selling. All were in agreement.

 

They began holding meetings and discussing their options. They have been working with Betty Poynter since the beginning of the year, and put the “for sale” signs in their yards about two weeks ago. The homes have been on the market since May 8.

 

Elaine Poynter said anyone interested in buying the property must buy all 12 homes.

 

Betty Poynter said the decision to sell was a good one because of the amount of commercial development.

 

“I feel it’s going to enhance the area,” she said. “As far as these 12 residents, they would be almost out of place with the commercial (development) right across the street. A lot of changes are hard for the neighborhood, but this is good change, this is good for the community. It will make the community stronger.”

 

The homes are currently located on land zoned for single family homes, said Jonathan West, Liberty Twp. director of planning and zoning. However, either the residents or a potential buyer could apply to rezone the land.

 

“Single family residential use is not the appropriate use,” West said.

 

If the zoning were to change to commercial and a developer applies to build there, West said the township wants to see a development with shared parking and minimal impact on the residents behind the property.

 

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5067 or at [email protected]

Together, they'll sell

With development inevitable in Liberty Township, 12 homeowners look for a way out

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

 

LIBERTY TWP. - These homeowners don't want to get run over by the growth wave coming to their once-rural road.

 

So they've decided to ride it instead.

 

Seeing that commercial development is taking over the east side of Cincinnati-Dayton Road just north of the Butler County Veterans Regional Highway, a dozen homeowners on the west side have decided to sell their lots as a group.

 

The residents are asking $6 million for their property -- 5 acres in all from Cimmeron Drive to Wyandot Lane. That's $500,000 per lot.

 

"In about three months when I open my front door, if I need a muffler, I can walk across the street and make an appointment. That is not the lifestyle I want," said Elaine Poynter, 60, who helped organize the plan with the help of her sister-in-law, a Realtor.

 

There is no doubt that development is coming.

 

A commercial plaza along the east side of Cincinnati-Dayton Road just south of the dozen homes for sale already has a Taco Bell and a PNC Bank. A new Kroger store - the largest in Greater Cincinnati at 108,000 square feet - is slated to open Thursday and a Midas Muffler shop is planned.

 

Cincinnati-Dayton Road in that area already carries about 31,000 vehicles a day and is being widened from two lanes to three.

 

"If we don't do something now, we will never be able to move. We will be stuck," said Bob Boice, 45, another of the dozen planning to sell.

 

Residents say they hope a developer will build offices on the land. The residents say they will sell only to a developer offering what they consider a good plan, which would include agreeing to build a 6-foot landscaped mound topped by an 8-foot privacy fence.

 

"They want to do this right," said Betty Poynter, the real estate agent with Coldwell Banker/West Shell who helped set up the offer. "They want to do this with the community and the township. They are good neighbors."

 

So far, there have been talks with potential buyers, but no official offers, Poynter said.

 

Offers very likely will come because developers rarely encounter so many willing sellers in one block, said Andy Temmel, vice president of Red Pine Properties in Montgomery.

 

"You might see one or two in a spot. But it's usually, 'I've been here 20 or 30 years and I am not moving.' " Temmel said.

 

Temmel said the residents will be more likely to get the best value for their home by listing it in a block rather than selling it piecemeal.

 

"It's smart and proactive of them," he said.

 

The neighbors got together on their own. They agreed to list their homes for sale this spring.

 

Some of the residents say they chose this approach because they didn't want to wind up like the residents involved in the proposed Rookwood Exchange project in Norwood. In that project, even some willing sellers got tangled up in a long, bitter battle over eminent domain and property rights.

 

Township officials say they have no plans to use eminent domain along Cincinnati-Dayton Road. But they do say a pending long-range plan for Liberty Township calls for professional offices in that area.

 

"You never know until everything develops what is going to happen," said Jon West, Liberty's director of planning and zoning. "The residents feel - and we kind of agree - that the long-term situation is not going to be for single-family residential homes fronting Cincinnati-Dayton Road in that location."

 

As the 12 households try to sell, those who live nearby worry how far development will creep toward them.

 

Beau and Sheila Vanderbur moved to Liberty Township two years ago from Aurora, Ind. They are considering moving again.

 

"We don't want to do this," said Beau Vanderbur, 30. "But . . . we feel we have to because of our property values."

 

Others say they want to see some limits on future plans.

 

"When is enough enough?" Bill Schumake, 49, said. "I don't want a store in my backyard."

 

Growing fast

Liberty Township's population and business development has surged since the opening several years ago of the Butler County Veterans Highway (Ohio 129). The township has 33,000 people now, but is expected to exceed 80,000 within 20 years. Here are the 12 adjacent homes listed for sale along or just off Cincinnati-Dayton Road in Liberty Township:

 

Address  Stories  Bedrooms  Built  Valued at 

7441 Wyandot Lane 1 3 1981 $117,470

6681 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 1 3 1982 $132,560

6693 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 1 3 1986 $136,260

6703 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 1 3 1985 $118,180

6713 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 2 3 1986 $146,490

6723 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 2 3 1986 $146,560

6733 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 11/2 3 1981 $115,900

6743 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 1 3 1981 $119,140

6753 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 2 4 1997 $154,130

6763 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 2 3 1997 $152,010

6773 Cincinnati-Dayton Road 1 4 1998 $158,300

7374 Cimmeron Drive 1 3 1992 $146

 

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060715/NEWS01/607150371

A good idea, though $6 million is a lot for 5 acres.

Ross Twp. subdivision rejected

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

ROSS TWP. - Butler County Commissioners rejected a controversial project Monday that would have brought 341 homes and condominiums to a 100-year-old corn and soybean farm in this Butler County community.

 

The proposal clashes with the county's land use plan for Ross Township. Under the new code, an average of no more than 1.9 units can be built on one acre of land zoned "suburban residential."

 

"The proposal that came before us today was so far out of sync with our requirements we really had little (choice) but to turn it down," Commissioner Mike Fox said.

 

The developer, Andy Temmel of Red Pine Properties of Montgomery, said he'll likely sue the county over the decision.

 

Controversy arose last fall after Temmel proposed building 230 homes and condos on the 112-acre farm at the corner of Layhigh and School roads. That plan called for 80 condominiums at $180,000 to $250,000 and 150 homes priced $260,000 to $310,000.

 

In November, Butler County commissioners approved the rezoning. That prompted Randy Lane, who owns a 31-acre farm adjacent the Browns, to launch a petition drive that forced the issue onto the May primary ballot.

 

Voters overwhelmingly overturned the zoning, halting the project.

 

Temmel reapplied for rezoning, only this time he added housing. His alternative plan called for 208 condominiums to sell from $170,000 to $200,000; the 133 single-family homes would have ranged from $230,000 to $280,000.

 

On May 22, the county approved changes to Ross Township's zoning code and land use plan that reduced the number of new homes permitted on land slated for subdivision.

 

But Temmel said Monday they shouldn't apply to him because they weren't formally approved by the county until after he filed his new zoning application with the county.

 

That's not true, county leaders countered.

 

Ross' zoning plans were updated because of the outcry from residents over Temmel's proposed subdivision, said David Fehr, the county's assistant planning director.

 

Lane, who did not respond to a request for comment Monday, has said in previous interviews that Ross Township residents don't want to see their community turned into "another West Chester."

 

Hazel Brown, 82, one of the farm's owners who no longer lives there, was too ill to comment Monday, Temmel said.

 

"The landowners have rights and those rights are being abused," Temmel said.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060718/NEWS01/607180353/1056

I'm glad they spelled the name of the development Towne Centre

 

County approves shopping center/condo plan in Ross

By Candice Brooks

Hamilton Journal News

Staff Writer

 

 

HAMILTON— Without any vocal opposition, the Butler County commissioners approved Monday zoning changes to allow a shopping center development to be built in Ross Twp.’s developing downtown.

 

Ross Towne Centre calls for a 100,000 square-foot retail store anchoring a strip center on the south side with a condominium development on the north side on 35 acres at the southeast corner of Hamilton-Cleves Road and Kraus Lane.

 

After modifying the density of housing in its initial plan and other making concessions, MERI Investments, a partnership of Meyer Builders’ principal owner Doug Meyer and Sibcy Cline Vice President of Sales Matthew Riley, received approval from the county’s planning and rural zoning commissions. Ross Twp. trustees also backed the plan.

 

“These developers are known for bringing very high quality development to the area,” said C. Francis Barrett, attorney for the developer. “This will be an upgrade improvement to help property values both of a commercial and residential nature. People who live in the residences will have very convenient office and retail services.”

 

The plans calls for building near a creek to increase the number of buildable lots, but the developer will be required to submit a flood plain study before building. In addition, road improvement will need to be made before the buildings are occupied.

 

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2175 or [email protected].

From the 7/22/06 Enquirer:

 

 

PHOTO: A convenience store sits vacant at Cincinnati-Dayton and Hamilton-Mason roads.  The Enquirer/Tony Jones

 

Critics: Complex not needed

Liberty Twp. project would add offices and condos

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

LIBERTY TWP. - Plans for a $70 million medical office and condominium complex have neighbors asking: Why build another project when nearby commercial properties are empty?

 

Construction is to start next month on the 70-acre Liberty Office Park along Hamilton-Mason Road.

 

The project would mix 350,000 square feet of business space with 130 condominiums, said George Flynn, general manager of North Ridge Realty Group of West Chester Township.

 

The commercial portion could bring about 800 jobs, he predicted.

 

But some residents along Hamilton-Mason Road, a dividing line between Liberty and West Chester townships, question how the area can support such a big project.

 

"There's always the problem of overdevelopment," said Gerald Parks, 51, of Liberty Township, who lives next to the proposed development. "You begin to wonder how many medical buildings West Chester and Liberty needs."

 

Despite increasing traffic, a convenience store at the intersection of Cincinnati-Dayton and Hamilton-Mason roads has been vacant since 2003. Last week, a Kroger store across the street was left vacant.

 

Kroger moved to a bigger building.

 

Liberty leaders have been trying to lure more businesses to this growing community of 33,000 people. The business property tax revenues, they say, are needed to offset rising costs for police, fire, road and other services.

 

But neighbors of the new office-condo project question why the township doesn't insist on filling vacant businesses before allowing other projects to proceed.

 

The township has no say over what areas are developed as long as they meet the zoning code, Trustee Patrick Hiltman said.

 

"It's a free enterprise. It's up to the owner to lease it. All we can do is control how the property looks, and we are limited on that," he said.

 

Neighbors also remain concerned about a road-widening project related to the new office park.

 

A recent traffic study calls for the road to be widened to at least three lanes with more turn lanes feeding into the office park. The county plans to buy 10- to 20-foot-wide strips from about a dozen of the 25 property owners near the office park.

 

That would include land owned by Parks' 70-year-old father.

 

"Most (of the residents) have been there 20 or 30 years," Parks said. "This was where they planned on staying forever."

 

Hamilton-Mason Road needs widening because traffic could increase from about 12,000 cars a day now to 25,000 a day by 2012, said Chris Petrocy, spokesman for the Butler County Engineer's Office.

 

The developers have met with some residents and pledged to continue updating them on the project. While some would lose some land, developers note that homeowners also will be able to tap into a new sewer line that could replace their septic systems.

 

"None of this is being done in a willy-nilly fashion," Flynn said. "We want them to be happy about this thing, because it is going to be a positive thing for them both now and in the future."

 

The county could take the homeowners' properties via eminent domain if residents don't agree to sell. But that step hasn't been proposed.

 

E-mail [email protected].

 

A hot topic

The Liberty Office Park project has been controversial from the start.

 

The 70-acre project includes 150,000 square feet of office warehouse space, 200,000 square feet of office space and 130 condominiums that could sell for $200,000 and up.

 

The county recommended rejecting the proposal over traffic concerns and because it did not meet the county's land use plan, which calls for all businesses in that area.

 

Liberty Township staff recommended approving the commercial portions, but not the housing, because the township's land-use plan also calls for all the land to be developed for business.

 

The township zoning commission approved it anyway, saying the mix of business and residential development would add to the business base and provide empty-nester type housing.

 

Construction starts this summer on the office warehouse portion. The condominiums will begin construction in November and be ready for occupancy early next year.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060722/NEWS01/607220374/1056/rss02

 

Liberty freeze has wider goal

Township would raise development standards

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

 

LIBERTY TWP. - In a rare move, township leaders are halting new commercial development in this booming Butler County community for the next four months.

 

Township trustees voted 2-1 Thursday in a hastily scheduled special meeting to impose a development moratorium that affects 415 acres along a 1.5-mile stretch of Cincinnati-Dayton Road from Hamilton-Mason Road to just north of Princeton Road.

 

They say they need time to set new development standards and develop a long-range plan to guide Liberty's growth for years to come.

 

The moratorium does not stop developments already under way or awaiting zoning approval, only new ones that have yet to apply for zoning approval.

 

Some residents applauded the move, saying Liberty is growing too fast and must have a plan in place for smart growth.

 

The population has tripled to 33,000 since 1990, and is projected to jump to 86,691 by 2030.

 

"Things have been happening in this area so quickly over the last three years. It's just mind-boggling," said John Henry, 69, as he stopped at Bethany Grocery on Friday for lunch.

 

But the moratorium horrified some property owners who have deals pending with developers who have yet to file zoning applications.

 

"It's not fair to the people that already have things going on," said Tom McCreadie, 54, who plans to sell his 2.5-acre tract on the corner of Cincinnati-Dayton and Princeton roads to a developer. "You can't stop midstream."

 

If trustees complete the plan in less than four months, they pledge to end the moratorium early.

 

"We have to do this right," Trustee Patrick Hiltman said. "We only get one shot and this is it."

 

Trustee David Kern voted against the moratorium, saying the restrictions were too drastic. "There is a strong Libertarian bent in me," he said. "I just squirm with the whole concept of it."

 

All three trustees voted, however, to start the public hearing process for a set of proposed tougher development standards along Cincinnati-Dayton Road that would require builders to go through more reviews if they want to launch certain kinds of projects.

 

Parts of the corridor would require gas street lights, sidewalks, landscaping and buildings that have brick exteriors on three sides, including the side facing Cincinnati-Dayton Road.

 

Some types of businesses would be prohibited along certain parts of the road; others would be prohibited altogether. They include gas station/convenience stores, sexually oriented businesses, tattoo parlors, car washes, truck sales and service centers, trailer sales and service centers, kennels, bars, cocktail lounges and storage facilities.

 

Businesses already there would not be affected.

 

To take effect, however, the rules require public hearings later this year before Butler County's planning commission, Liberty Township's zoning commission and township trustees.

 

The township's moratorium and proposed development standards come as commercial development explodes along Cincinnati-Dayton Road.

 

As a result, some landowners and longtime residents are fleeing.

 

A dozen homeowners on the west side of Cincinnati-Dayton Road recently took the rare step of listing their lots for sale as a group - asking $6 million for their combined five acres.

 

Some of those homeowners applauded the proposed tougher standards. But they also worry the moratorium will scare developers away from their land.

 

"We wonder what long-term effect that will have on us. Now are we stymied? Are we handcuffed?" asked Elaine Poynter, 60, one of the homeowners selling her lot.

 

Carol Johnson agrees. She has run Bethany Grocery on Cincinnati-Dayton Road for the past 28 years but now has her land up for sale, too.

 

"It's amazing to me the township let all the development at Kroger go in before they put the moratorium on," she said. "I just feel like I've been thrown away by the county and the township."

 

E-mail [email protected].

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060731/NEWS01/607310327

Lane, who did not respond to a request for comment Monday, has said in previous interviews that Ross Township residents don't want to see their community turned into "another West Chester."

 

 

LOL :-D - at least now they're not saying they don't want their commnity turned into another Cincinnati!

 

NEW FIREHOUSE OPEN FOR BUSINESS

Cincinnati Enquirer, 5/22/06

Ross Township's newest firehouse is officially open after an open house and dedication Sunday.

 

Built due to population increases, the $1.5 million firehouse has more than 15,000 square feet, which includes a training room, offices, a workout facility and a living and sleeping area.

 

Fire Station 2 is at 1308 Ross Millville Road. The fire department serves Ross Township and Millville.

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Expansion of Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary begins

Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/5/06

Eight years ago, Mother Teresa Catholic Elementary School opened with 20 kindergarten students in a Monroe church basement.

 

Construction begins this week on a $1.2 million, 16,400-square-foot student center to be complete in November that will add two gymnasiums to the private school that sits on a 24.5-acre site on Jackie Drive.

 

Since moving to its own space in December 2001, enrollment has grown to 355 students. In August, the school will add an eighth grade, mostly filled by the school's original kindergartners.

 

"Our goal from the very beginning was to have our first graduating class graduate from our own facility," said Tim Driscoll, chairman of the school's board of trustees. "This addition will let us do that."

---

Landowner drops suit against county

Hamilton JournalNews, 7/12/06

A landowner has dropped the lawsuit he filed against Butler County that could have changed the rural character of Hanover Twp.

 

James Powell backed out of the suit last week after Dixon Builders ended its contract with Powell to develop his 161-acre farm into a 332-home subdivision, according to assistant county prosecutor Roger Gates.

 

“I really don’t know what (Powell’s) thought processes were,” Gates said. “I just got a call that he had decided not to pursue it.”

 

Gates said the county did not play any role in terminating the lawsuit.

 

Powell was not available for comment Tuesday and his attorney Richard Paolo did not return calls.

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Township burial sites are sold out

Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/13/06

This burgeoning Butler County community is growing so fast even the township cemetery is full.

 

When Eddie Holmes' 80-year-old mother, Juanita Richards, died in May, he was dismayed to discover he had to bury her in neighboring Liberty Township.

 

West Chester's cemetery quietly sold its last available plot in March. That upset Holmes, who has lived in West Chester with his family for more than 50 years.

 

"It's really pretty sad," Holmes, 60, told township trustees late Tuesday. With all the growth and prosperity here now, he says, residents should have the opportunity to be laid to rest in the community they helped build.

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Plans for Lakota East school include flexible design

Hamilton JournalNews, 7/18/06

Although it will not open until fall of 2008, plans are underway to build Lakota East Freshman School.

 

The 130,000-square-foot building will house about 800 students in a building with a flexible design, said Mike Dingledine, spokesman for Steed, Hammond and Paul architects. The preliminary design was presented to the Lakota Local School District Board of Education Monday night.

 

The flexible design is necessary because the district’s growth may require that building to someday house another age group.

 

“It will be adaptable to any of those uses,” Dingledine said.

 

The new school will be located between Interstate 75 and Cincinnati-Dayton Road near Lakota East High School. A road will connect the freshman and senior high schools. No cost estimates were given Monday night about the new school.

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Farmland preservation becoming a challenge for growing townships

Hamilton JournalNews, 7/27/06

Morris Van Gorden attended his first Butler County Fair in 1937 when he was 10 years old. Since then, the lifelong Liberty Twp. resident only has missed one fair — because the family’s barn burned.

 

“There just wasn’t time to get the cattle ready for the fair,” he recalled.

 

The fifth-generation farmer has always shown Holsteins at the county fair. He joined the Butler County Agricultural Society in 1971 and has served as its president for the past 22 years.

 

During the fair’s dairy show, Van Gorden ensures the milking parlor runs smoothly three times a day for public displays.

 

“It’s important that we make this available so that in a small way, they can see firsthand how things are,” Van Gorden said. “There’s so many people that don’t have any contact with it anymore, even in our immediate area.”

 

Liberty Twp. saw agricultural land plummet 39 percent from 1999 to 2006 while residential and commercial development shot up. The largest increase came from single-family homes, which saw a 50 percent boost in that seven-year span. In West Chester Twp., agricultural use land shrank from 17 percent of the township to 8 percent from 1998 to 2004.

---

Liberty trustees consider size of fire tax proposal

Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/28/06

Liberty Township residents could pay more next year to beef up fire services in this fast growing Butler County community.

 

But township leaders haven't decided how much of a tax increase to seek.

 

Three scenarios for a bigger, five-year fire levy were presented Thursday at a special township meeting. Trustees will consider the figures during the next few weeks. They must vote on a levy amount no later than their Aug. 21 meeting to place the levy on the Nov. 7 ballot.

 

The three levy possibilities:

 

* A 3-mill replacement levy that would cost the owner of a $200,000 home $183.75 annually and generate $3.9 million a year for the Fire Department. That homeowner now pays $143 annually for fire services.

* A 3.5 mill levy that would cost that same owner $214.38 annually and collect $4.3 million a year.

* A 4-mill levy that would cost the owner $245 annually and generate $4.6 million a year.

 

Township officials say they need more money to hire more firefighters, and to spend $5 million replacing one older fire house and building a fourth fire house. The expansions are needed to keep up with the township's rapid growth, officials say.

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Consultants to study impact fees for schools

Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/30/06

TischlerBise Inc., a Maryland consulting firm, will be paid $23,400 to study whether the city can impose impact fees on new development on behalf of the Fairfield Schools.

 

The report should be finished in early fall.

 

Arnie Engel, school board member and founder of the anti-school-tax group Citizens for Accountability and Results in Education, asked council in March to impose impact fees on all new residential development and then turn the fees over to the schools.

 

However, attorney John Clemmons, who represents the schools and city, said his research indicates that cities cannot charge fees on behalf of another government entity.

Fairfield Echo: Fairfield council exploring school impact fees (7/10/06)

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Liberty freeze has wider goal

Cincinnati Enquirer, 7/31/06

In a rare move, township leaders are halting new commercial development in this booming Butler County community for the next four months.

 

Township trustees voted 2-1 Thursday in a hastily scheduled special meeting to impose a development moratorium that affects 415 acres along a 1.5-mile stretch of Cincinnati-Dayton Road from Hamilton-Mason Road to just north of Princeton Road.

 

They say they need time to set new development standards and develop a long-range plan to guide Liberty's growth for years to come.

 

The moratorium does not stop developments already under way or awaiting zoning approval, only new ones that have yet to apply for zoning approval.

 

Some residents applauded the move, saying Liberty is growing too fast and must have a plan in place for smart growth.

---

New wave of development coming to Bridgewater Falls

Fairfield Echo, 8/2/06

Some of the remaining pieces of the development puzzle are falling into place for a Fairfield Twp. shopping center.

 

Indianapolis-based developer Premier Properties announced Tuesday plans for a 10,500-square-foot multi-tenant retail center at Bridgewater Falls on the corner of Princeton Road and the Ohio 4 Bypass.

 

The location will play host to several high-profile clients, including a coffee shop, shipping business and a fast-casual Mexican restaurant, said Ryan Pennington, a leasing agent for the company.

 

“We pride ourselves in having the best of what’s out there,” Pennington said.

---

Gas prices drive Metro to West Chester Twp.

Hamilton JournalNews, 8/3/06

The Cincinnati Metro is adding two trips to its schedule between West Chester Twp. and downtown later this month, responding to an increased demand for alternative transportation in the growing township.

 

The high cost of gas is the likely reason more West Chester Twp. residents are leaving their own cars behind and taking a bus when traveling to the city, said Metro CEO Mike Setzer.

 

“The longer trips like the West Chester Express are the ones that are most sensitive to gas prices. People with longer commutes, gas prices mean more to the them,” he said.

 

The Metro currently offers eight trips in the morning and eight in the afternoon to and from a park-and-ride at Meijer, 7390 Tylersville Road.

 

Beginning Aug. 21, one trip will be added in the morning, arriving downtown at 7:15, and another will be added in the afternoon, leaving downtown at 4:25 p.m.

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I-75 corridor 'going to develop'

Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/3/06

Lots of people want to have a say in shaping future development along Interstate 75.

 

A group that began last month with just a few public officials in Warren County has expanded to include business leaders, developers and transportation experts from three counties.

 

Nearly two dozen participants from Butler, Warren and Montgomery counties met here Wednesday and brainstormed ideas for including as many interests as possible in the quest for planned development of 17.5 miles of I-75. This "I-75 growth corridor" runs from West Chester north through Warren County and into Montgomery County near the Dayton Mall.

 

Right now, their talks remain informal and general. But officials know that later they will need to make specific, tough decisions that might stir opposition.

 

"The majority of the public does not like development, but it's going to happen anyway," said Warren County Administrator Dave Gully. "Tar me and feather me and run me out of town if you want, but I-75 is going to develop over the next 50 years."

Cincinnati Enquirer: 3 counties plan growth along I-75 (7/31/06)

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County puts cap on Ross residential density

Hamilton JournalNews, 8/4/06

Ross Twp. took its next step Thursday to protect itself from high-density development and another run-in with a developer like Red Pine Properties, which most recently sought to build 341 homes on a 113-acre farm.

 

First, township officials were able to amend the land use plan to reduce density for future development in suburban residential areas from up to four units per acre to 1.9 units per acre — just enough to snuff out Red Pine’s first proposal for 2.02 units per acre or 234 homes.

 

The action also closed the door on Red Pine developer Andy Temmel’s second proposal — denied by the commissioners July 17 — for 341 homes or 3.02 units per acre on the Brown Farm at School and Layhigh roads. Township voters rejected the 234-home proposal in a May referendum and the Ohio Supreme Court also sided with the township.

 

On Thursday, the township got the county commissioners’ to unanimously set a cap of six homes per acre in multi-family residential areas.

 

Before, the plan allowed for densities greater than four homes per acre in those high density suburban residential areas. Now, the density is defined as 1.9 to six units an acre in the small area bounded by Ohio 27 and Herman Road, as well as a tract between Ohio 27 and School Road.

Cincinnati Enquirer: HOME PLAN GETS BIGGER (7/15/06)

 

From the 8/9/06 Pulse Journal:

 

 

West Chester moves closer to new library

By Cameron Fullam

Pulse Journal

 

The timing is finally right to build a new, larger library in West Chester Township.

 

Township trustees decided earlier this year to use funds from a special tax district to build a new library to accommodate the increasing demand of the current branch on the corner of Cox and Tylersville roads.

 

But an uncertain future for library funding kept the Middletown Library - which operates the West Chester Township branch - from assuring the township it could operate a larger building.

 

Now all that has changed.

 

"The library can equip and operate a new library if West Chester can provide the land and building," said Library Director Doug Bean. "You build a building, we'll make you proud of that building."

 

Bean said the removal of the Tax Expenditure Limitation amendment from the November ballot is the primary reason for the library board of trustees' boost in confidence.

 

The amendment would have significantly limited the amount of increased spending from state and local budgets, forcing government to cut back on programs such as libraries.

 

The Middletown library system receives 95 percent of its funding from the state and a committee of state legislators has until December to evaluate the effectiveness of current library funding and make recommendations for the upcoming biannual budget.

 

"There are still some unknowns, but when the TEL issue was solved, that was a hurdle we cleared," Bean said. "We will make it work."

 

The new library will be constructed in the same location and paid for with funds from the same special tax district that would have financed a community center off Union Centre Boulevard.

 

The township also must buy the land, which is next to a park being built now.

 

"A library adjacent to the urban park would provide a public presence and further develop the downtown area," said Township Administrator Judi Boyko.

 

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060809/NEWS01/608090352/1010/RSS01

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New limits set on housing development

Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/6/06

Ross Township has set new limits on high-density housing development.

 

In 134 acres now zoned for small lots and condominiums, the township trustees voted Thursday to allow two to six units per acre.  Previously, there was no cap.

 

The change comes as Ross Township leaders look for ways to manage growth.  More than 600 new homes are expected to be built in the next several years in the 8,000-resident township.

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More Cincinnati-Dayton Road houses up for sale

Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/6/06

Four more homes are for sale on the west side of Cincinnati-Dayton Road just north of the Butler County Regional Highway in Liberty Township.  That's where 12 went on the market in May for a combined $6 million. The latest four are listed for $2.5 million combined.

 

Residents say they want to escape commercial development, including the largest Kroger store in the region that opened earlier this month on the east side of the road.

 

"It is getting to be crazy," said Robert Brewer, 66, owner of one of the latest homes for sale.

 

So far, there are no buyers and the land would have to be rezoned from residential.

 

Last week, Liberty Township officials approved a four month-long moratorium on business development in that area, to give them time to pass new development standards.

 

From the 8/12/06 Enquirer:

 

 

PHOTO: Mark Mallette, one of the auctioneers at the Dudley Farm at 7650 Tylersville Road in West Chester Township, stands next to a model 4020 John Deere diesel tractor from the late 1960s.

 

PHOTO: Hundreds of people are expected to attend an auction today at the Dudley Family Farm. Everything in the old farmhouse and its barns is up for bid. The dairy farm, now closed, once spanned 400 acres.  THE ENQUIRER/ TONY JONES

 

Auction marks historic end

1880s dairy farm being sold to to a commercial developer

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

WEST CHESTER TWP. - When the gavel slams down for the last time today, gone will be the last pieces of farm equipment from an 1880s dairy farm now surrounded by commercial development and traffic congestion on Tylersville Road.

 

Hundreds of people are expected to attend an auction today at the Dudley Family Farm a few blocks east of Interstate 75. It's the family's first step toward selling the land to a commercial developer, the auctioneer confirms.

 

Literally everything in the old farmhouse and its barns is up for the highest bidder, including an 1870 wooden seed separator still coated with the original red paint and a 1940s tractor.

 

Even the massive, hand-cut beams holding up the principal barn will be sold off, said auctioneer Mark Mallette of Mallette & Associates Inc. of Montgomery.

 

The hundreds of items up for auction are valued at thousands of dollars, he estimated.

 

"This is the end of an era," Mallette said. "This family was some of the pioneers in the area. They added to the culture and industry in the area. Because of their leadership and perseverance, good examples have been provided for generations to come...but because of a lack of heirs they had to close the farm and here we are."

 

The dairy farm, now closed, once spanned 400 acres.

 

Over the years, the family has sold pieces of the land, which developers used for projects worth many millions. The latest: a $200 million Health Alliance hospital that broke ground earlier this summer.

 

The fate of the final piece of the farm has been in flux since its owner, James Dudley, died last year. He lived in the 4,342 square-foot farmhouse.

 

The last few cows that grazed the land were shipped off in May 2005. Now, Mallette confirms the land will be sold for commercial development. One of Dudley's nephews, Paul Dudley, and his attorney are handling the sale, he said.

 

Paul Dudley did not return a call this week for comment.

 

The first right to purchase the property goes to Midland Atlantic Development of Kenwood, developer of most of the new businesses near the farm including the Voice of America Centre anchored by a Target store.

 

E-mail [email protected].

 

If you go

Hundreds of items from the 1880s Dudley Farm at 7650 Tylersville Road will be auctioned off today starting at 10 a.m. Items include:

 

• A 19th-century folk art painting

• A 100-year-old cast-iron wood-burning stove made in Hamilton by the Estate Stove Co.

• An 1870 wooden seed separator

• A 1940s tractor

• A 1994 black Cadillac

 

Parking will be available - and at motorists' risk and responsibility - on the yard and meadows surrounding the property's main entrance off Tylersville Road. For more information, go to www.malletteandassociates.com.

 

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From the 8/12/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Monroe threatens property seizures

BY JANICE MORSE | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

MONROE - Ten property owners have been warned: City leaders plan court action that would instantly transfer some land to the city for an Ohio 63 road-widening project.

 

Property owners and city representatives couldn't agree on how much money the land is worth. So, facing an Aug. 31 state transportation department deadline for securing the property, city council took emergency steps to obtain the disputed land.

 

Although negotiations with property owners could continue, city leaders may need to invoke eminent domain, the power of government agencies to legally take land without owners' consent.

 

But "this is not Norwood," said Tim Burke, a Cincinnati lawyer representing Monroe in this case.

 

In Norwood, the city's attempt to take homeowners' land to make room for a private commercial project was declared unconstitutional last month by the Ohio Supreme Court. In contrast, the Monroe case involves "the traditional, old-fashioned use of eminent domain," Burke said. "It's for a clearly public project: a highway."

 

As such, the Monroe properties are subject to a "quick-take" eminent-domain process also known as "appropriation."

 

E-mail [email protected]

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060812/NEWS01/608120387/1056/rss02

 

From the 8/22/06 Enquirer:

 

 

Liberty placing fire levy on ballot

BY JENNIFER EDWARDS | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

 

LIBERTY TWP. - Residents will decide in November whether to pay more to beef up fire services in this burgeoning Greater Cincinnati suburb.

 

Township trustees voted Monday to place a 3.5-mill replacement levy on the Nov. 7 ballot.

 

It would cost the owner of a $200,000 home $214.38 annually and collect $4.3 million a year.

 

The same homeowner now pays $143 annually for the expiring 3-mill levy.

 

The Fire Department operates under two fire levies, both for 3 mills. One expires at the end of this year.

 

Township officials say they need more money to hire more firefighters and spend $5 million to replace one older fire house and build a fourth.

 

The expansions are needed to keep up with the township's rapid growth, they say.

 

"The 3-mill (levy) would not give our residents what they need to feel safe and secure," Trustee Christine Matacic said. "The 3.5-mill (levy) will get us there."

 

The increased funding would help the township hire 12 more full-time firefighters by 2011.

 

The department has 17 full-time firefighters, one fire chief and two assistant fire chiefs, Fire Chief Paul Stumpf has said.

 

Last year, the department had 1,849 service runs, 71 percent of which were for emergency medical services, he said. That's up from 1,245 runs in 2000.

 

This year, runs are expected to at least match last year's and could hit 2,000, the fire chief has said.

 

Liberty needs more firefighters as more businesses and stores are built in the township, including a 200,000-square-foot Cincinnati Children's Hospital outpatient pediatric facility scheduled to open in 2008.

 

Liberty's population is about 33,000, according to the township.

 

Population is expected to surpass 80,000 by 2030, according to the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments. In 1990, there were 9,249 residents, and in 2000, there were 22,819.

 

E-mail [email protected]

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060822/NEWS01/608220376/1056