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Citizen?’s Guide to Hudson?’s proposed Residential Growth Management System
Prepared by
Clarion Associated/PKG
February 1996
WHY DOES HUDSON NEED A RESDIENTIAL GROWTH MANAGEMENT SYSTEM?
Unlike most communities in the Cleveland-Akron region that have been growing slowly or actually losing population, Hudson has had a sustained development rate of about 3.5 percent annually over the last decade. In contrast, the United States as a whole has been growing at a rate of about 1 percent annually. The growth rate in third world nations with booming populations is usually around 3 to 4 percent. This extraordinary pace of growth has brought with it some of the serious challenges the city now faces. Roads and streets that are overloaded, water systems that are capacity, schools are over crowded, and the gnawing sense that the character of the city is being lost. Demands for these services and facilities have outstripped the city?’s financial capability to provide them in a timely fashion.
Traditional land use regulatory tools like zoning that addresses the location, intensity, and quality of development, have proven totally inadequate to deal with many of the growth challenges confronting Hudson. The residential growth management system will slow the rate of residential development so that the city can bring the demand for services and facilities into better balance with its financial capabilities. It will give the city breathing space to generate more revenues by attracting industrial and commercial development and to modernize its existing zoning and subdivision regulations to foster better quality development in the long run.
The above was transcribed from the Hudson Ohio Growth Management plan. 3/22/04.
Last year Pickerington had 302 new single family homes built (302 building permits issued) that works out to 906 new residents when you figure 3 persons per household. If we round up our current population number to 12,000 then our growth rate was 7.55% last year using the Hudson Ohio formula.
In 1996 Hudson was concerned with a sustained 3.5 % rate of growth.
Here are some more numbers to chew on:
As you can see the 100 homes moratorium that the builders are complaining about is still letting the city grow at 2.5% rate.
new homes / new residents / rate of growth
60 180 1.5%
80 240 2.0%
100 300 2.5%
120 360 3.0%
150 450 3.5%
It may be time to strat the push with our city to demand some controls placed on our growth. Real Controls!!
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Let them know how you feel
Shaver ready to steer Pickerington
By TAMARIA L. LIDDELL
The Eagle-Gazette Staff
PICKERINGTON -- Becoming mayor of Fairfield County's second-largest city has given David Shaver the opportunity to set Pickerington on what he believes is the right course.
It's been more than two months since Shaver took office as mayor -- the 29th mayor since records were first kept in 1882.
The 49-year-old attorney and former councilman won the mayoral race in November's general election. Shaver ran on a slow-growth platform, and his goal is to do just that.
''The reason I wanted to become mayor is one, I thought the city was headed in the wrong direction -- not taking steps to manage and control growth,'' he said. ''Two, I thought the administration was too close to special interests such as developers. They weren't able to sit back and think clearly about how to benefit the community.
''At the end of a decade, you want to have a community that you're proud to live in and a high quality of life.''
Elements that contribute to a successful community include a good school system, good public services, green space and parks, recreation and diversity, both cultural and retail, Shaver said.
''Because those are your goals, I think you have to be careful about how quickly you grow,'' he said. ''If a population grows too fast, it overwhelms the school system; it overwhelms the city's ability to provide services.
''Right now, we're short-staffed in police. Our schools are having problems. Our road system, quite frankly, is incapable of handling the number of residents, and our sewer plant is at capacity.''
These issues are the result of poor planning and poor growth control in past administrations, Shaver said.
One of Shaver's goals is to develop and implement a growth management plan.
Shaver said he plans to bring in consultants to help the community determine how the city should grow, as well as having studies conducted in the area.
As the city looks for ways to control growth, it also has to find ways to reduce and manage a $27 million debt.
''We've been left with a tremendous amount of debt, and the reality is that debt will probably increase as you build roads and with the sewer plant,'' Shaver said. ''We need to look at different types of revenue for services. We need more commercial property in the city, things that can provide us with income tax.''
This includes more manufacturers and distribution centers.
''The income tax from retail sales simply is not sufficient. It doesn't generate enough,'' Shaver said.
Economic developer Susan Crotty said the city is looking at ways to generate new income tax revenue.
The top retailers in Pickerington include Kroger; Cracker Barrell; Bed, Bath and Beyond; and Barnes and Noble.
In 2003, Kroger gave the city $39,000 in income tax revenue; the business is the fourth highest income revenue generator in the city.
Most of the city's income tax revenue is generated by the local school district, which accounts for $283,000; in second place is RG Barry Corp., a slipper manufacturer, $74,000; in third place is the American Motorcycle Association, $50,000.
The new Kohl's department store that is now under construction is expected to generate between $20,000 and $25,000 a year.
For any city to create income tax, office development would be the most likely venture to generate the most revenue, Crotty said.
''In this region, the office market is more concentrated on the northwest region, and it's hard to encourage developers to create new office developments on the east side of town,'' she said. ''The second challenge is there's roughly a 25 percent vacancy rate in the metropolitan area. It's difficult then to justify building new office space when you have so much that's already vacant.''
Originally published Tuesday, March 23, 2004
http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/news/stories/20040323/localnews/130946.html
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Who you feel part 2
It's difficult then to justify building new office space when you have so much that's already vacant.''
Pickerington has been successful in attracting small offices that serve the local area. These include medical offices and service providers.
The city looks forward to diversifying its tax base, Crotty said.
To meet this challenge, the city is looking for opportunities to team with its neighbors, including Violet Township and other surrounding communities.
''We'd prefer to enter into cooperative agreements with our neighbors to develop joint economic development districts,'' Shaver said.
In addition to controlling growth, Shaver wants to change the public's perception of the city's government.
''I don't believe there was a lot of trust in the government, and many people in the city felt the government was self-serving and unresponsive to their concerns,'' Shaver said. ''I want to create a government that people perceive to have high ethical standards, fiscally responsible and open to criticism and change. I may be wrong about my ideas and want the public to tell me.''
Shaver said he encourages the public to attend council meetings and ask questions.
''They may have perspectives I wouldn't think of, and if they ask a question and it raises an issue in my mind, as to if what we're doing is appropriate, I'd be really thankful for that,'' he said. ''I think the moment we stop accepting criticism from the public is the moment you should probably remove yourself from public office.''
Shaver has been practicing law since 1986 and handles various cases from divorce to small business litigation. As a full-time attorney at Shaver and Hoke Inc. and part-time mayor, Shaver keeps a busy schedule.
''I balance by departmentalizing,'' he said. ''I pretty much work my regular attorney hours during the day and come to City Hall every night at 5 p.m. and spend time catching up on whatever work needs to be done as a mayor.''
Shaver grew up in the military and lived in across the globe from Iowa to Spain. When choosing a place to call home, Shaver and his wife of 19 years, Pat, chose Pickerington because of its school system.
At the time, the couple lived in Clintonville and their oldest daughter, Katie, was a baby. The Shavers moved to Violet Township in 1991 and moved to Pickerington in 1996.
''We chose Pickerington because of how they handled girls basketball and girls softball,'' Shaver said. ''Not that we thought our daughter would be involved in athletics, but because they took women seriously, and we figured if they took women seriously as basketball and softball players then they would take women seriously in other areas. I didn't want my daughters to be treated as second-class citizens.''
Originally published Tuesday, March 23, 2004
http://www.lancastereaglegazette.com/news/stories/20040323/localnews/130946.html
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Slow the growth
Better Not Bigger
How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve your Community
By Eben Fodor
Contrary to accepted wisdom, rapid urban growth can leave communities permanently scarred, deeply in debt, with unaffordable housing, a lost sense of community, and sacrificed environmental quality.
In Better NOT Bigger, Fodor explodes the fundamental myth that growth is good for us and that more development will bring in more tax money, add jobs, lower housing costs, and reduce property taxes. Lively and well-illustrated, Better NOT Bigger provides insights, ideas, and tools to empower citizens to switch off their local ?“growth machine?” by debunking the pro-growth rhetoric. Highly accessible to ordinary citizens as well as professional planners.
Eben Fodor
Eben Fodor is a professional community planning consultant, and an environmentalist, civic activist, and grassroots organizer from Eugene, Oregon. He has been in the middle of the urban growth controversy for the past ten years.
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