Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

Here is what Terry Dunlap is quoted in the This Week in Pickerington Paper.

''Dunlap said that although he is not prepared to state a position on home rule, he believes it would be both relatively easy to do and also not very effective in giving the township additional powers to control residential growth.

Most of the reasons against adopting home rule have to do with the costs associated with hiring law enforcement officers, a law director and a township engineer, he said.

However, except for a law director, Violet Township already does these things''.

''It's not really a very significant cost for us (to become home rule),'' he said.

However, Dunlap was also reserved about the benefits.

''There are some people paying attention (to the issue), but the vocal ones (supporting it) aren't fully aware of all the limitations and procedures involved,'' he said.

''They seem to think we can do whatever we want to do (under home rule). That's not the case,'' Dunlap said. ''A home rule township does not have the same powers as a home rule city.''


b>mmaurer@thisweeknews.com


Terry still lives in the past and he thinks there is nothing we can do to control our growth. He expects the city to step forward and control growth but he is powerless to do anything about it in the Township.

Please for those that live in the Township and that includes those that live in the City of Pickerington you need to vote this guy out of office next year.

He says that we are misinformed because we are vocal about limited Home Rule. Terry then inform us all. If your standard answer is you won't even make an effort to control growth then we need to throw your slug butt out next year. If you can't control our growth like a home rule city then either merge with Pickerington or form your own home rule city with the remainder of the township. These incorporated cities do have the power to control growth and you probably wouldn't get elected again.

By Average Joe

Control growth?

Dear Average Joe:

Your biggest problem is that you do not want to control growth, you want to stop growth. You keep ignoring the facts that the Township has not been growing as fast as the City has in the past years. You also ignore the problems with home rule and just continue to yelp whenever you are presented with the ''cons'' and only want the ''pros'', no growth.

too much growth both sides

Back in the late 90's the combined city/township growth rate was between 250 and 300 housing starts per year. Then Pickerington decided they wanted to give it all to every developer to get to 33 so their number skyrocketed and the Township number fell slightly.

Back in the 90's that growth number was overwhelming our schools. It was too big then it is still too big now no matter who has the 'most'' starts. I believe we need to work backwards from 250 per year maybe 100 per year each city and township.

It would be great if the schools could put out a number indicating how many students that they could handle each year, given the attrition of graduation and demographic mix factors such as mean school age of resident children. They do have certain areas of the district where the number of students remains static with a mix of older development and newer development, for example Fairfield Elementary enrollment is nearly the same every year because of this phenomena. Ther may be other examples.

I think the new emerging city model of plan first and then execute after a good growth rate plan is in place is the way to go. The Township land use plan is a guide for Violet, but has no teeth.

Local Control Period

I see the memories and policies of Randy Hughes still exist in some of our township residents. This Limited Home Rule issue in more than about controlling residential growth.

I see in the paper that the City of Pickerington is going to install a ''NO RIGHT TURN ON RED'' sign at 204 and 256. They didn't need to consult with the state they didn't need to consult with the county. They wrote up an ordinance when they saw a problem and addressed it.


In the current Township government you must seek a study by the state and wait for their approval. So the real question you all must have is: How much is having control over your roads and other government functions WORTH?

Terry is so far behind the curve that when he approaches these issues he always claims it will cost more money. He is certainly right about the money part. But if you in the township are going to allow your 173 houses each year when do you start to feel the problems with traffic and law enforcement and taxes and money and CONTROL?

Can Terry pick up the phone and request money from the state or the county and get it in a month or so? You people are currently waiting on a grant from the state of around $7 million. A township as rich as Violet Twp needs to take on some of the responsibility of its own.

By Average Joe