Darby Creek Advocate Volume 10, Issue 1 March 2002
Standoff in Jerome Township Leaves Future of Darby Tributaries in Doubt
Editor’s Note: In the interest of raising public awareness of issues related to Darby Creek, DCA is printing the following guest editorial by Lou Bedford, a member of the Committee for Preservation of Rural Living (CPRL), a citizens group seeking to control urban sprawl in Jerome Township in the southeast corner of Union County. This township is facing intense development pressure, and CPRL has recently sponsored seven ballot initiatives that have overturned zoning approval for large-scale housing developments. Township officials have countered by passing new zoning rules that will make future referenda impossible. CPRL has responded by putting a referendum on the May ballot that would overturn these rules. Part of the group’s concerns are past and future degradation of several key Big Darby tributaries, in particular Sugar Run and Robinson Run. Both streams do not meet Clean Water Act standards as interpreted by the Ohio EPA, and that agency cites "urban runoff" and "construction sites" among the "sources of known or suspected impacts." Although the following opinions are those of CPRL, and are not necessarily endorsed by DCA, we are committed to promoting responsible development that is compatible with maintaining the highest water quality standards. We also support the involvement of citizens in making growth decisions.
Jerome Township is the southern-most township in eastern Union County. It borders Franklin, Madison and Delaware Counties. About one- half of the Village of Plain City lies in Jerome Township. It is also home to a large part of the Big Darby Watershed. Jerome Township had always been a semi-rural area. It was isolated from Marysville, Dublin and Columbus by fairly large agricultural tracts.
However that has changed. Urban sprawl has reached Jerome Township. Many large landowners seem to be very eager to sell out to developers who have plans to build high-density housing projects, industrial parks and shopping centers. There has been intense pressure by large developers and landowners in the township to lobby the local Board of Trustees and Township Zoning Boards to pass
enabling zoning to permit mass-scale development. Local Jerome Township government has historically been controlled by large landowners. As a result local officials routinely rubber stamped requests for rezoning for development projects.
The developers, however, have only been moderately successful over the past five years in actually building high-density development in the Jerome/Darby watershed. A local township citizens group called the Committee for Preservation of Rural Living (CPRL) has initiated ballot measures to give local residents the opportunity to vote on the development decisions of local officials. CPRL Treasurer, Jesse Dickinson, says that Jerome Township residents have chosen to overturn the decisions of local officials to approve zoning for development projects seven separate times. Dickinson said the ballot referendums alone prevented the construction of over 800 houses that had already been approved by Jerome Township officials.
Dickinson also stated, "In my opinion, without the referendum option, it’s likely that developers would have already built much of the 2,400 dwelling units that were outlined in the 1993 and 2000 Union County Comprehensive Plans for the Industrial Parkway area of Jerome Township." This development was planned to follow the installation of water and sewer lines by the Union County Commissioners all the way from Marysville to Route 161 at the Franklin County line. These water/sewer lines, which follow the entire length of the Industrial Parkway corridor between Marysville and State Route 161 were completed
several years ago. The utility line extensions have resulted in massive industrial development in Jerome Township. Currently there are 119 light industrial businesses with at least 76 more soon to be built along Industrial Parkway. This development includes warehouses, depots, trucking companies, tank farms, construction equipment rental operations, machine shops and retail outlets.
A local developer announced at a recent Jerome Township Trustee meeting that a partnership was being considered for the purpose of developing approximately 440 acres of recently auctioned farmland in the Robinson Run, Sugar Run and Big Darby Creek area. Much of Jerome Township has serious drainage, runoff and water quality concerns. This is especially true in the Robinson Run/Sugar Run/Big Darby Creek drainage area where Jerome Township officials have been unable to solve longstanding water runoff problems which cause township roads to continually erode.
At this time the developer has not disclosed specific development plans for this area, but any additional watershed development would add to an ongoing development project of 225 acres in the nearby New California/Sugar Run area. The New California/Sugar Run development began in 1992. Approximately 400 new homes are being built on this 225-acre site. Although specific plans for the Robinson Run/Sugar Run/Big Darby Creek site are not known at this time, approximately 440 acres could potentially lead to the construction of over 800 or more dwelling units if densities are similar to the New California/Sugar Run project.
Local Jerome Township officials rewrote and passed a new township zoning code last year. This new code redefines township-zoning rules making it much easier for developers to obtain permission for higher-density development. Because this new zoning code makes it easier to develop higher-density projects, developers will not need to seek rezoning thus limiting citizen initiated referendums concerning rezoning.
CPRL’s Dickinson says that his group has been successful in collecting the required signatures to put the new zoning code up for a referendum vote for the upcoming May election. But he was quick to add that losing this election could result in massive and sustained uncontrolled development in the Jerome/Darby Watershed area.
"There is a lot riding on this election," Dickinson said. "The large development interests appear to be pulling out all the stops. If we lose this one, we may not be able to stop the kind of development which could lead to dreadful degradation of the Darby Watershed."
For more information you can visit the website: http://my.ohio.voyager.net/~jerome. Or you can contact Jesse Dickinson, Treasurer, Committee for the Preservation of Rural Living at 614-873-1177.