Jerome Township residents will apparently have the opportunity to vote on the future of a piece of land in the township.
At a special meeting Monday night, the township trustees certified that a petition, seeking to stop a zoning change on 248.6 acres on McKitrick Road, north of Mitchell-DeWitt Road, was appropriately filed.
In December, the Jerome Township trustees rezoned the land from rural residential to PUD (planned urban development), a designation for higher–density residential and mixed-use. The Villages at Glacier Pointe development is planned for that land.
On Jan. 18, resident Barry Adler, of 9559 Industrial Parkway, has filed petitions asking for a vote of the residents to reverse the zoning change, returning the land to the low density rural residential and effectively stopping the housing development. The petition is asking for a vote of the entire township in the May 8 election.
Township Trustee Ron Rhodes said the board was not validating the petition, only that it was received and filed appropriately.
“Under the law, we are not allowed to delve into anything more than what’s on the surface of the petitions,” said Rhodes.
Jay McIntire, with Encore Living, said the Catholic Diocese of Columbus owns the land. He said the diocese had long thought of the land as a spot for another catholic high school in the area. He said officials have now moved away from the idea.
“Like so many charitable organizations, there is a need for money,” McIntire said.
He said the diocese looked at selling the land as it was zoned, but decided rezoning it would make the land more marketable. McIntire explained in the rural residential zoning, developers could build 135 homes. In the PUD zoning, 439 lots could be developed.
“We are going to do our best to maximize the final benefit for the diocese,” McIntire said.
McIntire said about half of the homes would be marketed for empty nesters, while the other half will be single-family homes. He said the empty nester homes would sell for $400,000 with the single-family homes being marketed between $410,000 and $650,000.
The development plan would also include nearly 100 acres of open space.
During the rezoning process, several community members opposed the development, expressing concern about the development’s impact on existing wildlife, traffic and school system.
McIntire said concerns about the school system are unfounded. He explained under rural residential zoning, the developer would build single-family homes. He said that development would bring in an estimated 162 students and generate about $2 million annually for the schools. He said based on the average cost of educating a student, the development would lose about $760,000 each year.
McIntire said empty nester homes contribute property tax revenue to the schools, but do not increase the number of students. He said if the zoning change goes through, the larger development would bring more students, 258, but would also generate more revenue, about $3.4 million. He said using the same formula, the larger development would generate about $171,000 more than it would cost the district.
“The development wouldn’t cause a problem, it would fix a problem,” McIntire said.
Tina LaRoche, director of the Union County Board of Elections, confirmed township officials delivered the petition this morning.
LaRoche said the petition has 163 signatures, though they have not been verified yet. For the referendum to be placed on the ballot, it would need 135 valid signatures, which equals 8 percent of the township vote in the most recent gubernatorial election.
“They are checking signatures now,” LaRoche said.
She said the signatures are just the first check.
“We need to go through and see that everything is on the up and up — the petition numbers, the description, the maps, things like that,” LaRoche said. “We will take a look at everything.”
Ultimately, it will be the county board of elections that will need to certify the petition for the May 8 ballot. The next board meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m., Feb. 13.
McIntire said he appreciated the board holding the special meeting. He said it is important to get the matter filed with the board of elections before the Feb. 7 deadline, otherwise it would have to wait until at least August, and the development would be stalled until at least then.
“Obviously, we would rather have this handled sooner rather than later,” McIntire said.