Pictured are some of the many residents of Allen Township who arrived to a zoning board meeting Thursday night to voice their concerns about a proposed Flying J truck stop locating in the township. When the board asked those in the audience to raise their hands if they didn’t want the truck stop in the township, a majority of them did.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Jacob Runnels)
––––
Allen Township will not be getting a Flying J truck stop in the near future.
At a hearing conducted by the Allen Township zoning board Thursday, approximately 40 residents made it clear they don’t want a Flying J truck stop built in the area of U.S. 33 and Stokes Road. County officials also made their voices heard, including Union County Sheriff Jamie Patton and treasurer Andrew Smarra.
In the end, however, the issue was decided before the meeting ever began, as the property owner dealing with the truck stop pulled the application.
Resident Bill Reiss warned about allowing a truck stop, saying it would attract undesirable people to the township. He said those people would have “habits” that would call for increased medical and law enforcement responses, which “you guys will pay for.”
“I have nothing against truck drivers… but the problem is when you have a truck stop, you’ll have some individuals who are not Allen Township-friendly,” he said. “It’s important we really think this through and we really want the grass to stay green in Marysville.”
In response, administrative assistant Allison Hamilton said the township needs to have a tax base for “some sort of growth” because “you’re going to dry up.”
“To stop all business coming in isn’t prudent,” she said. “It’s really what you want in a township to help offset your tax dollars and help offset the cost of services.”
The Flying J company is attempting to purchase 14 acres of property from Monaco Family LLC. The property is located near Stokes Road, off of U.S. 33.
In order for a company to purchase land, the land owner must send an application to the township zoning board.
Zoning board member Charlotte Blumenschein said Monaco Familly LLC submitted an application to the zoning board for Flying J to purchase it in October. There were supposed to be public hearings to see how the community felt about the issue in December and January, but they were both postponed by the landowner.
Blumenschein said the landowner called the zoning board at 5 p.m. on Thursday to announce withdrawing the application.
“With all of these people coming, we could not postpone it (the meeting) again,” she said. “They were coming, so I had to give them an option.”
At the hearing, residents were quick to voice their concerns over a truck stop being built in the township. When the zoning board members asked the room to raise their hands if they were against it, the majority did.
“Allen Township does not need every possible type of development back here,” said Smarra, who spoke as a resident of the township. “What we should be doing is cultivating light industrial office development along those corridors. We don’t need this.”
Before the hearing, Smarra sent an email to residents informing them about the “benefits and costs associated with Allen Township” if the truck stop were to be built, based on information from the Union County Chamber of Commerce.
Smarra’s letter determined there would be $5,433.12 collected as annual property tax revenue, but the “incremental township cost” would be $35,530.
Blumenschein said the amount of annual property tax collected was correct, but the incurred costs were incorrect.
Ultimately, Blumenschein said she enjoys the fact there were lots of people who attended to voice their concerns.
“We do need some businesses to survive and a truck stop is not a bad thing,” she said.
“Maybe the location wasn’t so good.”
She said, through a study conducted years ago, it still stands true the people of the township still want the rural atmosphere of the community to stay.