A group of landowners and residents were at Monday evening’s Jerome Township meeting to discuss future and current development.
Resident Jeanette Harington asked the trustees how long it would take to close what she termed “a loophole” in the township’s zoning code. She said the township’s zoning code allows many conditional uses in the commercial district to have buildings with no size regulation. She specifically mentioned a proposed FedEx hub, planned for the area. 42 Real Estate LLC has said it is moving forward with plans to develop a 530,000-square-foot trucking distribution center at 8341 Industrial Parkway.
Harrington said the township has known about the zoning code flaw “for almost two years, now.”
She wondered why it hasn’t been fixed.
Trustee Ron Rhodes said the zoning commission is addressing the issue. He said there would be a public hearing on the matter and it will be before the board in the near future.
“I don’t believe the issue I am here to talk about is up before the board,” Harrington said.
Harrington said there is a proposed change to the zoning code section dealing with ancillary buildings but not with building expansions. Harrington said the township needs to deal with the more pressing issues first.
“It is important enough to move this forward,” Harrington said.
Resident Megan Sloat also addressed the board about development issues. She said many municipalities make acceptance of a development conditional on having an approved traffic study. She said it is difficult to know the true impact a development will have on the community but a traffic study can help.
Trustee Ron Rhodes said municipalities have different authority than townships.
“We can require a traffic study and we do that,” Rhodes said.
He explained that the study is submitted to the Union County Engineer’s Office for approval.
John Wirchanski, a resident, told the trustees that he had “a very long telephone conversation” with Marysville Mayor J.R. Rausch.
Last month, Wirchanski wrote a letter to the editor of the Journal-Tribune, critical of Rausch’s handling of development and water issues in the southeast portion of the county.
Wirchanski said the phone conversation cleared the air quite a bit. He said Marysville is no longer insistent that Dublin be included in any Joint Economic Development Agreement.
He said both the township and Marysville have caused delays in the process.
“We left our conversation with the understanding that elected officials will work this all out and that any agreement must benefit both Marysville and the township,” Wirchanski said.
He said there is an optimistic four-month timeline to get an agreement to share income tax revenue for the area.
In other news, the township will host a Veterans Day service at 7 p.m., Nov. 11 at the New California Presbyterian Church. Historian Steve Ball will be the guest speaker.