Big Box Commercial Zoning Request in Violet Township - Fairfield County, Ohio

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In the spring of 2006 a request to rezone 106 acres of farmland at the corner of Refugee and Pickerington roads was received by the Violet Township zoning commission from TLG Development Co. in Dublin, Ohio.  If approved, the zoning change would have permitted an enormous commercial complex with a Walmart store and other retailers in the heart of the township and directly across the street from the new Pickerington North high school.

The zoning commission held three public hearings from April to July 2006, each one attended by over 1000 residents, all in opposition to the change.  TLG representatives testified at the hearings on what they believed to be the economic benefits to Violet Township, and the financial rewards from property taxes to the Pickerington School District that would come from the proposed development.

A small group of citizen volunteers, assisted by ORRD members, researched the impact to the community should the zoning change be approved and the retail development be completed.  This group compiled data from a comparable, but smaller, project nearby the proposed development for the Pickerington area.  The comparable area also included a Walmart and several other retailers on land measuring approximately half of the 106 acres in the subject proposal.  After gathering the data, the group reported its findings to the Violet Township citizens.

Police dispatch records for the most recent previous year showed four felony calls to just the comparable Walmart store alone each day, some involving violent assaults and thefts.  Traffic logs performed by the Ohio Department of Transportation recorded over 10,000 additional automobiles and 500 semi-trucks  daily from the comparable, but smaller, retail center.  A more thorough analysis of the  financial benefit to the Pickerington School District revealed that it would be less than half the amount promised from the proposed new retail stores even at the completed value estimated by TLG.   As a result of the comparable data and its analysis, opposition to the zoning change request intensified.  Residents were not willing to endure the burdens of the crime and traffic, in the heart of their community and so near to their school,  for such meager financial benefits.  In response to the revelations of the citizen volunteers, and the increased opposition to the zoning request, the request was rescinded by TLG.

The concept for the retail complex proposed for Violet Township came from investors in Las Vegas, Nevada who commissioned TLG to push the matter through locally.  The rationale of the investors was based on population and per capita income data obtained from U.S. census and other sources.  However, the land targeted for the complex was ill suited to the stresses such a development was surely to bring - crime and traffic.  The property was far removed from the transportation infrastructure that would have been required and the potential for crime so close to Pickerington’s new high school was totally unacceptable to the community.  However, had the citizens of Violet Township and Pickerington city not been proactive and vigilant, the zoning change may very well have been approved with all the disastrous consequences to them and many in Liberty Township that surely would have followed.

Land use issues are critical to property owners and it is vital that they stay informed on those that come to township leaders in order to ensure those officials make the right decisions.