Orange Township trustees OK Route 23 Sheetz after settlement; JEDD being considered
Orange Township trustees have reversed course, giving the green light to a Sheetz at the southwest corner of U.S. Route 23 and Orange Road.
Trustees voted 3-0 on Feb. 22 to approve the contested project as part of a settlement agreement with the developers.
A zoning application for the project, filed as part of the township’s then-active Route 23 Corridor Overlay, was rejected by trustees in September, with traffic foremost among the reasons for the decision.
Attorneys for the developers, David Hodge and Aaron Underhill, told trustees at the time of the decision that they were believed the application met all code requirements and the decision would be appealed in court.
A suit subsequently was filed in Delaware County Common Pleas Court.
Township legal counsel recommended the settlement, trustee Lisa Knapp said Feb. 22, following a series of meetings with attorneys for the developers and representatives of the court.
“We’re very happy to have reached this result,” Underhill told ThisWeek. “We have said from the start that we believe our clients have rights regarding the use of property and that we had proven that traffic concerns had been addressed and the project met all pertinent requirements.
“We wish we had gotten approved originally, but we are all pleased with the settlement,” he said.
Trustee Ben Grumbles told ThisWeek the township had opted not to pursue a lengthy court process and instead worked to “ensure the best possible outcome for both parties.”
The approved zoning includes agreements on enhanced landscaping and site layout, as well as the creation of a joint economic-development district that would funnel tax resources to needed infrastructure in the township, Grumbles said.
A JEDD is a special-purpose territorial district created by contract between municipalities and townships for the purpose of encouraging economic development, according to the Ohio State University Extension. Typically, such an objective is accomplished by levying an income tax in the district. The tax revenue is shared by the parties to the JEDD and is used to provide additional services, new facilities or enhanced infrastructure in the JEDD, depending on the terms of the contract.
Once a township and municipality agree on a JEDD, the township, if trustees are unanimous in their support, may decide whether to go to voters for approval. If the decision is to avoid residents’ vote, residents could seek a referendum, according to information from the Delaware County Regional Planning Commission.
“We anticipate Orange Road will need some work, especially on the west side. We believe with addition of this JEDD, we can raise the revenue to make this and other needed roadwork in the township happen while also aggressively pursuing economic development and using tools available to us to ensure our revenue stream is bolstered,” Grumbles said.
The township placed a temporary moratorium on new applications within the Route 23 Corridor Overlay late last year.
“This application was a catalyst for the pause in the overlay,” Grumbles said.
He said although the overlay proved valuable in streamlining the zoning process for projects in the corridor, “it needed some review to make sure development was happening in a way that’s favorable to the community.”
Grumbles did not specify a timeline for the reopening of the overlay, saying the trustees would “begin moving forward soon.”
Meanwhile, he said, he believes this process has worked out as well as could be expected for the township.
“We believe we obtained the best possible outcome,” Grumbles said. “We recognize that development is inevitable. We just need to do our best to make all outcomes the best possible for our residents.”
No stated timetable for Sheetz to break ground on the project was available as of Feb. 23.
ThisWeek reporter Paul Comstock contributed to this story.
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This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Orange Township trustees OK Sheetz after settlement; JEDD considered
