Hopewell residents question annexation

TIFFIN — Three residents who live in or near a proposed 149-acre annexation into the city told Tiffin City Council Monday the plan has advanced with little notice to the people it would affect, and one homeowner said the city threatened legal action if her family did not sign the annexation petition. Anna Flechtner said she and her husband went door to door to warn neighbors about the proposal, and that many would not otherwise have known about it. She, her husband, Tom, and their two children, ages 7 and 4, live at West State Route 18 at the intersection of US 224 in a home that has been in the family more than 40 years and where their children are the third generation to live, she said. "We have never sought to become residents of the city of Tiffin," Flechtner said. The family learned of the proposal when Mayor Lee Wilkinson came to their home to discuss a two-decade-old sewer agreement that runs with the property, she said. During that visit, Wilkinson told them Lenny Clouse, through his company Development Solutions LLC, was pursuing annexation of about 149 acres into the city. The proposed annexation area includes the family's home, Clouse's farmland behind the house, a commercial property next door and medical offices on US 224, she said. "We were told that because of that sewer agreement, we would be required to sign the annexation petition or risk losing sewer service to our home," she said. "We signed one petition because we believed we had no choice." The medical offices declined to sign, requiring a new petition to be circulated, she said. The commercial property owners, whom she described as out-of-town developers, have signed. She further said Law Director Zach Fowler gave the family one day notice on July 13 to decide whether to sign the new petition. Flechtner said the city would begin pursuing legal action for failing to sign the petition initiated by Development Solutions LLC. "Regardless of the legal arguments involved, this is an extraordinary position for our family to be placed in," she said. Fowler addressed council later in the meeting to explain the annexation process but did not respond to Flechtner's account. "Our concern is not simply with the annexation itself," she said. "Our concern is the lack of transparency surrounding why it is happening." The request is a Type 1 expedited annexation under Ohio law, the homeowner said, a process that moves forward without a hearing before county commissioners and provides no opportunity for neighboring property owners to object or appeal. Many neighbors learned of the proposal only because the couple went door to door, she said, and the family learned at a township meeting last Monday that Hopewell Township trustees also were unaware of it. The family has been told there is no development plan for the property. She questioned why a map prepared more than a year ago by the city engineering department depicted proposed light and heavy industrial zoning for Clouse's property before annexation. "If there was no development plan, why were future zoning maps already being prepared?" she said. Clouse previously petitioned to have the property rezoned for industrial use and drew significant opposition from surrounding neighbors, most of them families living in their homes, she said. "Those concerns have not disappeared," she said. A proposed zoning classification map produced by the Tiffin Engineering Department, a copy of which she provided, shows four districts across the area: existing C-2 general commercial, proposed C-2 general commercial, proposed M-1 light industrial and proposed M-2 heavy industrial. The copy is undated and marked not to scale. She asked council to say whether Wilkinson was acting for the city or for Development Solutions LLC when he came to her home, what city resources have supported the petition, when the city first became involved in the discussions and whether council has been fully informed. Council President Bridget Boyle said no annexation legislation is before council and no vote has been taken. The mayor said the city is nearing the end of its developable industrial and manufacturing property at the Eagle Rock and North Star industrial parks, and that Clouse approached the city about bringing his property in. "We're not being pushed to make room for any particular industry, any particular manufacturing or anything like that," Wilkinson said. "We're just trying to prepare for expansion and keep the city of Tiffin growing." Flechtner said about 33 homes neighbor the property. Wilkinson said the city is early in the process and is not trying to keep it secret, and that the annexation is at step one. He said he would have to consult the law director on whether zoning must be in place before annexation. He read city code descriptions of the proposed zoning districts, saying the M-1 light industrial district is intended for manufacturing, wholesale business and research uses that are clean, quiet and operate entirely within enclosed structures, and that the M-2 heavy industrial district is intended for major manufacturing, processing, warehousing and testing operations. The M-2 area is behind Northwest Orthopedics and to the west, he said. Lindsay Parkins, who said she has lived near the property for 22 years, told council the land was once part of the Golden Acre Turkey Farm. She said industrial use would bring chemical processing, increased pollution, large structures, disturbed wildlife and water, odor and additional heavy traffic. "I urge the city to think of more than the bottom line. Additional tax revenue is not necessarily what is best for our society," Parkins said. "We're not opposed to growth when done responsibly and fairly, and this annexation does not seem like either," she said. Corey Showman, who said he lives on an adjacent property, told council three companies have left Tiffin in the past five years after tax payments came due. A plastics company previously discussed for the site would have employed about 140 people at about $16 an hour, generating roughly $80,000 to $100,000 to the city, he said. "I think more conversation, more thought process of what's actually going to go on with this land," Showman said. Fowler told the residents that once an expedited annexation petition is filed, county commissioners are required by law to approve it if statutory conditions are met, after which it is delivered to the clerk of council and laid on the table for 60 days before council votes to accept or reject it. Proposed zoning would run concurrently, he said, with a joint public hearing before council and the city planning commission, followed by a planning commission hearing and a recommendation back to council. Adjacent property owners would receive written notice from the city at the zoning stage. "You will have a chance when the time's appropriate, when the matter's actually before council, to come and talk to council, talk to the planning commission, and give your input at that time," Fowler said.