MORPC seeks public comment on balanced-growth plan

ThisWeek CW 01/19/2012

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/pickerington/news/2012/01/18/morpc-seeks-public-comment-on-balanced-growth-plan.html

The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) has scheduled a Jan. 31 meeting to gather public comment on plans to manage the Walnut Creek watershed.

The watershed crosses Fairfield, Franklin and Pickaway counties.

According to MORPC’s website, participants in the Walnut Creek Watershed Planning Partnership include the cities of Canal Winchester and Pickerington; the villages of South Bloomfield, Carroll, Baltimore, Lithopolis, Groveport and Ashville; and Violet, Harrison and Greenfield townships, plus Madison townships in Pickaway and Franklin County.

The meeting will be held from 6:30- 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, at Wagnalls Memorial Library, 150 E. Columbus St., Lithopolis.

The “balanced growth plan” promotes water quality, targeted development and the preservation of farmland and conservation areas, according to MORPC representatives.

“We’d like this to increase communication between communities in regards to their shared water resources,” MORPC associate planner Erin Grushon said. “The planning partners for the Walnut Creek watershed balanced growth plan cross jurisdictions since it’s so large. We want to have diverse participation from private citizens, industry developers, state agencies, community organizations and the local municipalities.

“MORPC will be the facilitator and provide technical assistance, but the plan will really be guided and directed by input from our planning partners.”

Canal Winchester planning and zoning administrator Andrew Dutton said he has participated in some of the early meetings about the plan. He said the city generally supports the initiative.

“MORPC is really the engine driving the project, which basically identifies areas to preserve and areas where development will be promoted,” Dutton said. “Participation is completely voluntary, but there are incentives if you do participate.”

Dutton said Canal Winchester “is definitely in support of the process and is actively working with MORPC to develop the maps and the plan.”

However, he said, “It’s a lot bigger than just us. This watershed stretches across three different counties.”

In 2010, MORPC asked the 14 communities along the watershed to participate in a balanced growth plan and help draw up a draft document. Participants will be given access to incentives if the plan is adopted and endorsed by the state.

“There’s no obligation for any community to adopt the plan, but if we get at least 75 percent support from the communities in the watershed, then the state will endorse the program and has aligned incentives which will be available to the communities that passed resolutions in support,” Grushon said.

She said the incentives would provide additional points for water-related grant reviews and lower loan rates, as well as access to planning and conservation tools. She said the implementation of the plan is also voluntary.

“The key thing we’ll do is identify what are called priority conservation areas, development areas and agricultural areas, but this plan doesn’t create any actual regulation or zoning changes,” she said. “It doesn’t prevent development from occurring outside of the specified development area. It just shows the partners where incentives should be targeted to encourage the appropriate activity in those areas.”

The public is being asked to provide feedback to the current draft plan before a final draft is presented to the 14 communities for possible adoption.

“Right now, we’re asking people to take a look at the plan at their local library or online (at balancedgrowthplanning.morpc.org) or come to our meeting at the end of the month and provide feedback on the plan,” Grushon said.

“The public comment period will run for 30 days from Jan. 18 through Feb. 17,” she said. “We won’t ask the communities for resolutions of support until we’ve gone through the public comments and added that input into our draft so that we have a good final version to present.”