HOW THE CITY WASTES $$$

HOW THE CITY WASTES $$$

Legal notice in Monday July 10, 2017 Journal-News of special meeting of City of Middletown Planning Commission on Tuesday, July 25, 2017 at 3:00 P.M. regarding the Sawyer’s Mill Subdivision... Ryan Homes is interested in building their product in the Sawyer’s Mill Subdivision. Planning Commission members will be taking a trip to the Ryan Homes Subdivision development called Amelia Park in Amelia, Ohio to tour homes. The bus is scheduled to leave from the City Building at 3:00PM (meeting in the City Building main lobby).

Does anyone believe that mid-priced ($150,000) new homes will be built in Middletown? With no jobs, crumbling infrastructure, lousy schools, high taxes and no amenities who would move into these homes? Is Ryan Homes expecting the City of Middletown to subsidize this venture? Does this trip (starting at 3:00 P.M.) include a charter bus and a nice dinner. Sounds like another waste of our very limited resources. So, maybe they will raise water bills again to cover more wasted $$$. Be on the lookout for Mr Adkins to ask for another levy on real estate soon.

Looks like there is a lot of agreement about the Ryan homes NOT being up to our standards and therefore, NOT what the planning commission would want. So, why is the planning commission wasting time on a long trip to look at and consider something they (should) already know is wrong for Sawyers Mill? Unless they intend to lower the standards (again), in which case why have standards at all?

To redirect the focus of this topic toward how the city wastes our money . . . take note that Middletown’s major and continued expenditure of time and money has contributed to the improvement, prestige and monetary gain (in school tax revenue) of THE SURROUNDING AREAS of Franklin and Lebanon, much, much more than to Middletown !!!!!!!

Aren’t Renaissance and Sawyers Mill both in Warren County? A sign near the entrance to The Renaissance touts that they are in Lebanon / Franklin school districts. Students living there would not have to attend the poorly rated Middletown schools, and of course Middletown gets no school levy tax dollars (about 80% of real estate taxes) from them.

Could this be a perfect example of why we should observe mistakes of the past in order to avoid repeating or continuing them?

Mr Kohler, a former city planner, revealed in an earlier planning commission meeting:

“The Master Plan called for the area east of I-75 to be a medical campus, office complexes, future conference centers, office buildings, retail. He said this area was going to be the new area, the “Renaissance” of Middletown.”

On the opposite side of St Rte 122 from The Renaissance development, there are acres of empty fields adjacent to Middletown Regional Hospital which remain undeveloped partly because the Renaissance residents (rightfully) object to the too close proximity of commercial or retail development which might lower the value of their upscale properties.

More thoughtful planning by the city concerning appropriate placement of residential properties adjacent to commercial properties, would have avoided this conflict. Better, more advantageous use of the available and valuable space along the I-75 corridor, might have included more of the original Master Plan . . . office complexes etc. We could have had booming economic growth like our neighbor, West Chester has along I-75. Think of the much needed tax revenues that would have generated FOR MIDDLETOWN.

Furthermore, why aren’t we now rehabbing homes that are affordable for the average Middletonian . . . the resident who for years has paid for all the folly, poor planning and frivolous spending (on downtown) that resulted in higher and higher taxes for fewer and fewer services and amenities. 

Supporting the rebuilding and improvement of our established neighborhoods all over Middletown should broaden our tax base, and raise our residents’ hopes for a recovery that should have taken place long ago. IF, at the same time, we improve our schools’ academic performance (instead of wasting tax dollars on the unnecessary replacement of school buildings) and improve our infrastructure we will exponentially boost our ability to attract new home buyers. It would be more timely THEN to begin building new larger homes actually located IN MIDDLETOWN (so that OUR schools gain the tax dollar benefits). Our time and money should benefit Middletown, not Franklin or Lebanon. No field trips or highly paid advisers doing unnecessary studies, are needed. 

 Just use SOME COMMON SENSE! Encourage and consider public input when examining the possible consequences of proposed programs and plans. It won’t hurt ! And it might just avoid some pitfalls and mistakes that a narrow or single view point might not notice . . . Mr Adkins.

P.S.: The higher standards for new housing which were adopted for upscale Renaissance properties need not be applied to older neighborhoods where it PREVENTS rebuilding on the empty lots where homes have been razed (leaving gaping holes). The city is actually punishing, not helping, our older (but still vital) neighborhoods.