Trustees Phil Cox, Martin English and Greg Siefring met earlier in August with Miami County commissioners to discuss the development and its effect in southeast Miami County.
The township roads are narrow and not built to handle heavy truck traffic, English said.
“We are losing stop signs, ditches are being impacted, residents are impacted in those areas,” English said. “Between truck traffic and increased passenger traffic because of all of those warehouses that are hiring hundreds of people; a lot of them are using our roads.”
Trucks at times experience difficulties maneuvering the roads including one that ended up damaging a township cemetery and another that couldn’t turnaround and ended up backing more than one-half mile, Cox said.
The trustees decided to meet with the county commissioners as activity appeared to increase and word spread that annexations and rezoning may be proposed along with exploration of developments in Monroe Twp.
The commissioners were asked to keep trustees “in the loop” and give the township a heads up if annexations or other requests are filed,
“We are looking at establishing a united front here in Miami County,” English said.
The commissioners said they would be interested in exploring options further. Among first steps will be scheduling a meeting of trustees and county representatives including those from the Department of Development, legal advisers and the county engineer/sanitary engineer.
“It’s not going to be easy. The airport’s there, development is there,” Commissioner Ted Mercer said.
“We are not necessarily looking to stop all development, but we’d certainly like to have a hand in controlling how it is developed,” English said.
The areas of greatest concerns were identified as around North Montgomery County Line Road, Ginghamsburg-Frederick Road, Boone Road and Peters Road.
The trustees said in a letter presented to commissioners that they and the Miami County engineer have made requests to governments in Montgomery County and the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission for help in rerouting traffic off local roads and for financial help to repair damages incurred so far. Those efforts “have been fruitless,” trustees said.
The township has been taking measures to be better prepared for anticipated development.
This summer they created Tax Increment Financing districts on desirable properties in the area and are exploring ways to provide water and sewer services.
Contact this contributing writer at nancykburr@aol.com
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