All landowners in Athens County should be very alarmed and ready to campaign tooth and nail to make sure the Charter Government ballot measure is voted down. This ballot measure, if passed, likely will lead to several negative consequences. For people in unincorporated areas of the county such as Millfield, Torch, Stewart, Hollister and many others, this measure if passed will give the Athens County Commissioners new and extremely more powerful legislative power over private property than they previously had.
Once the commissioners have these new legislative “municipal” powers, they will now have much greater power over the county and its inhabitants. This probably will lead to the start of countywide zoning and restrictions to what private property owners can and cannot do on and with their property.
For example, in the city of Athens (which has a community bill of rights), one has to meet specific regulations before building on one’s own property. The city has a code office that inspects to make sure property owners are in compliance. If not, the person is fined or ordered to rectify the problem. This type of regulation will then be possible countywide, and likely will start to happen once the county commissioners have the new power to pass zoning legislation. The days of just building a barn, a new house, remodeling, having an extra unused car in the yard, or pulling a mobile home on your property with little to no regulation, other than clearing a septic tank with the City-County Health Department will become a regulatory nightmare.
Lastly, if there is any hope of bringing economic prosperity to the county from outside businesses such as manufacturing or production, it probably will create more county government red tape. This will surely stifle any hope of bringing businesses to the county; the cost of doing business will be too expensive with the new and multiple regulations.
For example, it was a mess for Fluff Bakery and Chipotle to get a liquor license approved by the city, even though the state had already cleared the licenses for these businesses. In another example, the Fairfield Inn and Suites on East State Street behind McDonald’s was prevented from adding another floor to the hotel because it hurt the “viewshed.”
Another example is the mandatory planting of specific trees when building or rebuilding in the city of Athens. To cite a specific example, after a tornado demolished AutoTech Service Center and Towing on East State a couple years back, the city forced the business owners to plant a lot of trees that were very expensive and not covered by the business’s insurance. Can you imagine this type of regulation in the county?
All of this can happen and likely will happen, if the charter government is passed. It should startle any landowner in the county. This will only lead to more government regulation on your property and higher property taxes.
Luckily, there is hope. A large coalition of county citizens is meeting weekly for what has been recently named the Athens Liberty Coalition. We are a concerned group of citizens, landowners, conservatives, Republicans, libertarians, sensible environmentalists and moderate Democrats who are concerned about the road this county has been on and is continuing down.
We are here to create a coalition of like-minded individuals who can speak as one voice. For too long, a large chunk of the county population has not had a voice in local government and politics because of a very loud and irate minority. If this letter has struck a chord with you, please consider being a part of the Athens Liberty Coalition. Please contact me about getting involved, changing the county and having a voice. You, the reader, may not have cared much about voting or being involved in county politics, because it did not affect you, but this Charter government, if passed, will affect you and significantly, if you are a landowner.
You can get involved by reaching out to the Athens Liberty Coalition on Facebook or giving me a call at 740-590-5352.
Editor’s note: Abe Alassaf was born and raised in Athens, and graduated from Athens High School and Ohio University. He’s a landowner who is working as a fulltime political activist for a non-profit based in Arlington, Virginia. He lives in Westfield Place in Athens.
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B. You have good point. Fracking waste is poison. There ought to be a law against it. But JMYERIAN, gasp, has point to. Change the law if you don't like it. Hard to do considering who runs the show in Columbus. However, think about putting up a bill that would make it illegal to dump fracking waste in any County that does not grant approval via a County referendum. Such a bill would give power to County residents statewide. Everybody wants more power, so maybe it could fly. Outside of that, the County Commissioners still have the authority to make it financially difficult for waste trucks to roll on county roads. There is always more than one way to skin a cat so I find it odd that the anti-fracking leadership is so narrow in its focus as to be basically putting all it's eggs into the one basket; a change in county government that will not produce the desired result and worse still will likely open a pandora's box of unwanted aftershocks.
I suppose it had to happen. A group rises to oppose the pro charter crowd. I oppose the change from Commissioners to Charter for I suppose the main reason cited by the new group: That it (the Charter form of Government) will tempt office holders to play city council type games with county laws. But really, "Sensible Environmentalists"? "Moderate Democrats"? You might as well invite "Responsible Republicans" or Friendly Terrorists". I doubt that the new group actually believes there are any such things as "Sensible Environmentalists" or "Moderate Democrats" but thought they had better pretend there were just to make the new group appear to be less pro fracking and pro toxic waste dumping than they really are. As I stated earlier, I am opposed to the change to a Charter form of county government. But I am also very much opposed to Athens County being the Toxic Waste Dump for the entire mid west fracking region. I can vote no without any help from the new group.
A)private property owners have the right to put the wells on their property because b)the state of Ohio says it is legal, and c)if you think Athens County will be a toxic wasteland (and even the left wing EPA says you're wrong) you can d)agitate to get an anti fracking measure taken up in the assembly, or by direct vote. The charter government nuts want to bypass all that because they don't believe n private property rights , representative government or basic science.
You keep any damage from your well contained to your property, and you're right.
Only, you can't. Earthquakes, spills, leaking wells, all poison and/or endanger your neighbors, as well. Pretty darn selfish, like a child.
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