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A sign for vacation rentals stands along State Route 703 in Jefferson Township.
CELINA - Jefferson Township trustees at a packed house on Tuesday night were presented with a petition asking them to create zoning for East Jefferson Township.
If certified by the Mercer County Board of Elections, the petition would kick-start a zoning process in which trustees would create and appoint five members to a zoning commission. The commission would develop a zoning plan that if approved by trustees would ultimately go before township voters.
At present, East Jefferson Township is the only township in Mercer County regulated by county zoning laws. Over 40 years ago, it was the only township that voted to be governed by those laws. There is no zoning in West Jefferson.
Some of the people behind the push for East Jefferson Township zoning are the same who unsuccessfully attempted to get restrictions enacted for short-term home rentals, such as the ones listed online at VRBO and Airbnb. County commissioners in May 2022 voted to deny a zoning restriction proposal in part due to "the limitations to text amendments," according to their resolution.
However, petition organizers said the motivation behind their drive is to usher in updated, modern zoning for East Jefferson Township.
Milt Miller, president of the Northwood Homeowners Association, and Deb Borns presented a petition containing 15 part-petitions with 248 signatures calling for trustees to adopt a resolution of intent to proceed with zoning.
Miller said organizers have gathered signatures from 33% of the number of qualified township voters who participated in the last gubernatorial election, surpassing by far the 8% threshold required by state law to start the zoning process.
Still, county assistant prosector Amy Ikerd recommended trustees submit the petition to the county board of elections for certification like any other petition.
Miller and other residents over a series of prolonged meetings in 2021 and 2022 with multiple county government commissions sought to restrict short-term rentals in Eastern Jefferson due to disturbances caused by renters.
They now seek another path to establish modern zoning by way of direct petition to trustees.
"After numerous meetings with the county commissioners and the public hearings, they sent us an email and basically said … 'You're better served taking this to the township, like all the other townships,'" Miller said.
The coalition hired a Columbus law firm specializing in election law to guide them through the process of establishing zoning in East Jefferson Township.
"This merely moves the governance of zoning from the county to the township, like all the other townships in Mercer County. That's all it does," Miller insisted.
An Airbnb located at 4601 Nicholson Drive in Jefferson Township.
Others at the meeting took issue with the petition and claimed the real reason behind the move is to restrict short-term home rentals. One attendee said there are already too many government rules that aim to regulate what owners do with their private property.
Asked what he doesn't like about county zoning in East Jefferson Township, Miller said the code hasn't been meaningfully updated since 2001. Pressed further, he cited a home with a corral of three horses in Highland Park and a go-cart track in a backyard in Harbor Point as examples of why modern zoning is needed.
One trustee, though, pointed out that zoning wouldn't solve the issue of the horses because the Highland Park plat specifically allows for livestock.
Borns also argued the request for zoning isn't about short-term rentals.
"The process that we've had to go through from here 'til today has made it obvious to most of us residents that we want to be governed by our own people, by the people of East Jefferson," she said. "We don't want to have to go through the processes that we've had to go through with this last issue."
No definitive answer was provided as to how much adding zoning will cost the township. Some attendees also alleged some of the petition signers didn't fully understand what they were committing their names to.
"I have heard rumblings that there's some unhappy people," Ikerd said. "All I can suggest to people is if you happen to be unhappy, you can contact the board of elections or you can contact the trustees, preferably in writing, and they can look into that."
Once the petition signatures are certified, the next step would be for trustees to assign five members to a zoning commission, county assistant prosecutor Hinders told the newspaper. Trustees also may consider adopting zoning for both East Jefferson Township and West Jefferson Township, he noted.
The cover letter of the petition recommended East Jefferson Township residents Richard Swaney, Michael Borns, Ralph Schmit, Jane Kramer and Janey Haisley for the zoning commission and Milt Miller as an alternate member to the commission.
Zoning commissioners would be tasked with creating a zoning plan that would be subject to public hearings and would require the approval of trustees before moving on to the ballot for voters' consideration.
