Riverlea community yard sale

Saturday, April 30. 9:00 am - 3:00 pm



Take advantage of community marketing and make some extra money for things that could be dusted off and offered in a yard sale. Classified ads and signs at the top of Southington and Riverglen will be posted. All you have to do is place a sign in your yard and have your items ready. No permit is needed. Good luck.



Gina Jacob [jacobfamily03@yahoo.com]

Riverlea annexation to Worthington likely to go on ballot

Copied w/o permission from
http://www.thisweeknews.com/live/content/worthington/stories/2011/04/13/riverlea-annexation-likely-to-go-on-ballot.html

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 11:40 AM


By CANDY BROOKS

ThisWeek Community Newspapers

Voters probably will decide whether the village of Riverlea will become part of the city of Worthington.

By a 5-2 vote during a special Sunday night meeting April 10, Worthington City Council put into motion negotiations to set terms of the annexation of the 545-resident village. According to state law, once a six-member commission sets the terms of the annexation, it then must be decided by voters of both Worthington and Riverlea.

The city still could pass an ordinance to accept the annexation without a vote of residents, but that decision could be overturned by a petition signed by 25 percent of registered Worthington voters. Council may hot, however, vote to reject the annexation after the commission's decision.

The annexation bid came from a committee of Riverlea residents, who successfully collected enough signatures to put the annexation process into motion.

During the Sunday meeting, Worthington council had the option of doing nothing, which would have stopped the annexation bid.

Instead, members voted to declare the city's intent to enter into annexation negotiations and appointed three council members to represent the city on the annexation commission.

Council president Lou Goorey and council members Bob Chosy and Robert Schmidt will serve on the commission. Representing Riverlea will be Kirk McHugh, Scott Gordon and Eric MacGilvray.

If the six cannot agree to terms of annexation, a Franklin County probate judge must appoint a nonresident to the commission.

The commission has 120 days to arrange the conditions of annexation and report back to the councils of Worthington and Riverlea.

Both then must order the question to be placed on the ballot at the next election, according to state law.

Worthington council has the right to waive the election, but several council members on Sunday said they voted to continue with the process so that voters could make the decision.

"If it's a bad deal for Riverlea, they'll vote it down," Worthington council member Dave Norstrom said. "If it's a bad deal for Worthington, we'll vote it down."

Sunday's discussion was less amicable, though, as members of both councils and residents debated the issues for two-and-a-half hours.

Riverlea Mayor Mary Jo Cusack made it clear that the annexation bid had not come from officials of the village, but rather from a group of residents working independently of village council.

Village council was required to enter into discussions and appoint three commissioners once the petition was certified by the Franklin County Board of Elections.

"My present thought is, this isn't going to pass, but I don't know that," she said.

MacGilvray said he has been approached by Riverlea residents, asking how he could let this occur.

Some who signed the petition believed erroneously that annexation to Worthington would solve such problems as children being prohibited from cutting through private property en route to school. It would not, he said.

Others wanted the city to rescue the village from the rising cost of maintaining its roads and sewers, he said.

"If you offered me $10 million to fix the infrastructure, I would say no," MacGilvray said. "It's not for sale."

Norstrom rejected Cusack's recommendation that the issue be delayed until both sides are able to informally discuss the issue.

"In government, delay can kill anything," Norstrom said. "You did not give a balanced presentation."

Cusack said some of the petition signers are unhappy with the village's planning commission, which has made some unpopular decisions regarding proposed lot splits.

Worthington council member Scott Myers said he was confused about the motivation behind the annexation proposal. Is it about money or an internal political battle? he asked.

McHugh said the process began out of genuine concern of some residents but in the end would be punitive to some people.

The question regarding the relative costs and benefits to both subdivisions would be one to be studied further by the commission.

Updated but preliminary figures from city officials on Sunday showed Worthington gaining $98,165 in annual revenues following annexation but paying $310,070 to $610,070 annually.

The expense figure probably would be on the lower side of the projection because Worthington city engineer Bill Watterson looked at the projected cost of street repairs and determined they would be on the lower end of the projected $200,000 to $500,000 cost.

The infrastructure cost could be even less if a fee were charged to Riverlea residents for the street repairs, Norstrom said. He said he believes Worthington could benefit from the additional population.

Myers and Chosy cast the dissenting votes.

Chosy said he hopes Riverlea someday becomes part of Worthington, but he sees a "shaky background" to the present movement.

Myers said his vote was not about costs but about the future of Riverlea.

"Riverlea is going to lose its character as a village," he said.

Negotiation items for Riverlea annexation

MEMORANDUM

April 15, 2011

To: City of Worthington Annexation Commissioners:  Bob Chosy Lou Goorey Robert Schmidt

From: Village of Riverlea Annexation Commissioners: Scott Gordon Eric MacGilvray Kirk McHugh

Cc:  Matt Greeson, City Manager, City of Worthington Steve Mershon, Solicitor, Village of Riverlea Mike Minister, Law Director, City of Worthington


Re: Negotiation items for Riverlea annexation


Listed below are five issues that the Riverlea Commissioners have identified as key items to be negotiated in putting together an annexation proposal, and a brief statement of our position with regard to each of them.


(1) Taxation. We propose that in the event of annexation Riverlea residents be taxed no differently than other residents of Worthington. In particular, we believe that there should not be a special assessment placed on Riverlea property owners for infrastructure repairs. The condition of the infrastructure in Riverlea is not substantially different from the conditions that exist in much of Worthington, and a special assessment would create a "double taxation" situation, as Riverlea residents would be paying taxes into the general fund for improvements elsewhere in Worthington while being taxed separately to finance improvements within Riverlea itself.
The March 2011 "Preliminary Evaluation of Riverlea Annexation" that was prepared by the Worthington staff proposes to add Riverlea to Worthington's annual street
improvement program (p. 8). According to the April 8 2011 "Updates" memo that was prepared by Robyn Stewart and Mike Minister, the City Engineer proposes to perform a simple grinding and re-paving of streets in the Village, as suggested by Bird+Bull, in lieu of the full street base replacement suggested by Burgess & Niple. The memo indicates that the Bird+Bull approach "is very similar to the strategy the City of Worthington used when addressing similar issues with some of its streets a number of years ago." (p. 2) In other words, by the City's account the street repairs that are envisioned in Riverlea are no different in scope or kind from repairs that have been performed in Worthington in the past, and that are likely to be performed in the future.

The "Preliminary Evaluation" also proposes additional evaluation of Riverlea's water lines and storm sewer system. Again, there is every reason to believe that these systems were constructed at the about the same time and are in about the same condition as those in central Worthington. It would be unfair for Riverlea residents to pay taxes to repair infrastructure outside ofRiverlea while also being taxed separately to repair their own.
As Mr. Myers pointed out at the April 10 Worthington Council meeting, the cost to Worthington residents of the projected street repairs in Riverlea would be modest; just over $33 ($20Q,000/6QOO) per household per yea.r over aIJeriod 9f 10 years. Iht:project5d sanitary sewer repairs would add an additional $5.40 ($32,350/6000) to that amount over a period of 30 years.

(2) Entity status. In order to preserve the character and identity of the Village, we propose that in the event of annexation it continue to be referred to as the Village of Riverlea, that the entrance signs at Riverglen Drive, Southington A venue and Olentangy Boulevard remain in place, that no streetlights, sidewalks, or other amenities be installed without the consent of a majority of Riverlea residents, and that the current footprint of streets in the Village remain unchanged.


(3) Zoning. We do not wish to add the non-High Street properties in Riverlea to Worthington's Architectural Review District. We may be interested in exploring the possibility of creating a separate review district for Riverlea, but would like to postpone discussion of this issue until we have had a chance to consult further with our constituents.


(4) Assets and liabilities. In order to protect Village officials and residents from legal exposure we propose that in the event of annexation Worthington assume full responsibility for all of Riverlea's assets and liabilities, as well as assume any ongoing contracts to the extent permitted by Ohio law.


(5) Representation. Reading the Worthington City Charter against the timing of the proposed annexation suggests that current Riverlea residents would not be able to vote on municipal officials until the 2013 election, and may not be candidates for elective office in Worthington until the 2015 election. We would like to explore the possibility of creating an exception to these rules.