If you have ever tried to exit I-71 at Fields-Ertel or traveled Montgomery Road/Rt. 3 during rush-hour, you need to read this.

Warren County's new slogan is "Ohio's Largest Playground". However, with the 2nd-fastest growth in Ohio, it may not be a playground for long! The State Legislature needs to take a more active role in helping our fast-growing communities manage and slow growth. Our state's townships are particularly vulnerable. State law does not give them the powers our cities have to plan and control land use.

Why hasn't anything been done to help counties like Warren, Delaware, Butler, and Clermont? The Builder's Lobby has a stranglehold on state and local politics... and builders want to build. My opponent, a real estate appraiser, is a good friend of the Builder's Lobby. Development interests gave more money to my opponent than any other industry during his legislative career (see My Opponent for more details). Make no mistake about it - my opponent is NO friend of those in Warren County who are concerned about growth.

Look, we cannot stop growth, but we can make sure that it happens in a more controlled way. The State Legislature can help make "smart" growth a reality. Today, our growth policies would flunk the 4th-grade proficiency test! Growth today means traffic jams and ever-rising property taxes.

My plan for to create smart growth includes;

• Giving Townships the right to impose impact fees on new residential development
• Eminent domain laws protecting the land-owner
• Public purchase of development rights
• Fixing problems in our cities

Impact Fees
Do you wonder whether it's fair that your property taxes go up because the farmer next door sold his/her land to a home builder? Someone has to pay for the new schools, sewer systems, fire & police personnel, and road widening required to accommodate all the new neighbors you have. If you live in any of Ohio's townships, that "someone" is you! And, no, it's not fair.

Developers are like industrial polluters. They think that as long as they make their product and sell it, that is all they owe society. Long ago we decided that polluters have to clean up the mess they leave behind, and the same thing needs to be done with developers. They cause great additional costs to the community, but don't have to pay for it.

I will support legislation to allow Ohio townships to impose impact fees on new residential construction. This would be a fee for every new house, which is likely to run an average of $10,000/house, that would be passed along to the new homeowner in the price of the home. These fees would allow local governments to pay for all the required supporting infrastructure concurrently with the growth. With impact fees, there would be little or no need for additional bond levies for new schools or fire stations.

Did you ever wonder why in the world Montgomery Road/Rt. 3 could have stayed a 2-lane road for so long? Do you feel your wallet is being held hostage to events outside your control? Impact fees, where the cost-causer pays the costs, is part of the answer.

Eminent Domain
The recent dispute in Norwood has brought eminent domain laws to the forefront for many people in Warren County. The thought that the government could take land from someone and give it to another private entity really scares people - and it should. Luckily, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in the landowners' favor in the Norwood case. Here are my rules for eminent domain:

• If the government takes farm land for a public project, the landowner should be paid the price that land would have brought from a developer, not the value as farm land.
• The government should not take land for a private project except in the most extreme of circumstances. Our definitions of "slum" and "blighted" must be more tightly defined.
• If property is taken for a private project, the amount paid should be much higher than the market price.

Often a public project can affect land not explicitly taken. A new road can cut a farmer's field at an angle, making it more difficult to farm. A ditch dug for a sewer pipe can make the land unsuitable for farming unless it is done properly. Development plans and processes must minimize the damage to the land.

Public Purchase of Development Rights
For many farmers, the retirement nest egg is in the land. They can often make $10,000 to $15,000 more per acre selling to a developer than they can selling to another farmer. Luckily, there is a way to preserve the land's value to the farmer without giving it up to development. The local government or land trust can buy the "development rights" to the land for the difference in price the land would fetch for farms vs. home development. After the purchase, the farmer could continue to farm the land. The farmer could pass the farm to his children, sell to another farmer, or sell it to the government, who could turn it into a park or other green space.

This solution is a win-win for everyone. Public purchase of development rights could allow townships to preserve part of the land without penalizing the farmer.

Fixing Problems in our Cities
In the long-run, the only way to alleviate the pressure on Warren County is to address the problems in Cincinnati and Dayton. Two of the main reasons people leave the cities are the schools and crime. My campaign platform addresses the school funding issue. I have not addressed the crime problem explicitly, but I am confident that the "Business Solutions to Public Problems" process will help us develop an effective crime-fighting policy.

Interestingly, people are not just fleeing the City of Cincinnati in Hamilton County - they are also leaving the first ring of suburbs. This points to a broader problem in Hamilton County's government. Fortunately, I do not have the time or energy to get into that debacle.

My district covers parts of Cincinnati, the Hamilton County suburbs, and Warren County. I want the voters of Warren County to realize that when I address problems of the cities, I am also indirectly addressing Warren County's growth problem.

As always, I want to hear from you as well. Use the Be Part of the Solution button to tell me your ideas for better managing your community's growth.