COMMENTARY: When elected officials intervene in city planning, it can turn into a raw exercise of power. By all appearances, that’s the case with a measure approved by Ohio lawmakers Wednesday, says Steven Litt.
BRUNSWICK, Ohio — City planning should be a rational process of measuring costs and benefits, guided by broad public participation and basic principles of fairness. But when elected officials intervene, it can turn into a raw exercise of power.
Any way you cut it, residents along the roads where the new interchange could be built would have no way to know Thursday night whether their property values were secure or whether the state might come knocking soon to buy them out through eminent domain. Nor would they know whether the long-established character of their community could be radically changed.
Even if the state pays the full cost of the interchange, as Patton has said he hopes may be possible, Brunswick could be subjected to huge additional costs and dramatic erosion in its tax base, Hanek said. The issue has been studied for at least two decades to no avail. Patton said that when former Governor John Kasich vetoed an earlier proposal for a new I-71 interchange, he promised to consider the issue in the future. That didn’t happen.
“Brunswick and all those upper townships in Medina county are extremely upset that Cuyahoga County would try and push some of their traffic problems into their county and cities and townships.,” said Romanchuk. That’s why, he said, he voted against the transportation bill and has asked DeWine to veto the line item with the interchange.
Concerns over increasing Vehicle Miles Traveled, a measure of demand for roadways, is one reason why NOACA, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, declined to include the new exit desired by Patton in its latest plans for highway interchanges in Northeast Ohio.
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