Not everyone wants to see Licking County change as developments take root where crops once grew.
Some people say the best way to preserve the rural lifestyle of about 3,000 people is for a village and a township to combine forces.
The unusual question will go before voters next month concerning the possible merger of the village of Alexandria and St. Albans Township.
The pro-merger side argues the move would give the residents more power and help prevent annexation. People who support the merger met recently at Ann Lodder’s kitchen table on South Watkins Road.
“In going through this process, I learned very quickly that townships in Ohio, they're placeholders until development comes,” Lodder said.
St. Albans is about 30 miles northeast of Columbus. The farmland is now dotted with tented construction sites. An intersection with a four-way stop has a line stretching back at least a half mile around rush hour.
Life in the area has already started to change since the 2022 Intel announcement that it would build two chip plants nearby.
“I think the biggest hope and the reason why most of us looked at it was to stop annexation and unwanted development at (State Route) 310,” Lodder said.
Lodder and the others who want to see the St. Albans and Alexandria communities combine say annexation is their enemy. And they fear New Albany has eyes on the township. New Albany annexed the land where the Intel site is located.
“It's very easy to annex land out of the township. It's much harder, much harder to take land out of a municipality than it is out of the township," Lodder said.
There are only a few miles and a handful of property owners between township land and New Albany.
“So all it takes is one owner to say, ‘yeah, I'm going to annex to New Albany’ or if a New Albany company buys the land and annexes into New Albany. And then the next one could do it,” Lodder said.
Annexing land from a township requires the land be contiguous to the municipality and approval from the county commissioners.
The road where Lodder’s home is located is quiet, for now.
Pro-merger signs sit at the end of Lodder’s drive. Her neighbors have anti-merger signs posted among Halloween decorations.
Both precincts of township and village voters would have to approve the merger by a simple majority. If approved, St. Albans Township would disappear from Ohio maps, and the village of Alexandria would grow by about 2,500 people. The residents would pay a 1% tax on earned income.
“Township residents will see part of their property tax go down, but we will all start paying the 1% income tax that the village collects," Lodder said. “As a township resident. Yes, I think maybe it is going to cost me a little bit more. But it's going to cost me way less than if we don't have a merger and we get rushed high density housing and I have to pay for a new elementary and a new fire station."
Others may end up paying less, though it will depend on each family's situation. A pro-merger website has been set up to provide voters with more information.
The new government would create a transition plan with the county for taking over services like road maintenance in areas the township previously covered.
Voters will choose whether or not to merge and elect people to serve as village council members or township trustees, for whichever scenario voters approve.
Voters created the merger commission that Lodder serves on to study the issue. Lodder and other members of the commission are running to fill the seats on the potential new village council.
Tensions between the pro- and anti-merger sides run high. At a September township meeting, a member of the audience called Dean Schiller a word representing male anatomy after he stood up to give his take.
Schiller supports the merger and he is running to be a member of the new village council. He said this is one of the only ways for residents to exert some control on development and population growth.
“Pay me now or pay me later. Pay the one earned income now. Or you're going to pay pressure on schools and the fire department. And it's going to be a lot more than you're earning,” Schiller said.
Schiller said the group isn’t against growth, but they want to grow in a way that preserves the identity of the community.
Carianne Meng is also running for a seat on the new village council. After a few years of running up against the opposition, she has a question.
“What do they stand to make if we don't merge? If they are this upset about it…People don't fight like this over issues that don't impact them. And people fight the most when it hits their wallet,” Meng said.
