Carriage Trails 2.0 Rezoning Gets Approved

And we all get a lesson about the City Charter

Startling no one, the City of Huber Heights, working at breakneck speed, approved a controversial rezoning of nearly 300 acres that will create Carriage Trails 2.0. The Council waived the second reading of the rezoning ordinance and passed the measure by a 6-2 vote.

A number of residents came forward at the public hearing that the City isn’t clear on the density of the new development; claims were made that the number of houses in the development was originally set at 1,480 units, but the proposed ordinance could make the housing up to 2,072 units. The council did amend the ordinance to take the overall density of the development from 7 units per acre to 5 units per acre — putting the number of potential units back to the 1,480 dwelling unit number.

The Law Director Speaks

Perhaps the most interesting comments in the Public Hearing came from the City’s Law Director who laid out some of the interesting language in the City’s Charter, specifically Section 12.01(B).

Referendum. The qualified voters of the City shall have the power to require reconsideration by Council of any adopted ordinance or resolution provided that the power to require reconsideration shall apply only to the first ordinance, resolution or other measure required to be passed and not to any subsequent ordinances, resolutions or other measures relating thereto, and further provided that such power to require reconsideration of ordinances and resolutions shall not extend to the tax budget, or any ordinance relating to the appropriation of money, or salaries of nonelected City officers or employees or ordinances or resolutions adopted as emergency measures. If Council fails to repeal an ordinance or resolution so reconsidered, the voters may approve or reject such ordinance or resolution at a general, primary or special election.

Specifically, the Law Director stated that the ordinance rezoning the property would not be able to be subject to the referendum process since this ordinance was “subsequent” to the annexation request. The Law Director stated that many times a government action requires specific actions at a later time, and having the threat of the referendum on such subsequent actions aren’t helpful for the administration of government.

Fair enough. But what is less helpful is taking the ability of residents to keep their own local government accountable. Annexation and zoning are two separate and completely different functions. For example, annexations aren’t run through planning commissions, whereas zoning amendments are. It is completely conceivable that residents of a community could be completely supportive of an annexation and then have real concerns about future development that is dictated by zoning. By this logic, if the developers wanted to run through a heavy-industrial use and the City Council signed off on it — sorry residents, your referendum rights through the charter are less important than your local government’s ability to be efficient.

Referendum procedures are there to provide a backstop to ensure that residents have a voice in some of the most important decisions that occur in a community. Basically, when it comes to how things are in Huber Heights, when you are in for a penny, you are in for a pound — no matter when that pound comes due.

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