The community activist group Bedford Watch will be seeking referendum on the recent rezoning approval of the Whitman land at the intersection of Sterns and Lewis. A referendum is a direct vote, done during a special election, by the entire community that will either affirm the township board’s decision on the rezoning or overturn it. From the Bedford Watch website:

After meeting with our legal team, we have been informed that the only way to stop a rezoning that a township board approves is with a referendum. On December 2, 2008, the majority of the Bedford Township Board members approved 5 of the 6 Whitman Ford parcels up for rezoning.

I have spoken with the township and ascertained that a special election/referendum will cost the township an additional $8-9,000 and that Bedford Watch has been given all the information on how to appropriately seek the referendum. Should a special election be necessary the township will place the referendum vote in with another election such as a school election to keep added costs down.

One township official I spoke to is pleased at the possibility of referendum as it puts the vote in the hands of the community and would essentially (in my own words) seal the deal.

One question I did not ask and I wish I would have but it just came to me right now is if there is a referendum vote will the voters of the community be asked to affirm or overturn each parcel or the property as a whole? It’d be interesting to see if the same five parcels were affirmed and the decision on parcel six be overturned and therefore rezoned C-2. My assumption is that the referendum vote would simply ask to affirm or deny the decision made by the board.

And slightly unrelated to this I wanted to clear up something that Mr. Jim Goebel made reference to during the meeting in regards to low income senior housing. I think the words low income are intended to frighten people or just have that negative stigma attached to it. For a perfectly great example of low income senior housing already in our township take a look at Ivor Lindsay on Lewis Ave in Temperance. The facility is kept up nicely, the grounds are taken care of, and the residents are genuinely nice people from what I am told. Low income senior housing should it be placed on the rezoned land at Sterns and Lewis should be of no concern to anyone in this community as we’ve seen little to no issue from existing low income senior housing already established here.

This past Tuesday’s vote was very likely one of the most watched votes in the history of our fair township. It seems everyone has an opinion on the rezoning of the land owned by the Whitman family at the intersection of Sterns and Lewis. Not surprising to anyone is the fact that I have many opinions to share; opinions not just over the rezoning but also of some individuals.

The vote on the rezoning went as I had thought it would with the approval of five of the six parcels; the one parcel, parcel number six, that was denied rezoning was the same parcel that was not recommended by our township planning commission for rezoning. This is the parcel that sat nearly dead center of the piece of land in question and was about 8 acres in size. Whitman was requesting the zoning be changed from R2-A single-family residential to C-2 commerical. The concern of the board was that completely rezoning this parcel would not allow for a sufficient buffer for the homes adjacent to the west side of the property from the potential commercial land use to the east side of this property.

I’m not entirely sold on that particular theory in that a lot of the ‘pollutions’ of commercial zoning can be hashed out in site plan approvals. A simple look at the approval process for Bedford’s largest commercial development at this time, Kroger, shows that the developers and representatives of Kroger were more than accomodating with the type of lighting installed, delivery times, where docking stations would be located, and the even moved where a dumpster was proposed to be placed to eliminate the threat of disturbing neighbors with early morning trash pickup. Living close to the Kroger development I have spent some time monitoring the lighting issues, the truck issues, the roads issues, etc. I don’t see the issue with this particular commercial neighbor.

Yes, I understand had the rezoning of that eight acres gone through one would be looking at a considerably larger commercial development. However, I am not convinced that size and scope automatically equate to bad commercial neighbor.

Honestly, in this man’s opinion, the biggest issue with the vote and the reason I feel that those eight acres were honestly turned down was due to the possible sale of the land to one Wal Mart. The big bad ,local business destroying, will leave empty boxes allover our township Wal Mart. Again, a notion I do not completely agree with.

Bedford Watch, a local ‘community activist’ group was adamant against this rezoning and their focal point was that if the land is rezoned then it will be sold with absolute certainty to Wal Mart. Don’t believe me? Check out their website where the group is seemingly obsessed with Wal Mart and it’s hell bent nature of destroying small towns. Wal Mart would destroy our roads, put a further pinch on our police and fire protection, would put 100 local businesses out of work, and would quash commercial development throughout the township.

Remember those old T-shirts that said Fear This? I was fully expecting to see a mock shirt of these old T-shirts from Bedford Watch - Wal Mart: Fear It! I’m not trying to be crass as that is an honest opinion. The Bedford Watch group it seemed purposely tried to play on people’s fears and to their heart strings; they were selling people on the fact that because Jon Whitman had a deal with Wal Mart before that he did now.

Bedford Watch said our roads would deteriorate and that an additional 76,000 cars per day would drive on Sterns and Lewis. How did they arrive at this figure? Is it because it’s a national average and we’ll assume that national averages equate to the consumers in this area? I do not know the answer but 76,000 additional vehicles is an awful lot of vehicles and a figure I find to be highly unlikely.

I agree with Bedford Watch that our roads would deteriorate; there is not a sane person with any level of understand on this that would disagree. However, I don’t believe that this reason alone should preclude commercial development. First, I am certain prior to development an impact study would be performed on what type of impact the development would have on the infrastructure in that immediate area. This impact study would then allow for our Site Plan committee to instruct the developer that they will be responsible for the upgrades in that area as a part of their development. This is a common practice, not only in Bedford Township, but everywhere. For example in Monroe when the Wal Mart was built the local government required Wal Mart to pay to repave the road (expand?) and put in traffic control systems in that area.

Bedford Watch said that a Wal Mart would put a further pinch on our police and fire. They used scary figures like 714 calls to the ‘closest’ Wal Mart in Toledo on Central Ave in the past two years. They failed to qualify a couple of things. First, this particular Wal Mart is located on the corner of two very busy streets that allow for simple ingress and egress from the store location and that it is located less than 1 mile from a major expressway cutting through the area. Two, they failed to mention that this particular Wal Mart is located within walking distance of some low income areas of the City of Toledo.

Bedford Watch failed to consider a lot of things in their Wal Mart and crime argument. One of the biggest I found was that the particular Wal Mart they used as their example isn’t the closest to our township. I used the Lewis and Sterns as the epicenter of this argument of mine and found that the Wal Mart in Oregon, OH is actually a full 3 miles closer than the one used in their examples.

I found this to be intriguing for a couple of reasons. The location of the Oregon, OH Wal Mart is much more synonymous with the type of development that would occur in our own township. The size of the community the store resides in is similar to Bedford as is the median income. The Oregon, OH store is approximate in location to low income and crime areas to what a development at Sterns and Lewis would be. Why do I mention all of this? Because according to an anti-Wal Mart website that Oregon, OH store has only had 53 police complaints from 2002-2005.

Finally, Bedford Watch wanted you to believe that Wal Mart would put all of our local businesses out of business. I thought Mr. Gene Stock made a wonderful presentation and point at the township meeting about the first ‘big box’ that ever came to Bedford and the actual economic boom that came with it. One could point not only to the Oregon, OH Wal Mart as an example but also to the Wal Mart located on Glendale in the city of Toledo. Commercial development sprang to life on Glendale Ave. in an area that previously was a big empty open field that previously had shown no signs of life.

I do not wish for this entire argument to revolve around Wal Mart as it never should have to begin with. The point I am trying to make is that Wal Mart is not necessarily some scray Godzilla like monster that could come into our township and kill it’s make up and charm.

For the record I am not pro-Wal Mart whatsoever but that has more to do with their support of Chinese and foreign products than it does anything else.

Back to the point - this whole mess never should have involved, revolved around, and had anything to do with Wal Mart. As Supervisor Walt Wilburn said the rezoning votes are based solely on land use and the speculative nature of what that land use could become. I’ve previously tried to say that but did do poorly on the Bedford Now Chatter. I think once everyone has a firm understanding of that then this issue will go away peacefully.

Now some other random thoughts from the vote night:

- I can appreciate Ms. Sherri Meyer’s no votes on the parcels with the exception of the parcels due north and south of the dealership. These parcels would have little to no effect on the day-to-day lives of the residents of Indian Acres of they were rezoned (which they were). It creates the thought in my mind that all of these no votes were simply no votes for political posturing. If memory serves me right Mr. Jim Goebel voted no on all of the parcels with the exception of the two due north and south of the dealership. Please correct me if I am wrong.

- Where were all the people who supported rezoning all six parcels? Was it really only Mr. Stock?!?

- If I heard the words Northtowne Mall one more time I think I was going to throw up. Yes, there were crime problems over there as that area is notorious for issues with crime because its located in a hot bed for it! Sure, our township is only a short drive from there but don’t you think if all the miscreants were going to come here and cause trouble they already have?

- The very public excoriation of Mr. Paul Francis by Bedford Watch leader Doug (unknown last name) and Mr. Dennis Steinman were uncalled for. Mr. Francis has no legal conflict of interest in this case and there was no need to recuse himself from the vote or abstain. He stands to receive no financial gain from the rezoning or eventual sale of this land. Nor does he have any fiduciary ties.

I am certain this is not the last of this issue. Bedford Watch will move their fight to another arena, Jon Whitman could likely take the township to court again over the denial of parcel number six, recall efforts, who knows?!?!

All I hope for is that Bedford Watch becomes who they say they are .. a group of citizens who are concerned for their own investment and their own property. There is nothing wrong with that … nothing at all. I can respect that just don’t represent yourself as a community watch dog when you’re only watching out for yourselves. Also, drop the fear mongering and deliver a proper, consistent, and legal message don’t play on speculative fears give me a real reason for concern.
Reports from those physically present at the meeting (I viewed on TV) was that Mr. Steinman showed up more than halfway through the meeting, paced around until public commentary time, made his statement and then left. Mr. Steinman had to be reminded to speak towards the Supervisor repeatedly and was waving his finger around and making a mockery of the system he was a part of for 28 years. He knows better than to act like that at a public meeting.

Reports also say that when Mr. Francis made his apology to Doug from Bedford Watch that Doug was seen rolling his eyes.

I suppose I should bump my blog on civility back to the top of this page?

Now that George Welling has stated that he is satisfied that the election was run properly and that he will not challenge the election results I want to take a moment to officially congratulate all of our winners.

Supervisor: Walt Wilburn
Treasurer: Sherri Meyer
Clerk: Bob Schockman
Trustees: Gail Hauser-Hurley, Larry O’Dell, James Goebel, and Paul Francis

I hope that in this time of economic turmoil that we face nationally, in the state, and within our own township that each and every one of our elected officials will cast aside any differences in the name of unity and togetherness; this is precisely what we require from our officials as we face daunting financial decisions in an uncertain economy.

To our seven elected office holders please note that we will all be watching you very closely to see how you guide our township and we will be proactive. We will raise our voices at concerns and rejoice together in triumph. All of us, including yourselves, only hope for the best in this township. Please keep that in mind when making your decisions and casting your votes.

Thanks and congratulations.

General Election results are in for the township and a quick congratulations to all of the winners from yesterday’s election. Also, a quick thanks to all of those who ran for office - your dedication and love for this township is immensely appreciated.

Obviously there were no surprises in the race for Supervisor and Treasurer as those seats were uncontested. Walt Wilburn (Supervisor) and Sherri Meyer (Treasurer) will serve another four years for our township.

In what I won’t call an upset but perhaps a surprise Clerk Bob Schockman held onto his post for another four years. Mr. Schockman held off George Welling who ran a tough and spirited campaign for the Clerk’s office. Mr. Schockman won 9 of 14 precints but the clear advantage came in absentee ballots (I am guessing that is what the AV stands for on the pdf sheet) where Schockman picked up 525 votes over Welling; considering the total margin was 818 this was huge. Write in candidate Dennis Steinman reportedly garnered 15 votes.

In the race for Trustee I would say there were some surprises, serious surprises. Former County Commissioner Gail Hauser-Hurley ran away with the vote total and will serve her first term on the board as will former Bedford Public Schools Superintendent James Goebel (the big shocker). Both Larry O’Dell and Paul Francis will be holdovers from the previous board.

The surprise in the trustee race, to me, is the elimination of Rick Steiner from the board, and the selection of Goebel and not Tom Covrett who is the chairman of the Planning Commission. I do think that Mr. Covrett perhaps lost some votes over his handling of the PC meeting on the Whitman property rezoning. I had assumed that Mr. Goebel would struggle due to the notion that he did not effectively lead our schools. Maybe I am the only one surprised, maybe not.

Finally, for the first time in 28 years of township board will not feature a familiar face in Dennis Steinman. I hope that, regardless of how you may feel, that we will all take the opportunity when we have it to thank Mr. Steinman for the years and countless hours he has given to this community. Not only has Mr. Steinman given back to this community he has raised his family to do the same; Tim has given generously of his time and I know was recently involved in landscaping at the Pocket Part and Doug is a volunteer fireman at the Lambertville station. Allow me to be the first to publicly thank Mr. Steinman and his family for all they have done and I am sure will continue to do for our township, thank you.

What does everyone else think? Surprised, disappointed? Share your thoughts, thanks!

It has been roughly a week since the Primary election has passed and I just got around to printing off the unofficial results (I hate unofficial … I mean aren’t we all 99.9% sure the winners int he unofficial tally will still be the winner in the official tally, erg, I digress).

The biggest shocker was George Welling thumping Dennis Steinman in the Republican race for Clerk. We’ve all heard that the percentage tally was somewhere around 62% to 38% and a total of 450 votes. What came as more of a surprise is that Mr. Steinman only carried one precint, the 12th precint (which is where he resides and only by 6 votes). I think in my earlier post, An Open Letter to Dennis Steinman, I made my thoughts on the matter clear enough; these are thoughts I am sure are shared by more than a majority of Township residents.

Some other thoughts on the Republican side of the Primary:

• Walt Wilburn ran unopposed for Supervisor and will do so again in November. I am largely okay with this as it seems to me that Mr. Wilburn has done an excellent job leading this Township; especially through the Steinman-Schockman debacle (of which has been determined to be a politically motivated attempted Crucifixion of Mr. Schockman). While the orange barrels have been quite annoying the improved roads are something I surely appreciate.
• Sherri Meyer also ran unopposed for Treasurer and like Mr. Wilburn will also run unopposed in November. This I am not largely okay with. Ms. Meyer decided to join the fray in the Steinman-Schockman debacle on the side of Steinman and further joined in on the finger-pointing and partisan political blaming of one individual for all the problems going on in Bedford. Furthermore, Ms. Meyer, sat on information that was used in Mr. Steinman’s allegations for over 3 years before it was ever made public. If this doesn’t scream of politics I don’t know. While I appreciate Ms. Meyer’s years of service to this Township and everything she has done for us I feel like it is time for her to go; it’s unfortunate that this won’t be the year.
• For the four spots up for the General Election in November for Trustee I don’t think there were any surprises in who moved on. In order of vote totals moving on to the November ballot are: Paul Francis, Rick Steiner, Nancy Tienvieri (former Township Clerk), and Tom Covrett. Arnold Jennings, a former Trustee himself, and political newcomer Aaron Wiens were left on the outside looking in.
• At this moment in time I am supporting Paul Francis and Rick Steiner but am keeping a very close eye on Tom Covrett and what he says he will have to offer. I could see, if Mr. Covrett makes a compelling argument for his inclusion on the board, Mr. Steiner falling off my list and being replaced with Mr. Covrett.
• I don’t think Aaron Weins has anything to hang his head about. A complete political newcomer whose ties to one of the Township’s least popular residents (see: Walmart, Whitman Ford land sale) probably hurt his stock in this election. Aaron found himself running against five individuals who gave serious name recognition in this Township and at age 26 he has a lot to look forward to.

On the Democrat side of the Primary there is far less to talk about. The Democrats offered no candidate for Supervisor or Treasurer (a big mistake), incumbent Clerk, Robert Schockman, ran unopposed for his third consecutive term (he’ll face off with George Welling in November), and with four sports available to make the ballot in November for Trustee only three individuals chose to run. My thoughts on the Democratic Primary:

• Robert Schockman garnered a total of 1,528 votes and impressive figure for a couple of reasons - One, there were several individuals who chose to vote in the Republican primary to help George Welling knock off Dennis Steinman in their race for Clerk. Two, with nobody running against Mr. Schockman undoubtedly several individuals placed no vote at all.
• A quick note on one of the aforementioned points. There was no organized movement by the Schockman campaign to convince their voters to switch to the Republican Primary and vote for George Welling. I can say this for one major reason … I work on the campaign (as a writer and volunteer) and this has never once been discussed. It was, however, discussed by many Schockman supporters not associated with the campaign. A very strong testament to the feelings towards Mr. Steinman’s political assault on Mr. Schokman.
• For Trustee each of the candidates will move on to run in November and in order of their Primary results they are: Gail Hauser-Hurley, Larry O’Dell, and Jim Goebel. Goebel didn’t say much in the Primary race and my guess is that is largely due to the fact that he could conserve money for the General Election knowing he’d be moving on (I believe Ms. Hauser-Hurley and Mr. O’Dell also used this strategy but we know more about them as elected officials to date).
• At present I am supporting Ms. Hauser-Hurley and Mr. Goebel for Trustee. Mr. O’Dell also joined in the political fray and I am of the frame of mind to eliminate those individuals from our board as soon as we can and that is November.

Ok, to recap my present endorsements (which are open to change as new information comes out from Trustee candidates … my other endorsements are set):

For Township Supervisor: Walt Wilburn

For Township Treasurer: any available write-in candidate

For Township Clerk: Robert Schockman

For Township Trustee: Paul Francis, Rick Steiner, Gail Hauser-Hurley, James Goebel (Tom Covrett is on the cusp of replacing Rick Steiner should he have some great ideas and an excellent vision).

So that pretty much sums up my thoughts on things as of this moment … care to share your thoughts Bedford?