Monday, March 06, 2000
Mega-mall project ignites opposition
BY CINDI ANDREWS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
TURTLECREEK TWP. — Residents in the western half of the township who derailed plans for a Go Kart track a decade ago are marshaling forces again, this time for a bigger target.
They want to head off a planned “mega-mall” in Monroe.
“We're not against progress, but a mall is not progress,” said longtime Turtlecreek resident Jean Butts. “Except for the people who build it.”
It's just one of several development issues she and her neighbors are keeping a wary eye on as Mason, Monroe and Lebanon continue to balloon all around the largest township in Warren County.
Also in residents' sights: the possibility of a new Interstate 75 interchange — the mall proposal depends on it — and revived county discussions about building a new connector between I-75 and I-71.
Turtlecreek still comprises 70 square miles that hold more than 10,000 residents. Virtually split in two by Lebanon, it's the western half, bordering Interstate 75, that has most struggled against encroaching development.
The housing boom that's showing no signs of slowing elsewhere in Warren and Butler counties so far has bypassed this landscape of gentle hills and fields as flat as a new dollar bill.
And that's by design; the township has limited development by running few waterlines and no sewer lines, said David Rawnsley, a self-described “newcomer” who has lived in the township for 18 years.
But the lack of utilities hasn't been enough to keep out the hugely successful Traders World and two state prisons.
“We're not anti-development folks,” Mr. Rawnsley said. “But we've been a bit of a dumping ground over here.”
The mall
The Residents Association of West Central Warren County — the group first formed to fight the go-karts — has maintained a low profile since talk of building a “mega-mall” along I-75 surfaced in October. (Plans for a 340-store shopping mecca have since been scaled back, with 200 stores now projected.)
But if developers have taken residents' silence for acquiescence, they're about to get a wake-up call. The group, with a membership of 75 families, has been busy — preparing its arguments, planning a letter-writing campaign and lining up the support of the Alliance for Responsible Growth, a regional umbrella group that includes the Sierra Club.
The alliance and the League of Women Voters are co-sponsoring a forum on the proposed mall at 7 p.m. March 15 at the Union Hall in Monroe.
“This is the only green space left between Dayton and Cincinnati,” said Bob Buffenbarger, a board member of the residents association. “Sooner or later they're going to need some farm land. ... God blessed this area with a real good growing season and good topsoil, and we (might) plow it under and put a mall on top of it.”
Actually, it's not so much the proposed mall that has residents' backs up as the new I-75 interchange, and outlying stores, fast-food restaurants, gas stations and other businesses that would accompany it, said Mr. Rawnsley, president of the residents group.
And it's likely to be built at least partly over the aquifer that supplies water to Mason, Monroe and some rural areas of Warren County. Aquifers, the group says, are vulnerable to pollution the new growth would bring.
“We're talking about jeopardizing the water supply so somebody can buy a pair of jeans,” Mrs. Butts said.
Water is a hot-button issue in the township, where some residents' wells went dry during last summer's drought.
The residents association hopes to stop the mall and its retail offspring by blocking the interchange. That's where the letter-writing campaign comes in, with the Ohio Department of Transportation as its target. The group says a strong show of opposition could cause ODOT to kill the planned exit just south of the busy Ohio 63 interchange.
The connector
The other big talker in western Turtlecreek is the county's revived interest in building a road from I-71 to I-75.
It's a possibility first discussed years ago, when Butler County was planning a highway from Hamilton to I-75 — the new U.S. 129. However, the Warren segment didn't have enough support.
Now, the proposed Monroe mall and increasing truck traffic on Ohio 63 have county officials taking another look.
This is a more ticklish topic for the residents group, partly because the road would almost certainly go through Turtlecreek somewhere, but different routes would take it closer to different homes.
Also, some in the group are resigned to the connector, while others don't see the necessity for another road connecting the interstates just a few miles north of I-275.
“They don't need to rush more traffic from one "parking lot' to another,” Mr. Buffenbarger said.
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