By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Since 2000, township officials have pulled $60,000 to $70,000 each year from the general fund for flowers and trees along Union Centre Boulevard at Interstate 75.

Beautification is crucial to the business district's "unique appeal" and upscale value, township leaders say.

But now they say it's time for property owners to foot the bill, so an assessment district is being created for the township to charge them annually based on their acreage.

Townships are permitted under state law to form such districts. While some cities and villages have them, West Chester would be the first Ohio township to start one, Administrator Dave Gully said.

"We don't regret the cost of initially installing the landscaping and maintaining it to date because it's added a lot to the value of this area," Trustee Catherine Stoker said. "However, it's now time to pass the cost of maintaining it off to those property owners who are getting the most benefit from it."

Under a proposal unveiled this week called Union Centre Boulevard Landscape District, more than 60 parcels would be assessed for the landscaping costs. Those on property facing the road or interstate - the most lucrative sites - would pay a higher percentage.

The road district would stretch along Union Centre Boulevard west from Allen Road to West Chester Road and east to Cincinnati-Dayton Road, encompassing some 30 businesses, as well as farms and residential lots within a half-mile of Union Centre.

The township would hire two maintenance workers solely devoted to the district.

Some landowners, particularly those who own farmland now worth millions, have objected, complaining to trustees at their Tuesday meeting that the preliminary assessments aren't fair. Proposed fees range from $30,000 a year for one mall developer to $192 for a fast-food restaurant.

Even some businesses owners who helped to create the Union Centre Boulevard district by donating land for the interchange several years ago are upset.

"We feel we had some involvement in the success of this interchange," said Peter Mather of Queen City Speedway Inc., which owns the Queen City Softball Complex and other properties at Union Centre Boulevard and Cincinnati-Dayton Road. "I don't feel we derive very much benefit from this for our tenants or property owners. We feel we are being penalized for our good deeds in the past."

Senior citizen Wallace Schulze was more blunt, telling trustees the plan is ridiculous. The property taxes on his 11-acre home with a pond and pavilion off Allen Road adjacent Union Centre already are $5,586 a year, or $465 a month.

Now, his proposed assessment would be $1,567 a year. What's more, he is upset he is being asked to pay more than some businesses.

"I would pay 58 percent of what the Marriott Hotel would pay," he said. "I don't think that's right."

Herbert Baumann, who has owned a 30-acre farm off Allen Road since 1923, told trustees he could not pay his assessment because crops last year were "a complete failure."

"Nobody's helped us," Mr. Baumann said. "Now you come along and want to take every dime we have to plant some flowers?" he said.

After the protests, trustees postponed the issue until January.

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com.