By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WEST CHESTER TWP. - Trustees will hold an emergency meeting today to begin the process of placing a park and recreation levy on the fall ballot.

The move comes after Trustee Jose Alvarez said last week that he would vote against placing the 1.95-mill continuing levy on the November ballot.

He said he doesn't think a levy is necessary now, especially with Lakota Local Schools coming to voters in the spring with a new school construction and operation levy.

But his stance has riled the other trustees, Catherine Stoker and Dave Tacosik, who say Alvarez should at least vote to let West Chester residents decide whether they would support a levy.

If Alvarez doesn't support putting the levy to voters, the measure, which was going to be voted on at the trustees' Tuesday meeting under emergency resolution, would have failed because it needs a unanimous vote.

So now, beginning with today's special meeting, the trustees will hold two full readings of the levy resolution, which just require a standard majority vote to pass.

West Chester leaders must have the issue decided to meet the Aug. 21 deadline to place the issue on the ballot.

The levy would generate $2.5 million to $3 million a year toward $80 million in park improvements. It would cost the owner of a $150,000 home about $90 a year.

"This is a very important issue, and the taxpayers have a right to have a final say on it, not Jose," Stoker said. "We are not voting to raise the tax. We are voting to allow the taxpayers to decide whether or not that park levy goes through."

Preserving green space helps control development, she said. When the township purchased 150 acres along Union Centre Boulevard, now Beckett Park, it halted plans for more than 900 apartments or condominiums on that parcel, she pointed out.

"Had the land been developed as originally planned, that would have produced enough children to fill one, possibly two, brand new elementary schools, which cost $5 million apiece to build and millions more to operate it into the distant future," Stoker said.

A trustee-appointed citizen park committee has recommended the levy, contending most families would support it if certain amenities were added in a period of five years. Families are impatient for more ball and soccer fields, skateboard parks, and hiking and biking trails.

"If the people vote no, we'll live with that," Tacosik said. "But we're going to miss at least two years if we don't take our best shot this November."

But Alvarez maintains that many people, including him, are tired of paying ever-rising taxes, especially when West Chester's parks department has done a good job getting by on grants and private donations to fund the park system.

"I will vote against the levy," he reiterated this week. "Enough taxes. I am a big supporter of the parks. I don't see this as the right plan at the right time."

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com