By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Warren County politicos have long had the job of balancing residential growth with commercial development and building community image.

Now, those elected Tuesday are looking at ways they can build on what's been done and possibly make some changes.

In Deerfield Township, newly elected Trustee Lee Speidel says the voters' decision to choose him over Bill Morand, who held the office for eight years, was a sign that they were tired of commercial development being a priority.

"My election signals an enormous desire for change because of growth and the consequences of growth," said Speidel, who is on the township zoning commission. "It is traffic, it is the aesthetics, it is the lack of services - all of which have stemmed from growth and artificially stimulated growth."

But that might not mean a complete switch away from the trends the township has seen in the past.

"There's still three votes," said Morand, referring to the other two trustees. "And they're all independent thinkers."

Commercial development might not be a major issue any longer, according to Trustee Barbara Wilkens Reed, because most of the land is already taken.

Two major developments are under construction along Mason-Montgomery Road. A Wal-Mart also is proposed for the area.

"Commercial development has a subordinate role in the community," Speidel said. "It is there to assist residents and not for residents to feed off of it."

And in every vote, there are a variety of community views that need to be considered, not just one faction, Reed said.

"Randy (Kuvin) and I won trustee seats two years ago too, and I'm guessing they're not the same people who elected Lee Speidel," she said.

Signs of change

In the two City Council elections since Lebanon's buyout controversy - Tuesday's and November 2001 - voters elected five newcomers and only two incumbents to the seven open council seats.

This time around, it was newcomers Matthew Rodriguez andJeffrey Aylor and incumbent Ben Cole.

"Voters chose those people based on their work ethic," Rodriguez said. "There was a lot of positive campaigning, and they are the ones who ultimately wanted it the most."

And now this council has the early retirement buyout scandal behind it, as the last of the pending legal actions was resolved earlier this year.

"Things have truly changed," Mayor Amy Brewer said. "It's not a sense of controversy but a sense of tackling issues that are tough.

"I think (the newly elected) will add to the momentum from the past council and allow the city to continue to move forward in a positive way."

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com