By Erica Solvig and Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON TWP. - When David and Charlotte Richardson moved their young family to this Warren County community more than 20 years ago, they were drawn to the open farmland and the wildlife that wandered up to the pond on their 11 acres.

But today, David Richardson is watching that rural atmosphere fade.

Hamilton Township resident Leah Davis with her son Zane, 3, in front of Little Miami High School. She, like many area residents, is worried about the effect the area's explosive growth will have on the schools, roads and infrastructure. (Glenn Hartong photo)

"I could sit out in the front yard and it would be 20 to 30 minutes before a car drove by," says the 59-year-old father of three "Now, you have to be careful crossing the road to get the mail. I play dodge 'em with the cars every day."

Such concerns are bringing a showdown on growth to this township, the current hottest spot in what has been Greater Cincinnati's fastest growing county for most of two decades and now ranks 52nd in the nation. Worries are increasing that the influx of residents has outpaced roadways, infrastructure and the already-overcrowded Little Miami School District, pushing Hamilton Township into the center of a battle to limit Warren development

The housing boom that swept neighboring Mason and Deerfield Township fueled Warren's growth, but the concerns are much stronger now than they were when those communities first started growing.

"We're going to create something that no one wants to look at if we keep building these homes," Commissioner Mike Kilburn said at a recent county meeting on growth.

So as developers propose more housing here - three new developments will be discussed this month - state, county and local officials, backed by concerned residents, are searching out ways to harness the growth in what's left of the picturesque farmlands and open spaces along the Little Miami River.

"It's kind of a cycle that each community goes through when they're lucky enough or cursed to have development," says Bob Craig, executive director of the Warren County Regional Planning Commission. "Lebanon's been through the process, Mason has been through it. Deerfield Township has gone back and forth through it and Clearcreek (in northern Warren) is going through it right now."

Booming township

Hamilton Township, the fastest growing of Warren's 11 townships, has seen zoning applications jump 645 percent since 1990. It's been at the center of the housing boom since 2000, when for the first time, more houses were built here than in Deerfield. Township estimates project the population will top 16,000 people this year, up from the 5,900 counted in the 1990 census.

Indian Lake Drive in the Landing at Willow Pond subdivision in Hamilton Township, is part of the area's explosive growth surge. (Glenn Hartong photo)

And there's more coming. The new houses translate into about 2.7 people per household, according to planners.

In response, a number of steps are being considered:

• The township's zoning commission has recommended increasing requirements so that new homes would have to be built on nearly half-acre lots for areas with sewers and on 2 acres for lots without sewer access. The Regional Planning Commission will discuss the issue later this month.

Clearcreek Township is proposing changing lot-size standards as well, and is holding a public meeting to finalize the plan this week.

• County commissioners are pushing for a moratorium prohibiting any more building and/or zoning permits from being issued. Township trustees have asked their attorney to look into the issue as well.

Warren County officials hope it will halt the building while they evaluate their long-term options. But in Alexandria, Ky., where the state has mandated a moratorium since 1996 because the sewer system couldn't handle any new hookups, a 130-home subdivision was still approved and another subdivision continues to build 15 to 20 homes a year.

"Growth has been moderate at best," Alexandria Mayor Dan McGinley said. "It hasn't been a total blackout, but it certainly has slowed down the economic development."

• State lawmakers are researching what "reasonable impact fees" would be, according to State Rep. Michelle Schneider, R-Madeira. Hamilton Township already has a $250 voluntary fee on new units to raise money for the schools, but there's talk of having a fee here for public services such as roadways and parks. County commissioners have suggested a fee as high as $10,000 per home.

• The county is discussing today how many more homes can tap into the sewer system. There is a concern that more homes are being approved than there is capacity for in the Hamilton Township-area treatment plant, according to sanitary engineer Richard Renneker.

• Home-ruled Hamilton Township is forming a committee of residents to look into more growth management options, including cluster zoning and increasing lot size minimums in other residential zoning districts. They've already gotten comments from a group of more than 70 concerned residents who want the development better managed and diversified with commercial and upscale homes.

Longtime Hamilton Township trustee Clyde Baston, who said he thinks the county is using the township as "a whipping boy," even suggested last week that the township look into creating its own building department.

"I'm definitely against a moratorium," Baston said. "We need the business to help offset the taxes for our people. If they come along and don't expand the sewer plan, how are we going to get any businesses? My worst fear is that it's going to shut us down."

Schools struggle to keep up

More residents equals more students for the already overcrowded Little Miami school system, which encompasses Hamilton Township and parts of surrounding Warren County communities. The 98-square-mile school district is one of the largest in Ohio and school officials are worried that booming enrollment projections, which have the district's 3,200 student population doubling in the next decade, will balloon further with so much land tempting even more residential development.

The once-rural Little Miami school system has maintained an "excellent" academic rating by the state. But student overflow has Little Miami elementary schools resorting to portable classrooms to accommodate new students now numbering almost 200 per year.

Little Miami Superintendent Dan Bennett says "growth is our No. 1 challenge. ... What I'm hearing from our community is a plea to slow growth and I see our community finally pulling together to ask our leaders for help."

School officials recently held a series of community meetings and told parents the 151,000-square-foot Little Miami High School, which opened in 2000, is already too small and in need of expansion. Moreover, the district needs a new elementary and middle school, and residents likely will see an estimated $37 million bond issue on the fall ballot to pay for the new buildings through increasing property taxes.

The adjacent Warren County school system of Kings, which also has some Hamilton Township students, also suffers from unprecedented growth and district officials there are considering seeking voter approval for more tax money to expand. .

"One of the reasons we moved out here was the small school district," says Leah Davis, a mother of two Little Miami students, and one youngster who will be entering the school system in a couple of years. "We liked the smaller class sizes and the individual attention compared to other, larger suburban districts like Mason or Lakota, where there are so many kids they are just numbers. ... They need to control the density of the growth and they need to increase the lot sizes for the new homes."

Experts: Plan better

But some of the management tools being considered in Hamilton Township, such as increasing lot sizes, have not proven effective in places such as Houston and Oklahoma City, according to David Jensen, a Denver-based community planner who recently lectured Cincinnati developers and planners.

"We use that as an example of sprawl running amuck," said Liz Brown, project coordinator for Smart Growth Coalition for Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. "Many cities and many counties across the nation are waking up to this sprawl hangover."

Developers have argued against changes like larger lot sizes because they say they use up land faster. Instead, they say what is needed is better planning.

"Most people have problems with the problems from poorly planned growth," said Dan Hendricks, director of governmental affairs for the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati. "They're not against growth, they're against overcrowded schools. They're not against growth, they're against congested highways. It's the symptoms of poor planning that causes them pain."

County officials and supportive residents here say they just need time to get planning tools in order, but the constant residential development has not given them a break.

"We want an opportunity to put everything on hold and re-assess our zoning," says Beverley Massey, a 46-year-old Hamilton Township mother who favors a moratorium. "You are not going to please everyone, but let's at least plan in the best way, because once the land's gone, its gone."

More homes on the way

Warren County Regional Planning Commission will discuss May 27 three separate housing developments that would bring another 860 homes to Hamilton Township. The commission's executive director, Bob Craig, says part of the reason for the high number is because developers want to get plans approved before the township enacts the proposed lot size increases. The same push happened last month after Clearcreek Township started discussing lot sizes.

Growth meeting

Warren County commissioners will host a meeting to discuss growth and development today at 1 p.m. at the county offices, 406 Justice Drive in Lebanon.

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Perry Schaible contributed to this report.

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com and mclark@enquirer.com