By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

GROWTH MEETING

Commissioners will continue their series of growth management meetings Thursday when they talk with an expert from Hudson, Ohio. Developers plan to state their position during that meeting, which starts at 5 p.m. at county offices, 406 Justice Drive in Lebanon.

SPRINGDALE - After being blamed for traffic jams and crowded schools in high-growth areas, developers are going on the offensive against Warren County leaders who want to put the brakes on residential growth.

In a presentation to media at their offices on Monday, officials of the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati challenged the county's proposed moratorium and townships' minimum lot size changes. They criticized county officials for what they see as a lack of long-range planning. And they pointed to a statistical study they commissioned that says growth pays its own way.

"This is statistical information to say, 'Yes, growth works,'" said association President Tim Hensley of Hensley Homes. "No growth is not the solution. Smart growth is the solution."

The report projects that in four to five years, the revenue from residential construction will outweigh the costs of services. Home builders argue that the moratorium Warren County wants on building permits would actually end that revenue stream.

"That's really not a solution at all," Hensley said.

He says the current situation is not because of too many new homes, but instead because of "a lack of planning over 20 years." He argues that the same commissioners who are stepping up efforts now are the same ones who "have sat around and let it happen."

Commissioners have not received the report, but the most vocal of them, Mike Kilburn, was not surprised.

"Did you think a study that they did would say anything but that they're doing the best thing since sliced bread?" Kilburn said. "Growth just doesn't pay its way. I don't need to commission a study to know that."

"We run Warren County and we should have the right to decide what we want this county to look like," Kilburn said. "If the home builders don't like that, they need to go to Clinton County or somewhere else where (growth) hasn't hit."

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com