County Commissioners delay action on Oberlin annexation of Pittsfield Twp. land

ELYRIA — The Lorain County Board of Commissioners decided to hold off voting on approval for Oberlin to annex a portion of land it already owns in Pittsfield Township. The decision came after several Pittsfield residents and one township trustee voiced their concerns about the proposal and requested it be postponed on Friday. According to Oberlin Law Director Jon Clark and Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dan Petticord, the board's legal counsel, state law is clear that because the land sought for annexation is already owned by Oberlin and is contiguous — connected — to the city, the commissioners are legally required to approve the annexation within 30 days receiving the proposal. "The reality is that the law in the state of Ohio favors incorporated areas at the expense of unincorporated areas," Petticord said. "We struggle with this, this Board struggles with this, for the 12 years I've been here. But the law is brutal … and it does not give you (the Board of Commissioners) a lot of opportunities for options here." Pittsfield Township trustee Andrew Lake, who was recently appointed to the post, said that the township administration and residents needed time to understand Oberlin's plan and how it would impact their community. He requested a 90-day postponement of the vote. Lake said the postponement was warranted because he and Mark Deidrick were both appointed to serve as trustees during the annexation application process. "By virtue of the situation, it created a unique circumstance where Pittsfield effectively had no representation in some of those proceedings," Lake said. The third trustee, Mark McConnell did not participate in discussions related to the annexation because he has a contract to farm the land. But, after Pittsfield residents spoke at the commissioners' meeting on Friday morning and requested the vote be pushed back, commissioners President Jeff Riddell asked Clark if he would consider delaying the reading. "Do you have the ability to consider an extension, as we've heard, to defer past today to allow time of some agreeable time for the Township Trustees to sit down and go over the situation so they can address the concerns of their constituents?" Riddell said. Clark initially asked the commissioners to proceed with the annexation, as it was just the second of three annexations that would be needed for Oberlin to annex the entire 212 acres it acquired in Pittsfield Township. He also pointed out that Oberlin had already agreed to delay the vote on the annexation for over a month after two Pittsfield Township Trustees resigned. After some discussion, Clark said that he would not take issue with the vote on the annexation being delayed until the next board meeting, which is on Tuesday, Nov. 19. "I am not agreeable to a long extension," Clark said. "If you want to continue it to the next meeting, I would be agreeable to that, if that helps in any way." Commissioner Dave Moore, who won reelection earlier this week, said that if the vote were held on Friday he would vote no, despite approval of the resolution being required by law. "All I can say is stalling is better than me voting no today, that's all I'm gonna tell you," Moore said. "I'm just saying, I hear they (Pittsfield Township trustees and residents) need some time, I'm hearing you're gonna go in a week, they want 90 days, I don't like what I'm hearing, so I'm not happy with what I have to do today." Petticord recommended that rather than voting to table or continue the proposal to the next meeting, the board should simply leave it alone and pick it up at the Nov. 19 meeting. "That (annexation) statute has a 30-day time line, it appears to me to be a mandatory 30-day timel ine ... here's the practice of law part, it has a mandatory 30-day time line, if (Clark) is saying that he won't object, I don't know who comes in and challenges this Board not operating within the mandatory 30-day timeline. But, it's not clear to me that you have that authority." Clark agreed to delaying the vote on the annexation until Nov. 19. In 2022, Oberlin bought the vacant farmland south of U.S. 20 and west of state Route 5 in Pittsfield for $2.4 million from Eric and Lori McConnell. The 142 acres on the annexation petition is a portion of that. Clark said that the city was willing to work with the township and discuss the possibility of bringing the property under an existing annexation agreement, which could see Pittsfield Township receive a portion of the benefit from the development. Along with Lake, two more residents of Pittsfield Township spoke before the Board on Friday, and both of them made it clear they had concerns about the proposal. Daniel Clark, a former president of the Pittsfield Township Historical Society, said that he felt the annexation would harm the township's rural character. "Oberlin is pushing forward with plans to industrialize and commercialize our peaceful rural community, plans they are describing as agreeable without once sitting down with their neighbors to discuss their intent," Clark said. "This feels in many ways like an invasion." Fellow resident Joyce Snyder shared a similar fear, saying that Oberlin had already annexed and developed other land nearby. "They are now requesting further annexation with no clear communication on their intentions," Snyder said. "Rumors suggest that they plan to transform this land into an industrial park, or other developments that would forever alter the peaceful nature of our community." Lake said that in talking with residents, he found that most of them were opposed to the proposal, but only, he said, because they did not know what was happening. "The primary request is time to wrap our brains about what is going on," Lake said. "We want our voices heard, we want proper representation in the process and we want our community to be protected." Lake and Clark both said they had been in communication already, and Clark said Oberlin was more than willing to bring Pittsfield Township residents into the conversation. "The city is certainly cognizant of the concerns of the Township, we have had some dialogue previously," Clark said. "The addition of Mr. Lake to the Board, that has opened the door — I think — to much more constructive dialogue or opportunities for dialogue." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.