Harlem Township residents continue fight against Westerville merge
HARLEM TOWNSHIP, Ohio (WCMH) - It's been one week since Harlem Township residents found out they could soon be residents of Westerville. The memo about a potential merger went out before a town hall-style meeting last Thursday. A packed crowd showed up at Harlem Road Church then, and they did again Wednesday night.
Township trustees started the process two years ago when they implemented a Strategic Planning Committee to advise the trustees. They advised to seek a merger with a nearby municipality in order to keep Harlem Township intact.
The trustees said they took a few demands they call "non-negotiables" to some surrounding cities and decided Westerville would be the best fit. Those non-negotiables aren't on paper anywhere yet, but trustees said it includes current zoning so the township isn't overrun with housing, and ordinances that allow for hunting, shooting guns on property, riding ATV's in roadways, and a few other “way of life” items.
Peggy Kuntzman doesn't want to see change. But she understands that with the Intel Campus coming to Licking County, there won't be much of a choice.
"We like it the way it is,” she said. “Maybe I'm old and that's what we like is things just the way they are. And they won't be, we know that. But we really don't want it to be Westerville. If we wanted it to be Westerville, we would've bought a house in Westerville 32 years ago.”
While the exact details of a merger would have to be worked out later, many residents questioned the strategic planning committee about utilities, taxes, and zoning. The township already has a plan in place to extend sewer services throughout the township by 2026. If Westerville took over, it would be in charge of other utilities as well. However, the township would remain in Big Walnut School District.
"I want to keep the same utilities that I have,” Kuntzman said. “I want my Delaware County deputies to be the guys that take care when I call 9-1-1. I want my Harlem Township EMS to be the one to take care of a medical emergency because they are part of the community.”
Many others wondered what they gain from a merger. Michael Jones lives in Harlem Township and runs a business in Westerville. He's not excited about the potential of Westerville running his township.
"People in the township have to tell Mike DeWine, who brought this on us two or three years ago without talking to anybody in the township, if you can close the state down for COVID, you need to come out here to our township, and Johnstown, and Sunbury, and put a picture frame around our townships," he said. Jones wants to protect the township from outside annexation and from a merger and believes Gov. DeWine is the only man who can do that.
Jones said the township sent out a survey to all residents several years ago. He focused on one question.
"How many of you want growth? Ninety-seven percent said no. That's 97 percent. So we need the elected officials to listen to us or we're going to have to defund them," he said.
He doesn't think a merger with Westerville will protect the township from outside development any better than if Columbus or New Albany took over.
"That's why DeWine's got to step up,” Jones said. “We got Les Wexner out there letting everybody else come in. AEP's throwing these big tower poles in our front yards. Put one in Les's backyard see how he likes it. Run a gas line through his backyard, see how he likes it.”
To the residents of Harlem Township, it's clear they are passionate about protecting their way of life. They value community, autonomy, and small-town rural values. That could all be in danger with the influx of development from Intel.
"It could be that the merger with Westerville is the lesser of all evils. Maybe nothing is ever going to stay the same, I get that. We can still hope for it," Kuntzman said.