Sat, May 17 2008
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Published May 01, 2008 11:56 pm - Ballot measure, litigation could stall WM rezonings By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com Star Beacon GENEVA TOWNSHIP — Litigation and a ballot referendum may follow the possible rezoning of 230 acres of Waste Management-Geneva Landfill’s land, though Geneva Township Trustee Dick Pruden said a ballot issue will have to come from citizens.
The land, zoned residential, is under review to be rezoned as industrial under a special classification created for WM’s use and is at the center of a 75-year expansion plan for the landfill, which would bring eight phases of construction to Tuttle Road. Pruden said he understands that some people are upset about the expansion and rezoning, but the income generated through landfill fees has paid to pave 13 miles of dirt roads in the township. “Get a referendum if you don’t like (the rezoning). Go to the people if you don’t like it, and shut (the landfill) down,” he said in Wednesday’s public hearing. A referendum is a ballot question that takes a direct yes or no vote on a specific issue. A referendum begins when residents, or lawmakers, take out a ballot petition and gather the signatures of 8 percent of voters who cast ballots in the last governor’s race. The petition must be returned to the Ashtabula County Board of Elections 30 days before the legal passage of the issue in question, the Ashtabula County Board of Elections reports. City and village residents are not eligible to sign the petition nor vote on the referendum. Geneva Township fiscal officer Tony Long said referendums are a tool to measure the ideals of township residents, but warns that a successful referendum petition does not necessarily equal a successful ballot referendum. “People have to understand that yes, there are 10 or 12 people who live right near the landfill and they have a problem with the rezoning,” Long said. “But that still leaves more than 1,500 voters, the majority, who may not want their garbage bills to go up and may not agree that having the landfill in the township is such a bad thing.” Resident Caroline Riley said she leans toward litigation instead of a referendum if the trustees pass the zoning change May 14. A final public hearing on the issue will be held at 6:30 p.m. that day, just before the trustees’ meeting. “Referendums are a lot of work,” Riley said. “They take a lot of time and energy and effort, and I feel it should fall to our elected officials, the people we elect and pay to look out for our best interests, to do that work.” The four Geneva Township precincts total 2,125 registered voters, and 1,563 would be eligible to sign a petition for referendum, the board of elections confirmed. 
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