We made a very important purchase recently for our zoning department - we bought tape measures. Yes, simple tape measures, items that are used to measure distance and height and width and depth. With these tools we will now be able to operate a Zoning Compliance Office as opposed to what we have been operating, a zoning application office.
Why didn't we have tape measures in a department that is supposed to be in charge of making sure that those who are building in Sylvania Township are doing so within the guidelines of our Zoning Resolution? I have no idea, other than to say that it has taken me and the other trustees as well as our administrator this long to figure out that our Zoning Office was doing little more than taking applications and approving them, with little or no follow up.
For at least 4 years, township trustee elections have partially focused on the issue of development and growth in our community. But it didn't matter what we ran on, what we said, what we told constituents or how we voted on zoning issues, if the reality was that the zoning department was not fairly, accurately, and timely enforcing the guidelines of our Zoning Resolution.
We all made the assumption that the Zoning Department was enforcing site plan requirements as approved by the Trustees and Zoning Commission, that site visits were made to ensure sign limits and landscaping requirements were being adhered to, that reasonable enforcement was being instituted for the betterment of the community as a whole. That was a wrong assumption, and it is now being corrected.
I look forward to working with Carol and Pam to strengthen our zoning department so that it truly serves the interests of our entire community including the residents, not just the interests of developers and builders.
