A group of Athens residents has successfully garnered a place for their anti-construction issue on the November ballots.
If Athens voters support the issue, an 18-month moratorium against construction in the city would be enacted.
Although the group's intentions for this moratorium are good, a halt on potential development would not prove beneficial to the city.
The moratorium would put an 18-month freeze on permits issued for construction in the city. There are exceptions, such as student housing constructed on Ohio University's campus and repair to unsafe structures.
A construction ban of 18 months might not seem long enough to disrupt development in Athens. In reality, though, it could cause developers who are interested in the town to lose that interest. Many developers are not willing to build in an area weighed down with construction rules, and the city of Athens could end up turning away very good business. And Athens, as well as local residents, might take a long time to recover from it.
Expanding current businesses and developing new ones also provides residents with more high-paying jobs. Athens is a college town, and one of its main employers is OU. The potential that a new company with 100 new long-term, quality jobs adds to the area is immeasurable.
There is one positive component to this moratorium, however, and that is the intention behind it. Many of the 607 Athens residents who signed a petition to get the item on the ballot are concerned with the lack of planning on the part of city officials -in particular, the comprehensive plan. Officials have been working on a new comprehensive plan, a long-term outlook for the city, since early 2002. These concerned residents are right in wanting a resolution to the drawn-out project. How is the city supposed to plan development when their overall plan is incomplete? City officials should take this moratorium as a wake-up call that the plan needs to be finalized sooner rather than later.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of the editorial board. Send comments to posteditorial@ohiou.edu.
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