7274-97 Farmland Preservation Task Force

Home Browse Search

RESOLUTION NO. 7274-97 BY: Bo$cia, Corrigan, Flannery, George, Roth, Seelie, Smith A RESOLUTION urging Governor George V. Voinovich and the Ohio General Assembly to follow through with and implement the findings and recommendations of the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force, with particular emphasis on urban revitalization. WHEREAS, the City of Lakewood has urged Governor Voinovich and other State officials and legislators, through prior resolutions, to take measures to curb urban sprawl, preserve land for continued agricultural development, and address the land use and economic needs of rural, suburban and urban areas within Ohio; and WHEREAS, Governor George V. Voinovich established the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Fome to meet such objectives; and WHEREAS, in June, 1997, the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force published its Findings and Recommendations Report, as submitted to Governor Voinovich; and WHEREAS, the City of Lakewood commends the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force (i) for its recognition that ~preservation of a healthy agricultural economy and urban revitalization are two (2) sides of the same coin;" (ii) for including in its report recommendations which are consistent with those proposed by public officials and citizens representing established core communities in the Cleveland Area and in other areas of the State; (iii) for recognizing the · tremendous costs associated with haphazard ex-urban development and abandonment of older communities; and (iv) for reeogxfizing that, even though Ohio's problems with urban sprawl are particularly acute, other states have taken the lead in formulating appropriate legislative responses; and WHEREAS, the City of Lakewood urges the Ohio General Assembly to seriously consider the Findings and Recommendations Report of the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force and to take all appropriate steps necessary to effectively implement those Findings and Recommendations in order to preserve Ohio's agricultural land, while also supporting the beneficial and necessary urban growth needed to stimulate Ohio's economy; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY TIlE CITY OF LAKEWOOD, STATE OF OH/O: Section 1. That the City of Lakewood does hereby request that the Ohio Assembly implement the report submitted by the Ohio Farmland Preservation Task Force and that such implementation contain the following essential elements: Specific legislative policy statements, relating to each major State of Ohio administrative agency, directing actions which preserve farmland and revitalize urban areas. With respect to agencies, such as the Ohio Departmem of Transportation, which expend dollars that influence economic development patterns, the legislation should prohibit such expenditures (except for emergencies) outside of areas determined regionally to be "priority funding areas." Authority for public acquisition of "development rights" for prime farmland should be funded at a level consistent with the scope of the problems identified by the Task Force and should be combined with corresponding levels of funding for urban