Columbus Dispatch - October 8, 1998
Township Asks U.S. High Court to Force Merger Count
Granville Township officials say the impounding of ballots in a 1996 merger case violated residents' rights
By Mike Lafferty

Granville Township has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and order that ballots involving a controversial merger battle between Granville and neighboring Newark be counted.

The Licking County township filed a 30-page argument with the Supreme Court Tuesday, arguing that residents' right to vote on the issue was taken away when the Ohio Supreme Court ordered ballots cast in a November 1996 election be impounded.

The court eventually sided with landowner Gebard Keny, a Columbus businessman, and ordered a tract of developable land in Granville Township annexed into Newark.

The residents of the village and the township - concerned that Newark would annex large portions of the township - launched a ballot drive to merge the township and the village.

"The right to vote is the paramount right in our Constitution. It transcends almost every other right in our Constitution and is the foundation of democratic process," Granville Township Trustee James Havens said.

While Havens, an attorney, acknowledged that the annexation matter is itself not a national issue, the right to vote is.

Duke Thomas, attorney for Keny, said there is no national issue at stake.

"This is a side-door effort to prevent merger. This is a total state law matter," Thomas said.

The issue involves a 281-acre tract Keny wants annexed into Newark. While the land would be in the city, the homes built by developer M/I Schottenstein Homes would remain in the Granville village school district.

School officials say the construction of several hundred homes would flood the already crowded system and require higher taxes to pay for the influx.

The issue has been in the courts almost constantly since Licking County commissioners denied the annexation request in 1996.

The effort to merge the township and village would have brought the Keny property into the village and under more restrictive zoning rules.

Keny fought that attempt and, in May 1998, the Ohio Supreme Court agreed that the effect of an annexation on a school system cannot be used to decide an annexation case. However, the court also impounded the merger ballots, a move that led to the appeal.

The dispute has left bitter opinions on both sides with developers being characterized as greedy and with Granville residents being described as elitist.

"They have a private school system, and they want to maintain it," Thomas said, adding, "They have done everything possible to maintain this private school system in the public schools. They like what they got and don't want anyone from the outside moving in who can afford only a $160,000 house."

But Havens disagrees.

"Let them bark this elitist line," Havens said. "Granville village and township and community are the result of very patient, thoughtful and caring people who have worked together to build a school system for low, middle and upper income families.

"There's a good cross-section of those families in our communities. Developers seek to exploit those communities without paying for the impact that they create for a place like Granville.

"We are only asking that those who use our services and profit from our community be accountable and responsible."