Press release - petition drive

PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Amy R. Feran
(440) 446-1327 ar-fer@hotmail.com

Highland Heights group launches drive to protect park

Highland Heights, Ohio. March 25, 2008—Love Our Green Space (LOGS) announced today the launch of a petition drive to place a proposed amendment to the Highland Heights City Charter on the November 2008 ballot.

The proposed amendment would ban residential, commercial and industrial development in city-owned parks and would prohibit commercial activities such drilling, mining and logging on any parkland.

The full text of the proposed charter amendment reads as follows:

City parks in Highland Heights are a valued natural resource that significantly contribute to, and enhance, the quality of life in our city.

No part of the Highland Heights Community Park, any city-owned neighborhood park, or city-owned land that is adjacent and contiguous to such parks (together known as "parkland") shall be sold, exchanged, or leased without prior voter approval.

Residential, commercial, and industrial development of the parkland and/or commercial exploitation of the parkland’s natural resources, including gas or oil wells, logging, and mining, shall be strictly prohibited.

Whenever there is a conflict or difference between this Charter provision and any other provision of the City Charter or any Highland Heights ordinance, this provision shall prevail.

LOGS was formed in December 2007, after residents learned that Bass Energy of Akron, Ohio had obtained state permits and planned to drill two gas wells in Highland Heights Community Park. Of particular concern to LOGS members was city leaders’ failure to publicly discuss the issue with residents, the secrecy surrounding the lease, including the lack of a competitive bidding process, the fact that city leaders ignored local ordinances, one of which prohibits gas wells from being placed in the park, and the fact that the well sites, which the city’s engineer apparently approved, placed one gas well in a densely forested area that was inaccessible to emergency services and placed a second well in an area encompassing both designated wetlands and a constitutionally-protected Ohio Department of Natural Resources nature reserve area.

LOGS believes that the charter amendment, if adopted, will achieve three purposes. It will promote transparency in the city government, guarantee public involvement in decision-making about the parks, and provide additional, explicit protection to the city parks and parkland.

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For further information: Please contact Amy R. Feran (440 446-1327) or Frank Skala (440 473-3484)