NEW RICHMOND, OH – Angry residents are pushing to dissolve this 112-year-old Ohio River village. The source of their rage? Roundabouts.
Members of the New Richmond Village Dissolution Initiative say the plan to build four roundabouts on U.S. 52, the village’s major road, was a tipping point, emphasizing what they claim is the government’s lack of transparency and refusal to listen.
New Richmond officials say calls to eliminate the village 20 miles east of Cincinnati are overblown and dangerous. Getting rid of New Richmond, home to around 2,800 residents, would also have devastating impacts on emergency services, they say.
When a village dissolves, it means the municipality and its government and services no longer exist. In this case that would mean Ohio Township in Clermont County would absorb New Richmond.
Impact on services could be ‘difference between life and death’
New Richmond Fire Chief Tim Feldkamp said if residents vote to dissolve the village all fire, police and emergency medical services would shut down the next day.
New Richmond would then have to rely on the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office, which is based in Batavia, for all police service. Ohio Township, which contracts with Pierce Township for its current fire station, would become responsible for all fire and EMS. Response times could increase by 7 to 10 minutes, Feldkamp said.
“It’s just when you’re that far away, that’s the difference between life and death and things burning to the ground,” Feldkamp said.
If Clermont County or Ohio Township fill New Richmond’s gap in emergency services, Feldkamp said residents might face more taxes too. Residents could also see disruptions in maintaining parks and cemeteries.
“They’re not prepared to take these services on financially or physically,” he said.
Why do residents want to dissolve New Richmond?
David Peters, a former write-in candidate for council who started the petition June 10, said he and other residents view the roundabouts as the latest example of village officials not listening to their concerns.
He said officials haven’t been transparent about their motivations or listened to residents who oppose parts of major projects, including an initiative to restore the village’s waterfront.
“What’s the point of having government if the government doesn’t listen to the people it represents?” Peters said.
Richard Waldbillig, a former firefighter who supports the petition to dissolve the village, said he feels that government officials make decisions behind closed doors or in private subcommittee meetings.
“We’re saying ‘we have no confidence in you guys, that you’re going to listen to what the residents have to say,’” Waldbillig said.
All this about roundabouts?
Around 2016, New Richmond received federal grants to start a multimillion-dollar project improving its traffic congestion and air quality. The way to accomplish this, the village proposed, was to bring four lanes of traffic down to two and install four roundabouts at intersections.
Dissolution advocate Waldbillig said he’s concerned that adding the roundabouts, removing the highway divider and decreasing the lanes on the highway could bottleneck traffic and cause more crashes. The roundabouts could also slow traffic on the stretch of U.S. 52 through New Richmond.
Councilmember Larry Prues said initially he also questioned why the village would want roundabouts. Since becoming a councilmember, however, he’s learned about the safety benefits of roundabouts and supports them.
The council already approved the project, which ODOT is managing and overseeing. New Richmond officials and ODOT could still decide in the future not to move forward with the roundabouts, but the village can’t use the federal grant dollars it received for any other purpose. If the village moves forward, construction is slated to begin in fall 2028.
Prues and fellow village councilmember Mary Allen said residents have had opportunities to give feedback on the proposed roundabouts over the last several years. The most recent was an open house May 20, when Allen said about 100 people attended and many voiced their support for the project. ODOT is also collecting feedback online until June 20. The online comments currently available show a mix of support and opposition for the project.
“Some of the same people tell me year after year that they don’t like it,” Allen said. “There are certain people, but they talk to me. They don’t circulate petitions, they approach me directly.”
“The community that really supports this village is huge,” Prues said. “Unfortunately, they’re a silent majority on social media.”
Waldbillig said that if the council allowed the community to directly vote on the roundabouts and made their subcommittee meetings more transparent, he and others would potentially back off on their call to dissolve the government. But Allen said that because ODOT is the project manager and years of resources have been put toward the project, a public vote is not that simple.
“Within reason, I’ll do whatever the public wants,” Allen said. “But my job as an elected official is not every time we need to make a decision, involve the whole community. My job is to look at the facts and make the right decision for the community based on what I know and what we can afford.”
How do residents feel about dissolution?
Sara Ayers, 43, has lived in New Richmond for most of her life, and co-founded Front Street Studios and Gallery. She said many people in her family support installing the roundabouts because her aunt was killed years ago in a car accident at one of the intersections where there will be a roundabout. U.S. 52 runs straight through New Richmond and divides the village. She hopes the roundabouts might be more pedestrian-friendly, safer and less of a barrier to cross.
“We’ve been looking at it and watching people’s opinions on Facebook groups for several years now, to the point that it’s like the minute somebody says something about the roundabouts, the comments is just people eating popcorn,” she said.
She thinks dissolving the village would be a “giant mistake.”
“I think sometimes a village is thirsty for a fast resolution, and I think some people think that is probably going to happen, that it will solve some of the tax issues that they don’t want to pay certain things,” she said. “But it doesn’t.”
Debbie De Steno, 59, Ayers’ co-founder, has lived in New Richmond since October, and said she doesn’t care about the roundabouts. But she worries about the impacts dissolving the village would have.
“If it’s gonna take the fire department and the police department 10 extra minutes, I don’t want anybody to suffer for that,” De Steno said. “And that’s not fair, and it’s not right to ask people to do that.”
De Steno and Ayers both said divisive comments on Facebook about the dissolution and roundabouts aren’t reflective of reality and pull people away from focusing on other issues in the community, like opening businesses.
Dan Pedigo, 55, who owns a barbershop on New Richmond’s Front Street, said he doesn’t care about the roundabouts one way or another. He thinks it’s just “something for people to complain about.”
“I hear the arguments both ways all the time,” he said. “Honestly, it’s change. People hate change.”
What’s next?
Peters is continuing to collect signatures and plans to file the petition July 1. He needs 219 signatures, and he estimated around 100 people signed the petition in its first week.
If he meets the required number of signatures, they will file with the local board of elections to get the issue on New Richmond residents’ ballot this November.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: In Ohio, a fight over roundabouts may lead to village’s dissolution
Reporting by Mia Hilkowitz, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Mia Hilkowitz, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
