Author: dovertwp

With warmer weather approaching, we anticipate residents making additions to their properties like pools, patios, and fences. We would like to remind residents that Dover Township is zoned: any changes or additions to your property need to meet all zoning requirements. More information is available from Township Zoning Inspector Dave Weber, who is at the Township Office Mondays, 9a – 12p. Please contact him with questions or for the necessary paperwork at 330.343.6413 (office) or 330.440.1944 (cell) before making these changes to your home.

Dover Township’s road crew asks all residents to drive slowly and carefully through our work and mowing zones this spring. With the improving weather, we will soon begin patching holes, cleaning ditches, and preparing for chip-and-seal and blacktop projects. We also will be trimming trees and getting our mowers ready for another mowing season along our roadways and in our five township cemeteries.

During the 2020-2021 winter season, Dover Township salted the roads 12 times and plowed and salted the roads 27 times, using a total of 850 tons of salt and salt-mixed materials. Salt prices for the 2020-2021 season were $69.63 per ton; and in anticipation of increased salt prices in the coming year, we purchased as much product as we could at that price, leaving us with 300 tons of salt and 200 tons of salt-mixed material remaining in our bins for next winter. We recently placed a bid for 700 tons of salt for the coming season.

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, open burning is prohibited across Ohio from 6a – 6p during March, April, May, October and November. Warmer weather, increased winds, and dry leaves and debris in spring and fall can spread fire easily, which is why Ohio residents are asked to abstain from burning outdoors during these hours. More information is available at ohiodnr.gov.

During March 1 – April 6, 2021, local news agency Tuscarawas County Scanner reported 13 brush fires. Most of these fires were reported during the burn ban hours.

To help guide visitors through the Norma Johnson Center, each month in 2021 has its own theme as part of the center’s Outdoor Sanity Series. Instructions for hiking and other activities are included, and updates will be posted on Facebook. We hope all Dover Township residents will enjoy the six miles of trails at the center during this series.

April, Giving Back to the Earth
Help clean up trash, pull invasive plants, and plant seeds.
May, Feathered Friends
Check out the new bird viewing area, ridge, and surrounding trails. Track how many birds you see.
June, Aquatic Life
Register online for the at-your-convenience family fish event. Fish and explore the macroinvertebrates in the center’s five ponds and three dipping areas.
July, Pollinators
Complete the pollinator walk, butterfly survey, and insect tracking.
August, Accessible Trail
Explore the new Accessible Trail that runs from the Picnic Shelter toward the bridge at Conservation Pond.

Fall and winter themes and additional programming information are available at normajohnsoncenter.com.

While COVID 19 has challenged every aspect of our daily lives, Dover staff continue to be committed to excellence for our students. Currently, we are focused on the needs of our students as we recover from learning amid a pandemic. We look toward the 2021 – 2022 school year with hope that school schedules will return to normal and the educational opportunities that set Dover Schools apart can be restored. I want to thank each of you for your continued support of our students and school system.

It has been a privilege and blessing to be a part of this community and work with our students the past 32 years. When I started as a student teacher at East Elementary, I knew that this was where I wanted to work as an educator and devote my time and talents to working with the children of this community. In the many roles I have accepted and fulfilled, I have received lifelong rewards from the students and families I have served, as well as from the staff and community members that have worked alongside me.

Many of you know that I will retire in July. As I look to a new phase in my life, I will miss the students and the joy of watching them grow from children into young adults. There are many good things on the horizon for Dover Schools, and I believe the best is yet to come.

On the May 4 ballot, the Dover Public Library is proposing the renewal of a 1-mil operating levy for 5 years. This levy is not a tax increase and raises $351,000 annually, providing 30% of the library’s funds. It will cost $2.07/month for the owner of a home valued at $100,000.

Levy funds will be used for the library’s operating expenses, including the purchase of materials, programming for all ages, and services to the community such as homebound delivery and computer classes. If the levy does not pass, the library will make changes beginning 2022, including changing hours, staffing, reducing new materials and reducing programming. Learn more about the levy here.

The library is open Monday – Friday, 9a – 6p, and Saturday, 9a – 2p. Please visit doverlibrary.org for a list of events and programming.

In this edition of our newsletter, you will find that we’re looking to the year ahead while thinking of the many things for which we are thankful now. Quite simply–2020 has been a year. And while it has brought with it a series of what will someday surely be historic events, I hope that we can end our year as we do every other. Let us look at the challenges we faced as battle wounds, proof that we made it through; let’s count our blessings, be kind to others, and share our hopes for 2021.

Among our many blessings here in Dover Township are our wide-open spaces and homegrown businesses. How lucky we are that we can roam around the 300-acres at Norma Johnson Conservation Center or walk the towpath down from Zoar whenever we want. When we want locally-sourced food or beverages, we can shop at Gooding’s Market or stop in at one of our wineries. We don’t have the space to mention all of our township businesses, but they are all an important part of what makes our township great. During the months ahead, these businesses are counting on us to shop locally and support not only their employees, but the many families who depend on them.

Coming off the heels of an election, we’ve been told how different we are, but I look around Dover Township and see a community of individuals who all decided to live, work, and raise their families here, and likely for the same reasons. I see that 79% of our township’s registered voters voted in November, that’s above the total turnout for both Tuscarawas County and the state of Ohio. Even if we voted different from our neighbors, most of us did our duty as citizens and cast our votes. We have so much in common, and it is my hope in the coming year that we can find our similarities, understand our differences, and continue to support our neighbors.

We will not be discussing any COVID mandates or guidelines in this newsletter, and that’s not an effort in anyway to minimize the pandemic or its effects on the lives, health, and finances of so many. Frankly, because of how quickly the guidelines and mandates change, we can’t risk printing something and having it altered before it reaches your mailboxes. For up-to-date information for Ohio, we recommend visiting: coronavirus.ohio.gov. Local information is available daily on the Tuscarawas County Health Department’s Facebook page or via their weekly e-newsletter. If you would like to be added to their email distribution list, email director@tchdnow.org and place “Subscribe to eNewsletter” in the subject area.

As we wrap-up one year and begin another, we will continue to work for the health, happiness, good-fortune, and safety of all our township residents. And if you have any good news of your own that you would like us to share in the newsletter or on the website, please submit it at dovertownship.us/news.

Dover Township is zoned: changes or additions to your property need to meet all zoning requirements. More information is available from Township Zoning Inspector Dave Weber, who is at the Township Office on Mondays from 9a – 12p. Please contact him with questions or for the necessary paperwork at the office 330.343.6413 or on his cell phone 330.440.1944.

A current zoning issue: political signs. Per the zoning guidelines, all political signs are to be removed from public property no later than two weeks following the election. As that time window has passed, we ask that you remove signs from these locations as soon as possible. We also ask that private residents consider removing political signs from their property at this time.

As you clear your yards and flower beds of fallen leaves, we would like to remind our residents that Dover Township does not provide curbside leaf clean-up. While we do clean what naturally falls into the waterways, Dover Township is not responsible for clean-up of leaves from private property.

It is imperative that we keep our creeks and ditches free of leaves and other debris to ensure that our culverts remain clear. Please do not blow, rake, or dump your leaves on township roadways or into waterways. It is illegal to dump debris from your private residence into township gutters and ditches.

If you are unable to compost your yard waste on your property, residents are encouraged to utilize Dover’s Yard Waste Collection Center. Located at 100 N. Tuscarawas Avenue behind the Waste Water Treatment Plant, the center is open 8a – 7p daily through April 30. Residents can drop-off grass, flower, and garden clippings; leaves; branches; and shrubs. Items must be unbagged.

If you intend to burn your leaves and other yard waste, please remember that all open burns must be more than 1,000 feet from any neighboring inhabited building. According to the Ohio Revised Code, ODNR prohibits outdoor open burning and controlled fires in March, April, May, October and November, between 6a and 6p. Additional EPA restrictions include:

• No burning when air pollution alert, warning, or emergency is in effect;
• Fire/smoke cannot obscure visibility on roadway, railways, or airfields;
• And no waste generated off the premises may be burned.

For more information about open burning in Ohio, visit epa.ohio.gov.

Winter weather is rapidly approaching, and we would like to ask all Dover Township residents to help us keep our roads safe this winter. Please watch for our snowplow trucks, giving them the space they need to safely salt and clear our roads. We ask this for both your safety and theirs.

During the 2019-2020 winter weather season, Dover Township salted roads 11 times and plowed and salted roads 8 times, using a total of 660 tons of salt and salt-mixed materials. As we have 650 tons of salt and 400 tons of salt-mixed materials remaining from last season, we ordered 300 additional tons to be delivered throughout the 2020-2021 season. We purchased our salt this year at $69.63/ton. Last year salt prices were $84.50/ton.