WESTLAND AREA COMMISSION

May 19, 1999

The meeting was called to order a 7:00pm. Present were Daniel Province, chair, Betty Balthaser, Hank Canello, Virginia Frank, Mike Hurd, Glen Hymer, Dorothy Jantzen, Brian King, Mike McKay, Tom Morris, Jamie Mueller, Jan Province, Dr. Bob Rinehart, Bill Saxton, and Jeff Woodson. Wilder was excused. Also present were Leo Abston, Jim Dailey, Sgt. David Eing, Gail Nowosadko, Kevin Parks, Dori Sippial, Samantha Shuler, Robert Stevens, and others.

Province announced that he received a letter of resignation from Ted Wotring, who did not run for re-election this year. He stated that he intends to continue to serve on the Parade Committee, however. Carol Makar also did not run for re- election.

Saxton moved to approve the minutes for March and April 1999. Jantzen seconded. Approved.

Zoning Committee (Saxton): Saxton introduced zoning request Z99-045, for the property at 601 Olde Irish Drive. The applicant is Robert J. Stevens, and he is represented by attorney Samantha A. Shuler. This request was approved unanimously by the WAC zoning committee.

Shuler said that the property is located at the corner of Galloway Road and Olde Irish Drive, just south of Sullivant. It consists of about 1.5 acres. It's currently zoned C-2, with a small strip of PUD-8. It was zoned that way in 1974. It is her understanding that the PUD-8 involved landscaping requirements, but the record is so old that it no longer exists. They are asking to downzone the property to R-2F, to allow single-family housing and twin-singles. She believes that the property was originally planned for commercial development to serve the immediate subdivision, but it never got developed. It makes sense to rezone it for residential use. The surrounding area is single-family and L-AR-12. The applicant intends to build twin-singles on the site.

At the WAC zoning committee meeting tonight, the applicant did commit to: each building to be a minimum of 2800 square feet, which means that each unit will be 1400 square feet. He committed to full basements and garages. He committed to landscaping consisting of sod in front and grass seed in back, with landscaping consisting of at least one tree and three or four bushes for each unit.

Mueller asked where the curb cuts will be.

Shuler replied that they will come off of Olde Irish. They haven't confirmed the number and location of the curb cuts with Staff yet, but the preliminary plan shows three curb cuts, all off Olde Irish.

Province asked what the WAC zoning committee's vote was.

Saxton said it was 8 to 0 to approve, with the conditions of the 1400 square feet per unit, or 2800 square feet per building, with basements, garages, and the landscaping. There will be three buildings, six units.

Saxton moved that the zoning request be approved with the conditions set forth by the WAC zoning committee. Morris seconded. Approved.

Saxton said that there was another rezoning request scheduled to be heard tonight, but it has been cancelled. It pertained to the southeast corner of Galloway Road and Hall Road. Fred Simon has met twice with the city, but the City of Columbus, Fred Simon, and Larry Worthington cannot agree as to what should go on the property. Saxton suggested to Simon that he not come here tonight if he hasn't decided what he intends to do with the property. Saxton said he was sure WAC would not approve his request. Therefore, Simon asked that his appearance be postponed until the June meeting, providing that he and the city get the issues worked out.

Is that the same parcel of land we talked about before?

Yes.

...Across from the church?

Yes.

What use was Simon talking about early on?

He was talking about a shopping center of some sort. The city has set forth some special requirements.

Province said that the city wants an exit and an entrance, but they may not be off Galloway Road. They can't be within 75 feet of the corner. That means that the entrance and exit would be together, right against an existing house. You then can't erect a 9000 square foot viable building. There is a problem finding enough space for parking. It's a question of whether that is a proper thing to put on that corner.

Saxton said that another zoning request coming in June concerns a 200 acre parcel on the south side of West Broad Street, west of Galloway Road. Before the June WAC meeting, Dr. Rinehart will find out whether this parcel will be in the Columbus school system or the South-Western school system.

Prairie Township: There is a request for a variance on Valley View Drive, that doesn't concern us too much. There is another issue concerning the property at 6144 West Broad Street in Galloway. They have requested a conditional use to allow the establishment and operation of self-storage units in a General Business unit. The site is located in the vicinity of Alton.

Abston said it has to be near George's Drive-In.

Saxton said doesn't know when the public hearing will take place.

Province said there is a meeting scheduled for tonight.

Jackson Township: There are some requests for rezonings in the Grove City area. A new Outback Steakhouse will be erected on Stringtown Road. There will be four new office buildings constructed on North Broadway just south of the I- 270 interchange. There will be two new tenants near the Kroger store at 665 Hoover Road.

Province said that tomorrow at 6:30am, there will be the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new Home Depot store.

Hurd said that the ceremony actually will start at 6:00am. The manager is Michael Baylor.

Province introduced Gail Nowosadko, who is with the United Way. She has been tailing Province all day, as he attended meetings of various community organizations in the Westland Area, starting with the Westland Ministerial Association's breakfast meeting.

Nowosadko distributed packets of information titled Family Violence Awareness Campaign.

Nowosadko said that United Way is currently working in the Westland Area. According to 1997 statistics, the 43228 zip code has the highest reporting rate for instances of family violence in Franklin County. There is, at the same time, a relatively low rate of requests for assistance from Choices family shelter.

Their campaign aims to increase awareness of violence issues in this area, and to increase awareness of the avenues of assistance that are available. They will be going out into the communities to get feedback about how community organizations see the problem, and how they can address the issue. Participating organizations are listed in the packet. She has been meeting with these groups.

She will be moving into the Westland Action Center, establishing a liaison center there. However, for the next few weeks, she can be reached at the United Way headquarters at 227-2749.

Canello asked whether there will be any way to determine whether her efforts bear fruit. A year from now, will someone take a second look at the problem?

Nowosadko said that the evaluation process is outlined in the packet, on page 8. A professional market research company has been hired, and it will establish an office within the Dispatch printing plant building. There will be qualitative and quantitative aspects to the evaluation phase. The quantitative phase will involve the identification of focus groups within the Westland community. The groups will be recruited to distribute the message via bumper stickers and slogans. They will test out several messages, to determine whether they are on target. They will distribute the messages that they deem most effective. It's the same thing with the campaign materials. Information received from the focus groups will be used to change the material to make it relevant to the target audience.

There will be a pre-test and post-test to determine changes in community attitudes toward family violence. This will take place about a year into the campaign.

Hurd asked whether the statistics that say that the Westland area is the highest in instances of family violence actually mean that the Westland area has the highest rate of reporting.

Yes. There is no way of knowing what the actual number of cases of family violence is.

Sgt. Eing said that it's usually the neighbors who call the police.

Nowosadko said that a goal is to move the issue from the private home into the public realm, and to open up a community dialogue. She wants to get as many people talking about the issues as possible.

McKay asked for a definition of family violence.

Nowosadko said that people usually think of wife-beating. However, they want to expand the definition to include child abuse as well as partner abuse and other forms of violence.

Province repeated that the Westland Action Center is located at 5547 West Broad Street, next door to the tractor sales place, just beyond New Rome. For now, she can be reached at the United Way offices at 227-2747 or 227-2700.

Province introduced Jim Dailey from COTA.

Dailey said he is manager of public affairs for COTA. He has come to update WAC members on what's going on at COTA.

Province has been working on one of their advisory councils to develop a program called Vision 2020. It is an update of a plan that was developed in 1993 and 1994. The plan is outlined in the brochure. The largest part of the plan involves more than doubling the existing bus service in the community by adding commuter rail, adding more high-tech systems to move the buses around, called an "intelligent transportation system," and building a component, of a rail and bus center in the downtown area.

(Dailey played a videotape. It stated that Vision 2020 will incorporate the above plans, and that there will be added means of moving people within the downtown area. The intelligent transportation system will use traffic signal prioritization to give buses right of way. They plan 17 new Park and Ride centers throughout the city. The additional buses will enable riders to travel from one suburb to another without having to go downtown. The neighborhood transportation centers will be heated and air-conditioned, and an electronic device will show when the next trains or buses are due to arrive. The multi-modal transportation terminal downtown will have daycare and medical facilities, office and retail establishments, and restaurants. There may be facilities to make airplane reservations or to get a taxi.

The new Cleveland to Columbus train will stop at this center. A new downtown circulator will run from the Short North to the Brewery District along High Street. Hours of operation for all buses will be expanded).

Dailey said that the plan will help alleviate traffic congestion within Columbus.

On the West Side, there will be a commuter rail line on the existing Conrail line north of Broad Street. There will be a crosstown route around I-270. There will be a Park and Ride adjacent to the transit center, which will be the rail station. A person in the Westland area could use the crosstown route to go to the transit center, and then take the train downtown to the terminal. They are negotiating with Nationwide to buy the land across the street from the old Union Station, to construct the terminal. It may end up being a 30 story building, and it may connect to Amtrak.

They can begin implementing the additions to the bus service within two years. They intend to add 50,000 hours of service on an annual basis. The first rail line can be established within five or six years. All of this will be phased in within twenty years, which is why the program is called Vision 2020.

Ron Barnes, the general manager of COTA, and the board of trustees feel that it is important that area commissions know that they have this plan, that it has been worked on over time, with a great deal of community input, and that it is still flexible. Changes can still be made.

Morris asked how much of this plan will the taxpayer have to subsidize?

Over 50% of the funding would come from the federal government. This would be for capital expenses primarily, for purchases of trains and tracks and stations, as well as more than doubling the bus system. This is one way to get our federal tax dollars back. The board is looking to add an additional 1/4 percent to the current funding level.

How do you anticipate increasing ridership?

Ridership is up 4% from April 1998 to April 1999. The reason for poor ridership is that service is nonexistent from where the city is growing. The current funding base doesn't allow COTA to compete with the freeway system. Often, a bus runs only once or twice a day, so the service is so poor that people don't use it.

When you provide good service to the places people want to go, they will use it.

In St. Louis, they expected 16,000 riders per day on their new train service, and they got 30,000 within three weeks.

Mueller said that Dailey said that about 50% of the initial cost would come from the federal government. Where will the balance come from? How much will the ridership contribute toward the operation cost?

When systems have a combination of trains and buses, they have a higher farebox return. Currently, about 26% of the cost of COTA is contributed through the farebox from the rider, and when they have a combination of services, such as Chicago, New York, Washington, Miami, St. Louis, the farebox return gets up to 30 or 35%. Suburban people are more attracted to trains; he doesn't know why.

A 4% increase in ridership is not much, when the city is in gridlock.

COTA is not providing the service today to solve the gridlock. This plan will go a long way toward solving the gridlock problem for a significant portion of the population.

In Cleveland, there are very few instances where the train is delayed due to accidents. The biggest cause of train delays is significant snowfall. They have a system similar to COTA's plan. I-70 is slowed down due to accidents probably once a week, and the slowdown continues for an hour or so after the accident is cleared. With the trains, you don't have to worry about slowdowns due to accidents.

J. Province asked for the current guess regarding the price of a ticket from Columbus to Cleveland.

Dailey said he doesn't know. He does know that the plan calls for incremental increases in the fare of about 5% every other year or so.

One of the things that helps the funding of the project is that about 40% of the sales tax is paid by non-Franklin County residents. They have done two studies on that to verify that people from surrounding counties come to Columbus to buy their cars and other large purchases.

Someone else will show up before November to talk about the sales tax levy.

Community Relations Committee (Balthaser): The parade will be routed down West Broad Street this year. The entire road will be closed for the duration of the parade, but the parade will probably stay on the north side of the road where the road is divided. There is more room for audience seating on the north side of the road.

Province said that the traffic will be detoured up Old Village, across on Beacon, and down Rome-Hilliard.

Balthaser said the parade will turn into the shopping center at the fish place.

The parade is guaranteed 45 minutes. The road should be closed to traffic for an hour.

Has there been feedback about the new route?

Province said he has heard positive feedback about the route.

Billman will be in charge of fundraising. Balthaser will be selling raffle tickets, starting in a week or two.

Election Committee: Province reported that Jantzen, Hurd, Woodson, and Hymer were elected to three-year terms. We need to re-appoint Wilder to another three-year term in Human Resources. Saxton moved to nominate Wilder, and he moved that the nominations be closed. Morris seconded. Approved.

Historic Preservation Committee: Province reported that he was interviewed on television (Channels 6 and 28), about the Postle Cemetery.

He was on radio, too.

WABA and WAC have been maintaining the Postle Cemetery. The cemetery site was fenced, using funding from WABA and United Way. Someone tore the fence down and built a monstrosity of a fort with the fence rails and other trash. (They weren't bright; the entrance to the fort faces north, and the fort is located in a creekbed). They did some damage to the cemetery stones, too. The damage is documented on our website. They also dug some holes, probably in an attempt to exhume bodies that were buried in wooden caskets 100 years ago.

On the 22nd, at noon, we will meet at the cemetery to tear down the fort and repair the fence as much as possible.

The Darby Woods School fourth graders are angry that the cemetery they helped restore was vandalized. They will be included in this repair effort, even if they will actually be in the way more than they can help.

Old Business: Mueller reminded everyone that Charleta Tavares asked WAC to escort her on a tour of the Westland area. He has organized a bus trip tour for her and any other city council people who are interested. The bus can seat twelve to fourteen people. The bus is available on any of three days, so he chose Tuesday the 25th. Possibly, there can be a brunch at the New Lincoln Lodge at 8:30, followed by a tour of Westland from 9:30, for an hour or hour-and-a-half.

Province invited all WAC members to attend. Mike Tanner, candidate for city council, said he will come. Mike Mentel's aide said he can come, but only for about an hour. If three city council people come, there should be at least three WAC members there.

Mueller said that Mentel co-chairs the Parks and Recreation Committee.

Province said it is easier to make a point about a possible site for a park, if they have seen the area and know what we're talking about. A map cannot really substitute for a visit.

Morris suggested we invite Coleman and Teater, too.

Old Business: Saxton asked the status of the Darby Woods Apartments.

Province said that issue will be returning to City Council next month, and Council will decide whether to approve annexation or not. The county commissioners have approved the annexation, and the city now has to decided whether it can provide all needed services to that area. The police department has asked for an additional six cruisers and sixteen officers, in order to handle the additional runs that would be expected from that area. If Chief Jackson can find those resources, then the city will annex.

Province said it has been very interesting, talking to both sides of the issue, which he has done.

Province and other WAC members did go downtown, and they spoke with Sensenbrenner and Habash. They said that every department had already signed off on this annexation, but now they are saying that, after further review, they have decided they cannot handle this annexation. There has to be an ordinance produced and voted on at City Council. Whether they have four votes in favor, is up in the air at this time.

J. Province said that, a month or two ago, D. Province distributed copies of a draft letter to WAC members for comment, and it was decided not to send that letter until after the meetings with City Council. The letter was never sent, yet everyone concerned has seen it.

WAC instructed D. Province not to take a stand until after discussions took place downtown, so that is what we did.

WAC members went downtown to voice its concerns. If the city could promise to clean up the area, then WAC would undoubtedly support the annexation.

The issue will be brought up next month, and it will probably not be voted on at that time. We should wait and see.

Is there a sale that this annexation is contingent upon?

Saxton said he doesn't think there is a sale pending. He thinks it has something to do with the water contract.

Mueller said there has to be a reason for the annexation request, and he doubts it is the access to utilities.

J. Province said there is another theory that the owners thought, incorrectly, that by annexing into Columbus, they could avoid some school taxes.

D. Province said it is all very vague. At this point, the city is determining whether it can provide city services with existing manpower. Chief Jackson said they cannot.

Saxton said that WAC was openly received. We laid out our concerns. They were not aware of the number of police runs that are made to that area, or anything.

D. Province said they received a request for annexation that looked like any other annexation request. Such requests from this area are always farmland, and they assumed that that's what this was. Usually, this is not a problem, as the services can be set up before the construction is begun.

They didn't know about the off-street parking problem.

Saxton said that, at this time, the process is moving ahead, and our endorsement, or not, won't make a great deal of difference.

It's beyond us, now. It's a city-wide issue now.

Hurd said that we did not want to oppose the annexation, if the city was able to annex, and then come in and clean up the area. If they would clean it up, we would approve of the annexation.

Morris said that the neighborhoods should be made aware of this issue.

J. Province said that there have been articles and letters to the editor about this issue.

Morris said that we should operate a petition drive in order to make the residents aware of the issue.

Saxton disagreed. We should not oppose the issue if we are better off with the city taking over and putting the manpower into it to clean it up.

Mueller said it should be the owner's job to clean up the area. It shouldn't be the city's responsibility.

Province said he spoke with Sensenbrenner's office first. He thinks Council will hear the annexation request around the end of June. As of this date, there aren't four votes in favor of the annexation.

Is it mainly a police coverage issue?

That's where the debate is now.

Saxton said that he told them that, if the city is willing to commit the police officers necessary to clean it up, then we would not oppose the annexation.

The City Council is not willing to give the necessary funding to Chief Jackson.

D. Province said he doesn't think a letter would make much difference at this point. Staff is now notifying Province whenever there is a move on this issue. He is told whenever there is a meeting with Jackson, or when the mayor and safety director get together. Province has heard issues from both sides. One person says we have enough officers, and another person says we don't. Now, it's an issue for the press.

Who is going to go to the property owner to tell him he has to clean it up? Obviously, the township has said that, and nothing has happened. Will the city's order be more effective? We aren't sure.

Canello asked how the city plans to commit additional officers to that area, when they don't have enough manpower to handle the current needs.

During the last two weeks, it has been apparent that police coverage throughout the city is less than optimal.

Canello said that the Westland bus tour should include Darby Woods Apartments.

Mueller said it will be put on the itinerary.

Province reminded everybody that WAC doesn't get to vote on pending annexations, anyway.

Province announced that this is probably Dori's last WAC meeting, as she is graduating.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15pm.