Grove City Messenger - January 10th, 2021

PAGE 2 - GROVE CITY MESSENGER - January 10, 2021
club meeting
Grove City Arts Council
The Grove City Arts Council meets the
third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 p.m
at Storypoint on Orders Road. For more
information, call 614-670-2926.
JEFFREY P. COMPTON
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FREE CONSULT & PARKING
614-875-7233 Fax: 929-474-9475
1665 London-Groveport Rd., Grove City
www.jeffreypcompton.com
Email: jcompton@jeffreypcompton.com
By Andrea Cordle
Grove City Editor
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1227 S. High St., Columbus, OH 43206
Douglas, Ed, Jim
and Kip Malek
Ben Churchhill
Grove City Council rejected a proposal for an industrial park.
At a recent meeting, the Solid Waste Authority of Central Ohio
(SWACO) proposed a preliminary development plan to turn more
than 362 acres of its land on the north side of London-Groveport
Road into a circular economy business park. The property is located
across from the SWACO landfill.
Council denied the plan with a 3-2 vote.
Jeff Wilkins, from SWACO, said the plan was to divert waste
from the landfill and bring in manufacturing jobs.
“There is a high demand to create a supply chain,” said Wilkins.
According to the preliminary plan, SWACO wanted to increase
its diversion rates by attracting commercial users that would use
those materials within the area’s waste
stream. This could include a variety of supply
chains to collect, sort, and process a
mixture of materials. It could also include
manufacturing companies who use
reclaimed materials to produce new products.
Councilman Ted Berry said he did not
envision big box warehouse facilities at
that site and does not want to add more
truck traffic to the roadways.
“I was under the impression that area
would become a research park,” said Berry.
“I see no vision here.”
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operations,” he said. “But there have been a lot of low
moments too that I cannot and will not forget.
“Throughout my time serving as director, we have
faced four major financial crises, we saw steep cuts in
state funding and I have had to eliminate staff due to
that lack of funding. That was the hardest thing I have
had to do in my professional career.”
Shaw added that currently the library has had to
reduce staffing hours and its hours of operation due to
the pandemic, but he does believe they will be able to
weather the storm.
He said what gives him hope that it can be accomplished
is the fact that the SPL has a creative and dedicated
staff that can keep the community engaged
through virtual programming, a core group of volunteers
with Friends of the Library who keep fundraising
on their behalf, and a community that has come to
understand the profound impact a library can have on
one’s life.
“None of the good things that have taken place during
my time as director would have happened without
www.columbusmessenger.com
The City Beat
Council denies industrial park proposal
Blood drives in Grove City
American Red Cross will host a blood drive from
noon to 6 p.m. on Jan. 15 and Jan. 29 in the Kingston
Center, 3226 Kingston Ave. in Grove City. To schedule
an appointment call 1-800-448-3543 or visit www.redcrossblood.org.
For a limited time, the American Red
Cross will test all blood, platelet and plasma donations
for COVID-19 antibodies as an additional health service
to donors. Visit the American Red Cross website
for additional information.
Council rejected the plan because they did not want to turn the
area into an industrial site and have it look like parts of State
Route 104.
“Based on the current plan, I just see a massive building,” said
Berry. “That is not what Grove City residents want.”
According to Grove City Mayor Richard “Ike” Stage, the
London-Groveport Road site is under a tax abatement from legislation
passed in the 1990s. He said the idea for the abatement was
to create jobs in the city.
Wilkins said the tax abatement makes developing the site more
competitive.
“It really gives you a leg up,” he said.
Berry said he fails to see where the current plan would attract
higher-end employment.
In 2018, the city adopted the Grove City 2050 Plan, which
established a land use plan for the city’s economic and growth
goals.
For the proposed site, the land use plan calls for three potential
uses for the area — tech flex, flex employment, and mixed-use
employment. The tech flex category includes research, office, clean
manufacturing, and light industrial uses. The flex employment
centers are considered light industrial development. It can include
large footprint buildings that could support different uses like
light manufacturing, high-tech industry, and research. Mixed-use
employment centers are large-scale centers that combine places to
work, shop and live with multi-story mixed-use buildings.
Since the preliminary development plan for an industrial park
has been rejected by a majority of council, SWACO could resubmit
a preliminary plan for council consideration.
around town
Cancer rift Shop open
on MLK and Presidents’ Day
The Grove City Cancer Thrift Shop, 3684 Garden
Court, will be open for shopping on Monday, Jan. 18
(Martin Luther King Day) and on Monday, Feb. 15
(Presidents’ Day). The hours of operation will be 12 to
4 p.m. No consignments will be accepted during these
special shopping days. All proceeds of the Grove City
Cancer Thrift Shop benefit the Columbus Cancer
Clinic of LifeCare Alliance.
these people,” he said.
He said they are what he will miss the most.
“I have been so fortunate to have worked alongside
a terrific group of dedicated individuals,” he said.
Shaw’s last day as director of the SPL is Jan. 29. He
said he looks forward to becoming a regular patron
and researching the locations of artifacts for his historical
war collection.
Succeeding Shaw will be Meredith E. Wickham.
She currently serves as director of first regional
library in Mississippi, which is one of the largest public
library systems in the state. She was named as an
emerging leader by the American Library Association
and was presented with the Peggy May Award by the
Mississippi Library Association.
Shaw said he has met with Wickham over Zoom
and believes the SPL board of trustees selected the
right candidate.
“I think the Southwest Public Library will continue
to be in good hands.”