NOAH, Arbor Shoreline request rezoning of old HS site

By Matt Echelberry

Inquirer Reporter

A pub­lic hear­ing regard­ing the rezon­ing of the for­mer Galion High School prop­erty on Church Street was held dur­ing Galion Plan­ning and Zon­ing Commission’s Nov. 13 meet­ing. Arbor Shore­line, Inc. put a bid on the site ear­lier this year, in hopes to develop it into a senior inde­pen­dent liv­ing apart­ment complex.

Arbor Shore­line is a sub­sidiary of Showe Man­age­ment Cor­po­ra­tion. Scott Hun­ley, vice pres­i­dent of SMC, was present to rep­re­sent the com­pany, which owns other hous­ing com­plexes in Belle­fontaine, Colum­bus, Find­lay, Newark and Pataskala.

Arbor Shore­line has part­nered with the local non-profit group Project NOAH to cre­ate designs for Eden Inde­pen­dent Liv­ing, the pro­posed senior apart­ment com­plex. Hun­ley had con­cep­tual draw­ings to show that evening, explain­ing that the struc­ture would be two sto­ries and incor­po­rate design fea­tures of sur­round­ing homes to help it blend in with the neigh­bor­hood. It would house about 40 energy-efficient units.

The com­plex would be for senior cit­i­zens, includ­ing those with phys­i­cal dis­abil­i­ties, but Hun­ley noted that it is not intended as an assisted liv­ing facil­ity or halfway house.

Sue Rowles of NOAH was also present. She said if the com­plex is built, NOAH would be the pri­mary owner. She fur­ther explained that there is a high pop­u­la­tion of senior cit­i­zens in Craw­ford County: About 25 per­cent of the pop­u­la­tion is 55 or older. Dur­ing the 2012 county fair, NOAH con­ducted a sur­vey which found that many seniors want a space like Eden Inde­pen­dent Living.

“We need to cre­ate acces­si­bil­ity for seniors and space that is suit­able to their needs,” Rowles commented.

NOAH cur­rently owns Faith Com­mu­nity in Crest­line. Rowles said it has been open for about four years and is usu­ally full. When vacan­cies arise, peo­ple on the wait­ing list move in quickly.

Eden’s poten­tial loca­tion on the for­mer High School lot means easy access to med­ical care and drug stores, the Uptowne Dis­trict and Heise Park. Hun­ley said a branch of Arbor Shore­line would be the con­trac­tor for the project, but as many local work­ers would be used as pos­si­ble dur­ing the esti­mated 18-month con­struc­tion period.

City Build­ing Inspec­tor Matt Ross noted that, logis­ti­cally, the project can be done. It would meet local zon­ing require­ments. “It’s just a ques­tion of ‘does the com­mu­nity want it?’” Ross said.

If the Plan­ning and Zon­ing Com­mis­sion rezoned the area to make the project pos­si­ble, Hun­ley said his com­pany would apply for state fund­ing, which would make rent more afford­able for the future res­i­dents. State fund­ing has strict require­ments, includ­ing oblig­at­ing his com­pany to a 30-year com­mit­ment to keep the prop­erty main­tained and the rent afford­able. The appli­ca­tion would be due in February.

Nine­teen Galion cit­i­zens were in atten­dance. One audi­ence mem­ber was wor­ried about prop­erty val­ues in the neigh­bor­hood being affected by the com­plex. Sev­eral oth­ers agreed, ask­ing if duplexes could be built instead.

Hun­ley explained that the Ohio Hous­ing Finance Agency would not pro­vide fund­ing for such a project. It must be a sin­gle com­plex, which is more effi­cient over­all, and con­ve­nient for the res­i­dents, than sep­a­rate buildings.

Bruce Angel, also of Project NOAH, was present. He argued that inde­pen­dent liv­ing com­plexes improve neigh­bor­hoods. He has checked out com­plexes in other cities like Akron and Cleve­land and said the com­plexes are beau­ti­ful, safe neighborhoods.

Audi­ence mem­bers were not opposed to the idea of the project so much as the pro­posed loca­tion. Sev­eral of them expressed that it did not make sense for a large com­plex to be placed in the mid­dle of a res­i­den­tial neighborhood.

One mem­ber pointed out that 40 per­cent of Galion prop­er­ties are cur­rently rented. He did not feel Eden would help that sit­u­a­tion, ask­ing what it would actu­ally profit the citizens.

Hun­ley responded that his com­pany would pay prop­erty taxes. Event though NOAH would be the pri­mary owner, SMC would retain some ownership.

Another con­cern was whether or not the com­plex would retain enough res­i­dents to be prof­itable. Galion Cham­ber of Com­merce Pres­i­dent Joe Kleinknecht was in atten­dance. He noted that the senior apart­ments on the Pub­lic Square were usu­ally full.

Plan­ing and Zon­ing Com­mis­sioner Bob Cerar was con­cerned with the fact that the site was a ceme­tery, stat­ing that when the High School was being built, sev­eral unmarked graves were dis­cov­ered and more could still be there.

Plan­ing and Zon­ing Com­mis­sioner Steve Rowan was also con­cerned. He ref­er­enced a 2005 study con­ducted by CTL Engi­neer­ing. Accord­ing to the report, the soil on the prop­erty is con­t­a­m­i­nated with arsenic.

Hun­ley explained that before his com­pany can begin con­struc­tion, an envi­ron­men­tal review, mar­ket study and other reports would need to be con­ducted. If there is still arsenic or any other con­t­a­m­i­nants in the ground, or the site does not meet other EPA require­ments, they will not be able to move for­ward with the project.

Cerar then took an infor­mal poll, ask­ing audi­ence mem­bers who were attend­ing specif­i­cally to hear about the pro­posed project to raise their hands. Out of the 19 present, about 15 raised their hands. Cerar then asked who was against the project. Six hands were raised.

Cerar said he would like to see the results of those stud­ies before the Com­mis­sion made any deci­sions. Other Com­mis­sion­ers voiced their agreement.

Hun­ley said the mar­ket study will take 30–40 days to com­plete and agreed to present it to the Commission.

There will be no zon­ing change until there is a mar­ket study and envi­ron­men­tal review com­pleted. Wait­ing on the results and a deci­sion from the Com­mis­sion, as well as City Coun­cil approval, will take some time and will most likely not be fin­ished before the state fund­ing appli­ca­tion is due in February.

“The bot­tom line ques­tions is: Is this good for the city in the long term?” Cerar concluded.

Cit­i­zens who have ques­tions or con­cerns regard­ing the project are encour­aged to con­tact the City Zon­ing and Build­ing Depart­ment at 419–468-2642.

After the pub­lic hear­ing, Plan­ning and Zoning’s other item of busi­ness was a request to rezone the O.E. Meyer Com­pany, located on Sixth Avenue, to gen­eral com­mer­cial. The busi­ness, which dis­trib­utes indus­trial and med­ical equip­ment, is grow­ing and would like to expand to the north.

The Com­mis­sion approved the request. Its next meet­ing is Dec. 11 at 5:15 p.m. in Coun­cil Chambers.

Posted by Matt Echelberry on Nov 16 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.