The NOAH Project continues with community input

By Rachel Mendell

Inquirer Edi­tor

rmendell@civitasmedia.com

Res­i­dents and NOAH Project mem­bers met at the Galion Pub­lic Library to exchange ques­tions and infor­ma­tion Thurs­day evening, Jan. 24. Scott Hun­ley from The Showe Com­pany was present to answer ques­tions about the con­struc­tion of Eden Place. Su Rowles, a leader of the NOAH Project, urged those in atten­dance to share their ideas, needs and wishes to help the group improve the plan for the 35 unit senior apart­ments pro­posed for the vacant prop­erty on 200 Church Street.

Rowles explained that The NOAH Project started sev­eral years ago in Crest­line. The Faith Com­mu­nity in Crest­line is the prod­uct of years of research and plan­ning that focused on what poten­tial res­i­dents needed to make them the most com­fort­able. The result is a group of homes that are always full, well kept, safe and friendly. Rowles explained that the homes were designed to make liv­ing eas­ier as res­i­dents got older. The homes include lever door han­dles, lever faucets, no stairs, large door­ways for wheel chairs and walk­ers, brightly lit liv­ing spaces, and eas­ily acces­si­ble appli­ances. Man­agers of the com­mu­nity live on site so that any prob­lems can be addressed quickly. The res­i­dents will also make use of com­mu­nity space, gar­dens, walk­ing areas, laun­dry ser­vices, and any­thing else needed. The site was cho­sen for its close­ness to shop­ping, library, restau­rants and other needed services.

The NOAH Project will seek fed­eral fund­ing and to that end the pro­gram will attain to meet the strin­gent fund­ing require­ments. HUD sends out para­me­ters each year regard­ing income level and rent cost for the com­pleted project. Rowles said the project is quite strict. There are reg­u­lar inspec­tions. The res­i­dents can’t be rowdy. The prop­erty must be main­tained and will be the respon­si­bil­ity of the NOAH Project for 30 years. If these things are not done fines will be assessed.

The goal is to pro­vide a safe place for emo­tional and phys­i­cal sta­bil­ity so res­i­dents can be inde­pen­dent for as long as pos­si­ble. Rowles said that they have heard reports from res­i­dents of the Faith Com­mu­nity of enhanced heal­ing and an increase in the enjoy­ment of living.

Find­ing or cre­at­ing afford­able and qual­ity hous­ing for the older res­i­dents of the area has been a mis­sion of Rowles and mem­bers of the NOAH Project for years. Rowles admit­ted that when she began the first project in Crest­line, the group knew very lit­tle of what needed to be done. “But,” she said, “God told Noah how to build an ark. God gave Noah the vision and Noah built the ark with­out help from any­one.” And that is how the name of the NOAH Project came about. Rowles urged those in atten­dance to visit the Faith Com­mu­nity in Crest­line and see first hand what can be done in other communities.

Many of the details of the plans for Eden Place were taken from ques­tion­naires col­lected at the Craw­ford County Fair. Those in atten­dance at the Thurs­day meet­ing were asked to study the site plan, the floor plans and other details and to give the group their ideas of what will work and what is still needed. “We need you to help us on this project,” Rowles said. She added that infor­ma­tion from the Thurs­day night meet­ing as well as next week’s meet­ing will be added into the final plans for the project.

Bruce Angell, a mem­ber of the board of the NOAH Project, shared the vision of the group. He related vis­its they had made to other com­mu­ni­ties, specif­i­cally in the Akron area, where projects such as these had re-energized the area. One such neigh­bor­hood was blighted and vacant. A builder cre­ated afford­able, qual­ity hous­ing, and lis­ten­ing to the needs of that com­mu­nity, also built a gro­cery store within walk­ing dis­tance of the new homes. Other busi­nesses sprung up as well. Another by prod­uct of the build­ing project was that crime in the area went down.

Angell stressed that The NOAH Project is a not-for-profit com­mu­nity improve­ment corporation.

A mem­ber of the Area Agency on Aging came out to show sup­port and said the agency is behind the project, call­ing it “a won­der­ful project for the community.”

The NOAH Project is also cre­at­ing a faith com­mu­nity in Bucyrus and pre­lim­i­nary draw­ings were avail­able for view­ing at the meet­ing. The Bucyrus project includes 11 duplex uni­ver­sally designed units planned for the prop­erty adjoin­ing the Orchard Park Assisted Liv­ing facil­ity. A com­mu­nity meet­ing regard­ing this project is sched­uled for Thurs­day, Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. in the Bucyrus Pub­lic Library.

The Showe Company

The Showe Com­pany is fam­ily owned and has been doing qual­ity and afford­able projects since the 1960s. Their phi­los­o­phy: “Our team is com­mit­ted to pro­vid­ing an enjoy­able liv­ing expe­ri­ence for our res­i­dents. Our proven abil­ity to cre­ate value and deliver qual­ity has made us reli­able part­ners. These qual­i­ties allow us to man­age our com­mu­nity devel­op­ment projects and exceed goals set by local munic­i­pal­i­ties and reg­u­la­tory agen­cies. Respon­sive­ness and open com­mu­ni­ca­tion is a pri­or­ity and our hands-on man­age­ment approach is fun­da­men­tal to our success.”

The NOAH Project

The NOAH Project is a grass­roots locally owned ecu­meni­cal non-profit orga­ni­za­tion. Our direc­tors and asso­ciates have a strong belief in lis­ten­ing to mature adults regard­ing their inter­ests and desired homes. That allows res­i­dents to lead more reward­ing and enjoy­able lives. We desire to pro­vide more oppor­tu­ni­ties for per­sons 55 and older in years to come and that is why we con­tinue to seek your thoughts for future projects. You are impor­tant and we will do our level best to pro­vide oppor­tu­ni­ties for com­mu­ni­ties that you will want to call home. To express thoughts or to ask ques­tions: the NOAH Project, PO Box 83, Crest­line, OH 44827, Phone: 419–683-3700, email – noahproject@frontier.com, web­site – noahprojectofohio.org