The University Area Commission is continuing its review of the drafts of

the two reports from Goody, Clancy & Associates, titled A Plan for High

Street: Creating a 21st Century Main Street and High Street-University

District Development and Design Guidelines. Campus Partners staff and

consultant David Dixon met with the commission's planning committee to

discuss points raised by the reports. Ron Hupman, UAC president, and

Doreen Uhas-Sauer, chair of the planning committee, subsequently met

again with Campus Partners staff for a telephone conference with Mr.

Dixon. Copies of the two drafts have been distributed to members of the

Columbus Development Commission, but Campus Partners has delayed a formal

presentation to the Development Commission until the UAC has completed

its review.

Campus Partners announced Nov. 12 that three teams of developers are

being invited to respond with detailed proposals to design and develop

the University Gateway Center. We were very pleased by the quality of

the ten development teams expressing an interest in the University

Gateway Center, and we feel that interest underscores the underlying

value of the project. The three teams competing to serve as the Gateway

Center master developer are:

• The Druker Company, Ltd., of Boston.

• The collaboration of LaSalle Partners Development, Inc., of Chicago;
  the Don M. Casto Organization, of Columbus; and Arshot Development Corp.,
  of Columbus.

• The collaboration of Towne Properties and Madison Marquette Realty
  Services, both of Cincinnati.

We appreciate the members of the Campus Partners Board, city and

university staff members, neighborhood and business leaders, and students

who reviewed and critiqued the Statements of Qualification from the 10

developers who responded to the RFQ. We hope to prepare and issue the

formal Request for Proposals within two weeks. To permit the developers

to hear community input, we plan to hold a series of public forums as the

developers begin to prepare their proposals. Developers will also be

establishing interest among major tenants, undertaking appropriate levels

of market and financial due diligence, and preparing preliminary design

proposals. We then will seek responses from the community and other

stakeholders to the proposals when they are submitted. The tentative

schedule for the selection process of the preferred master developer has

been revised as follows:

Back to the top.

As of Nov. 17, a total of 18 employees have applied for the $3,000 in

which began June 1.  Fourteen checks have been distributed for closings.

Steve Sterrett has scheduled a meeting Nov. 20 to discuss extending a

new homeownership program to Ohio State employees. The program is

sponsored by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, Fannie Mae and

Trustcorp Mortgage Co. This program, announced Sept. 9 by Mayor

Lashutka, reduces the required qualifying income for homebuyers and

enables a qualified homebuyer to borrow a higher amount than under

conventional mortgages. (The income ceiling for participation is 115

percent of the area median income.) The program currently is available

to Columbus municipal employees and to members of unions affiliated with

the AFL-CIO. The program, which is not expected to have a cost to Ohio

State, could dovetail with the university's existing homeownership

incentive program. It also could be used separately for home purchases

in Columbus. Attending the meeting Nov. 20 will be representatives of

Ohio State's Office of Human Resources and Office of Trademark and

Licensing Services, Fannie Mae, and Trustcorp.

  As authorized at the board's September meeting, Campus Partners has

completed the acquisition of the following four additional properties:

• 20 E. 11th (formally known as Dirty Dungarees with 18 single bedroom units)

• 47-49 E. 11th Avenue (four residential units)

• 31-45 E. 11th (a surface parking lot and part of DeSantis bankruptcy)

• 1564-68 N. High St., (the former B K Flyers Nightclub and part of DeSantis bankruptcy)

The University District Code Enforcement Task Force at its meeting Sept.

15 recommended that city inspectors take the systematic code enforcement

into a third target area. The area is bounded by Maynard Avenue on the

north, the alley between East Northwood and East Norwich avenues on the

south, High Street on the west and Indianola Avenue on the east.

Meanwhile, the city's Department of Trade and Development is working out

details of an "envelope program," which would provide grants of up to

$10,000 to low-income homeowners in the University District to make

repairs ordered for exterior code violations. Julie Boyland organized a

meeting Nov. 16 with representatives of city agencies, municipal court,

nonprofit agencies and student service organizations to discuss a

volunteer program to assist homeowners in need to make repairs to their

properties. There was an excellent response to the meeting and much

interest in a volunteer approach.

  Tom Kurelic of the city's building inspection unit addressed the task

force at its meeting Nov. 10 on the topic of bars on basement windows and

issues related to occupant safety. The city has a Structural Emergency

Response Team (CERT) which evaluates immediate safety issues with

buildings. He reported that 26 buildings in the University District have

been identified this fall as having inadequate egress from basement

sleeping rooms, and all of the buildings are now in compliance. These

reviews were triggered by a house fire this summer which injured an Ohio

State student.

Citizens brought to the task force Nov. 10 their concerns with students

moving into housing in the northern part of the University District with

added parking congestion and noise. This prompted a discussion of the

city's definition of a "family" (because of "single family" zoning

restrictions) and whether some properties were being converted, in

effect, to illegal rooming houses. The task force also discussed the

level of proof needed by the city to take action against property owners

not conforming to existing regulations. These matters will be discussed

further at future meetings of the task force. The next meeting will be

Tuesday, Dec. 8, at 3 p.m. in the Campus Partners office.

The Campus Partners Public Service Committee at its meeting Oct. 14

heard a report on the special collection of bulk items in the University

District at the end of summer quarter. The city's Refuse Collection

Division reported that the special collection went well, and the division

was complimented for keeping up with normal collections, as well as the

removal of bulk items. The division is working with neighborhood

property owners to create a "dumpster zone" in which metal boxes

(dumpsters) would replace the round, black 300-gallon containers. The

zone is proposed for an area bounded by East 15th Avenue on the north,

the alley south of East 11th Avenue on the south, High Street on the west

and Summit Street on the east. The 300-gallon containers don't hold up

well in the University District and, when set on fire, they melt. The

next meeting of the Public Service Committee will be Jan. 20 at 3:30 p.m.

in the Campus Partners office.

Campus Partners sponsored a news conference Nov. 9 to announce a

burglary prevention initiative for the University District over the

holidays. The initiative includes a public awareness campaign to inform

students and other residents of precautions they should take to prevent

burglaries and a joint effort by police agencies to patrol the area for

burglaries and related crimes. For the first time, Columbus Police and

University Police will implement their mutual aid pact. University

Police Chief Ron Michalec will assign officers to patrol with Columbus

Police officers in the predominantly student neighborhoods in the second

half of December. The Community Crime Patrol also will cooperate with

the police agencies in this effort.

The Safety Coordinating Committee has continued to encourage cooperation

among university, police and neighborhood leaders in planning for the

parties and celebrations around Michigan Week. The university held a

Michigan Week Police Luncheon on Nov. 17 to express appreciation to

police officers for their work in the University District.

Meanwhile, Evans Scholars and Undergraduate Student Government are

working on a project to develop an emergency telephone system for the

predominantly student neighborhoods around Ohio State's Columbus campus.

This system would be similar to the emergency phone on the campus. The

students have investigated emergency phone systems adjacent to other

urban campuses and will be talking with Columbus Public Safety and Police

officials in the near future.

The next meeting of the Safety Coordinating Committee will be Wednesday,

Nov. 18, at 2:30 p.m. in the Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road.

The city has completed its street sweeping program for 1998. The Campus

Partners Public Service Committee met Nov. 4 to review the program and

look ahead to 1998. The number of vehicles which continue to be towed

(242 on Sept. 10 and 11 and 313 on Oct. 8 and 9) make it difficult for

the street sweepers to complete the assigned sweeping within the posted

hours of 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Several alternatives will be considered.

Meanwhile, the special sweeping of the south campus area on Sept. 2 and 3

went well with a fairly high level of voluntary compliance with the

temporary "no parking" signs. (The area had not been swept for seven or

eight years.) The next meeting of the Public Service Committee on street

sweeping will be Feb. 17 at 3:30 p.m. in the Campus Partners office.

The Campus Partners' web site has been updated and greatly expanded.

The entire text and important graphics from the University Neighborhoods

Revitalization Plan: Concept Document is available on the web. The web

site also includes information on Campus Partners' committees, the

university's homeownership incentive program, the three developers

competing for the University Gateway Center, burglary prevention and much

more. We hope to soon place on the web the draft of A Plan for High

Street: Creating a 21st Century Main Street. The address for the web