| News from Campus Partners | |
The Campus Collaborative places a monthly director's report on its Website. This report contains a wealth of information about initiatives involving the schools serving students living in the University District, economic development and job readiness programs, the university's Community Outreach Partnership Center, and much more. The Website address is: www.osu.edu/campuscollab/reports.html.
The preliminary traffic analysis for the Gateway redevelopment is nearly complete and indicates that the levels of service at impacted intersections, after Gateway, are acceptable. This analysis also evaluates the conversion of 11th and Chittenden Avenues from the current one-way pairing to two-way traffic, and indicates that this conversion will be workable, with a minimal loss of on-street parking.
Efforts are currently under way to prepare a development and reimbursement agreement with the city, per the economic development agreement, to establish the mechanism for designing, managing and processing payments for the city's public improvements associated with the Gateway project. This agreement will require approval by city council. The goal is to place as much of the design and construction management responsibility as possible on The Druker Company to facilitate overall project coordination.
The Campus Partners request for $4.5 million of support from the state's capital budget has been approved. This assistance, combined with the "non-school" TIF increment, should provide adequate resources (in combination with the projected user fees) to fund the construction and operation of the 1,200-space parking structure.
Since Mid-April, the Campus Partners staff has negotiated and/or executed relocation/lease termination agreements with six additional businesses. To date, 16 businesses have been successfully relocated and leases terminated with a total of 12 remaining businesses currently in negotiations.
The Steering Committee for the University Uptown Improvement District met on June 6 to plan a public information campaign to gain support among property owners for creation of the special improvement district (SID). The Steering Committee - with assistance from Campus Partners staff - has published an eight-page newsletter, which was mailed and widely distributed in early June to property and business owners in the proposed SID area. The Steering Committee also considered governance issues related to the SID and legal issues related to the circulation of the petition to create the SID. The goal remains to begin circulating the petition later this summer and to present it to Columbus City Council in September.
Six representatives of the Steering Committee traveled to Philadelphia on May 31 to meet with the staff of the University City District (UCD), the business improvement district around the University of Pennsylvania. The visit included meetings with UCD staff, key university officials, representatives of the contractors for safety and maintenance services, and neighborhood leaders, as well as a tour of the area. The Columbus visitors were impressed with the clean sidewalks and complete lack of graffiti. In addition, the "safety ambassadors" cooperated closely with Philadelphia police and University of Pennsylvania police. UCD also plays a key role in marketing the area's assets to residents and visitors and planning capital improvements, including a new directional signage program.
Two selection committees have been at work reviewing applications and interviewing candidates to fill seats on the Campus Partners Board of Trustees with a graduate or graduate-professional student from Ohio State and with a permanent resident of the University District.
The term of Ron Meyers, the current graduate and professional student member of the Campus Partners Board, will expire June 30. The committee to select his successor made a recommendation to the Campus Partners Board on June 8. The board subsequently appointed Gregory J. Lestini as a board member, serving a term from July 1, 2000, to June 30, 2002. Mr. Lestini will begin his second year in the College of Law this fall.
Sharon Austin is chairing the selection committee for a neighborhood resident to succeed Don Pearson on the Campus Partners Board. Willie Young and George Arnold are the other committee members. Applications for the board position were received from 11 neighborhood residents. The committee is likely to make its recommendation at the board meeting in July.
A contractor completed the installation in early June of six new "blue light" emergency telephones in the neighborhood around Ohio State's campus. The installation completes an 18-month effort by students, led by Shane Hankins, representing Undergraduate Student Government, and Steve Leffingwell, representing Evans Scholars, to extend the emergency phones off-campus. The first such phone was installed in March 1999 at East 14th Avenue and Pearl Street.
The Campus Partners Safety Coordinating Committee normally meets on the second Wednesday of each month, but the committee is not likely to meet in July. Call Campus Partners at 294-7300 for information on the next meeting.
At the Campus Partners Public Service Committee meeting on May 24, John Johnson, operations manager for the city's Refuse Collection Division, reported that implementation of the second dumpster zone in the University District would likely begin July 10. The zone will be bounded by West 11th Avenue on the north, King Avenue on the south, High Street on the east and Neil Avenue on the west.
The Refuse Collection Division last summer created the first dumpster zone east of High Street in the core student neighborhood. The 300-gallon plastic containers were replaced with dumpsters because the plastic containers were being regularly destroyed by arson. The dumpsters also created more capacity. The University District is the only area of Columbus in which the city provides metal dumpsters.
In other action at the May 24 meeting, the committee members agreed that the annual bulk pick-up program in the University District would be Monday, Aug. 28, through Monday, Sept. 11. This coincides with the move-out of students at the end of summer quarter. The city will place "roll-offs" (large dumpsters) in six or seven locations in the student neighborhoods to encourage the placement of bulk items in these containers. The Refuse Collection Division also will assign extra bulk collection crews to the University District from Sept. 11-25.
The next meeting of the Public Service Committee on refuse collection will be Wednesday, Aug. 2, at 4 p.m. in the community meeting room of the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St.
The city conducted a special sweeping of the south campus area on June 13 and 14 and of the Dennison Place and NECKO neighborhoods on June 15 and 16. The city posted temporary "no parking" signs, and CCP staff and volunteers distributed leaflets. The next meeting on street sweeping will be Thursday, June 22, at 3:30 p.m. at the Northwood-High Building, 2231 N. High St.
Volunteers from United Parcel Service on May 6 removed a cement retaining wall from the rear of a single-family home in the 100 block of East Oakland Avenue. The retaining wall had fallen into disrepair and was ordered removed or repaired by the city's Code Enforcement Office. The house was cited for a number of other exterior violations.
The homeowner, who asked that her name and address not be publicized, had been victimized by a "fly-by-night" operator on previous repairs. The homeowner qualifies for the city's Exterior Home Improvement Program, but the cost estimates for the work exceeded the program's $10,000 limit. As a result, the city could not approve the repairs.
Julie Boyland of Campus Partners contacted several city offices to obtain additional help for the homeowner. Other programs will repair the basement foundation and fix a roof leak.
Ms. Boyland then contacted Joe Graessle, community relations manager with the Central Ohio District of United Parcel Service, to recruit volunteers to remove the retaining wall. UPS last year donated $18,000 to the university's Office of Student Affairs to support voluntary efforts to assist with home repairs in the University District.
Due to the home being located in an historic district, Ms. Boyland worked closely with an Historic Resources Commission staff member to procure the "certificate of appropriateness," demolition permit and alley closure permit. She also worked with Joe Rossetti of the city's Mobile Tool Library to deliver rakes, shovels, sledge hammers, wheel barrows and picks to the home on May 6. A general contractor provided a dump truck and driver to haul away the debris. The only expense incurred was to rent a Bobcat earthmover to properly grate the yard to the city's specifications. (This expense will be paid from the funds donated by UPS). Sixteen young men from UPS helped remove the wall.
Meanwhile, city staff members are continuing to work with the homeowner on the other repairs. The hope is that, with the voluntary work done and the commitment from other city programs, the homeowner can complete all the needed repairs with no more than a $10,000 grant from the Exterior Improvement Program.
Back to the top. Home | News | History & Organization | Committees | Contact Campus Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment, Inc.