May 19, 2011
St. Ann’s headed back to planning commission Up for approval are three-story parking garage, expansion of kitchen, energy plant By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital will go before the Westerville Planning Commission again May 25 to present further plans for a future remodel and expansion. At its April meeting, the commission approved the first of a series of requests from St. Ann’s: the expansion of a parking lot at the hospital property’s south-
west corner and the realignment of driving patterns through the hospital’s parking lot. This month, the planning commission will be asked to approve the construction of a three-story parking garage at the hospital’s southeast corner and expansions of the hospital’s kitchen and dining area and of the hospital’s central energy plant, which houses all of the mechanical equipment needed to power
the facility, Westerville senior planner Bassem Bitar said. In June, St. Ann’s officials are expected to come forward with a request to update the hospital’s master plan and potentially to rezone the property, Bitar said. All of those requests precede the largest component of the expansion: The construction of a cardiology tower that will include catheterization labs, 30 ad-
ditional beds and an emergency-room chest pain unit, he said. Those expansion plans are expected to be before the planning commission as early as July, Bitar said. Hospital officials are looking to get started on the parking expansion and the redirection of the traffic sooner, he said, because these projects will help address any traffic-flow or parking issues created by the construction of the new tower.
“The major component of the project is the new tower. All of these things they are doing now are things they feel they need to get under way pretty quickly,” Bitar said. Also on the agenda for the May 25 planning commission meeting are requests for multiple conditional-use permits. See ST. ANN’S, page A2
Brook Run residents aid with rain-garden research
EN GARDE
By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
for the tour. This year, the goal is $15,000, and with more than $11,000 already raised, Bibens said he expects that goal to be met easily. This year’s Tour de Cure is scheduled for June 11, with riders departing from Westerville Central High School. The Tour de Cure offers rides of 100 miles, 60 miles and 30 miles, as well as a 12-mile family-fun ride. The bike routes snake through Delaware and Licking counties, with the longer rides also having more challenging
A project launched by Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District last summer in the Brook Run neighborhood could help shape the future of residential and public rain gardens. Grants received by the conservation district and Ohio State University allowed for public education about rain gardens and electronic metering equipment that would help gauge the impact the rain gardens were having on the neighborhood’s stormwater runoff. Rain gardens are areas planted to catch such runoff. The stormwater filters through the gardens’ deep root systems slowly, preventing an influx of water from draining directly to creeks and rivers, bringing contaminates and causing erosion. Last July, 16 of Brook Run’s 33 residents installed rain gardens with help from the conservation district. The city of Westerville installed another five rain gardens in the neighborhood’s rights of way. According to the data collected by Ohio State researchers, the rain gardens have been able to capture 80 percent of rainwater in the neighborhood, said Stephanie Suter, a habitat conservationist with the conservation district. “When you have so much impervious surface in an area and there’s nowhere for it to drain, then there’s too much water going into our streams,” Suter said. “If we’re keeping that much stormwater out of a stormwater system that leads to our rivers and streams, then our water system benefits.” Westerville public service director Frank Wiseman, who helped coordinate the project from the city’s end, said he’s already seeing the value in participating in the project because it provides concrete data about the benefits of rain gardens. “Statewide and citywide, we’re looking for ways to reduce the pollutant runoff that goes into our streams,” Wiseman said. “(This project) actually
See TOUR DE CURE, page A6
See BROOK RUN RESIDENTS, page A6
By Andrea Kjerrumgaard/ThisWeek
Jacob Thurston, 14, of Upper Arlington and Charles Clayton, 10, of Gahanna, fence during a class at Profencing May 16 at the Westerville business’ new location at 576 Charring Cross Road. See story, page C1.
American Diabetes Association’s Tour de Cure
Local company aims to raise $15,000 By JENNIFER NESBITT
A closer look
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Employees at Emerson Network Power’s Liebert Services Division in Westerville are hitting the bike trails to prepare for this year’s Tour de Cure, a fundraiser for the American Diabetes Association. And they hope others will follow their lead. An avid biker, Liebert Services president Frank Bibens signed on to the bike tour three years ago and encouraged employees to do the same. Since that time, their cooperation
This year’s Tour de Cure is scheduled for June 11, with riders departing from Westerville Central High School. For more information about the Tour de Cure, visit www.tour.diabetes.org.
has grown. Bibens is serving as event chair for this year’s tour. In addition, there will be a team of Emerson Liebert cyclists, employee volunteers will help to run the event and employees are working to raise money for the cause. “We wanted to help with the fight against diabetes. There are so many
associations and their families who are impacted,” Bibens said. “When I first started three years ago, there were maybe six people (who signed up to ride in the event), and this year, there are 47 on the team.” Last year, employees at Emerson’s Liebert Services Division raised $7,000
City adds sculptures to decorate public spaces By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
A lemon drop tree has sprouted in front of Hanby Elementary, a tower of acrobats has been erected at the corner of County Line Road and Cleveland Avenue and a sentinel has been stationed in front of City Hall. They were among the 13 sculptures placed around the city last week as part of “Public Art in Westerville Spaces: The Sculpture Project,” a new program through the Westerville Department of Parks and Recreation, the Arts Council of Westerville and the Westerville Parks Foundation. As part of the project, three sculptures were placed at the Westerville Community Center, 350 N. Cleveland Ave.; five at the Westerville Sports Complex,
325 N. Cleveland Ave.; and one each at Hanby Elementary School, 56 S. State St., the Westerville Public Library, 126 S. State St., Westerville City Hall, 21 S. State St., Rotary Park, 54 N. State St., and the Westerville Senior Center, 310 W. Main St. The sculptures, ranging in price from $5,500 to $25,000, will be in place through next April. They are for sale. The sculptures were selected from a catalogue of 250 pieces available through the Midwest Sculpture Institute. The locations for the sculptures, and the See CITY ADDS SCULPTURES, page A5 “Blue Moon Over the ‘Yello’ Sea,” by Dave Vande Vusse, sits in front of the Westerville Public Library as part of the city’s “Public Art in Westerville Spaces: The Sculpture Project” program.
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