June 16, 2011
Northland plan to undergo update By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
For months now, Northland Community Council president Dave Paul has been hinting, suggesting, advocating and urging that the existing Northland Plan is badly in need of an update. Last week, the full Dave Paul council unanimously agreed with his assessment after hearing from a city planner who has considerable experience when it comes to crafting area plans for Northland. “There’s a lot of planning history here,” Kevin Wheeler, assistant planning administrator in the Columbus Department of Development, said at the NCC’s monthly meeting.
Wheeler has been involved in much of it, including the drafting of the original Northland Plan in 1989, the Northland Development Standards in 1992, the updated Northland Plan I in 2001 and 2002’s Northland Plan II, which covered an expanded area outside of Interstate 270. Residents of the Northland area, Wheeler said, have done a good job in not only demanding planning help but also implementing it. As a result of last week’s vote, the NCC’s executive council will enter into a written agreement with city officials to formally kick off the process that will take about a year to complete and that calls for considerable community involvement. The most successful area plans — and Columbus has about 50 of them coverSee NORTHLAND PLAN, page A2
Updating land use guide has several phases, key elements By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
An area plan involves seven phases that spread out over the course of a year or more. Information provided by Kevin Wheeler, assistant planning administrator within the city’s Department of Development, identifies these seven phases as: • Background and preliminary research
• Data gathering and analysis • “Visioning” • Plan development • Plan finalization • Plan adoption • Publication Columbus City Council must vote to formally adopt the plan, Wheeler said at the Northland Community Council’s June session. Sometimes the process takes longer than a year in order to make council’s agenda, he said.
See UPDATING, page A2
Development meeting turnout deemed disappointing
Athlete heading to Special Olympics World Games
By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By KEVIN PARKS
At the May meeting of the Northland Community Council, president Dave Paul pleaded with member organizations to have a presence at meetings of the development committee, noting that it “is really the most effective way that we, as neighborhood leaders, can affect our community in the future.” At the panel’s meeting a few weeks later, in spite of a crowded agenda and a special appearance by former NCC president Mark Bell, a baker’s halfdozen of seven voting members were on hand for the most controversial issue. Paul, acting chairman of the development committee in the absence of Bob Thurman as a result of health problems, expressed disappointment at last week’s monthly NCC meeting, as did NCC vice president Emmanuel V. Remy. “This is the single most important thing we do as
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Jeff Brewer, who goes to church in his Clintonville neighborhood but works at an office supply store in the Northland area, won’t be in either community June 25 through July 4. He’ll be in Athens. Not the one in the rolling hills of southeastern Ohio. The Goodwill Columbus athlete will be in Athens, Greece, birthplace of the Olympic Games. Brewer will be one of 7,500 athletes from 185 countries participating in the 2011 Special Olympics World Games, held in the white marble Panathinaiko Stadium. Panathinaiko was the primary stadium for the first modern Olympics in 1896 and was a venue when the games returned to Athens in 2004. Brewer, 37, specializes in the pentathalon, which in Special Olympics involves a 100yard dash, running long jump, shot put and 400-meter dash. He also runs in the 4 by 100meter relay. “I like the 100,” Brewer said last week as he prepared for yet another in a long series of training sessions at the Goodwill Columbus headquarters on Edgehill Road and at the nearby Grandview Heights
Further, Wheeler noted that while city officials will print copies of a new or updated area plan, the vast majority of people choose any more to access them online at the city’s website. The specific address for the planning department, where the current Northland Plan I from 2001 and Northland Plan II from the following year may be accessed, is http://development.columbus.gov/planning.
See DEVELOPMENT, page A4
NCC’s mission and purpose to be better defined By KEVIN PARKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Chris Parker/ThisWeek
Jeff Brewer, who has qualified to compete in the Special Olympics World Games in Athens, Greece, works out in See ATHLETE, page A3 preparation for the event.
The strategic planning process for the Northland Community Council has begun. A small group of council leaders held an initial meeting last week. “Really, we started with the absolute basics,” community outreach and relations committee chairman Brandon L. Boos told the full council at the June monthly meeting. The purpose of engaging in strategic planning, added Boos, the Salem Civic Association representative to the council, is to figure out NCC’s purSee MISSION, page A4
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Cheryl is one of many cats up for adoption at the Cat Welfare Association. On Tuesday, June 21, the association will hold its Summer Solstice Adoption Extravaganza, which will feature food and special adoption rates. For information on adopting Cheryl or any of the cats, visit catwelfareohio.com. Watch a video of Cheryl at ThisWeekNews.com.
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