August 4, 2011
Polaris Parkway and Africa Road
Developers present new plans By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The undeveloped northwest corner of Polaris Parkway and Africa Road soon could see new office buildings and retail space. Developers Daimler Group and Casto presented revised plans for the site to the Westerville Planning Commission on July 27. The plans included two fourstory office buildings on the northern
portion of the 22-acre site, with retail parcels lining Polaris Parkway. The plans are similar to one approved by the planning commission in 2006, calling for a retail strip center with retail outlots on the site, Westerville planner Jeff Buehler said. In this case, the office space would replace the retail strip center. The office buildings would be closer to Polaris Parkway than the strip center would have been, with a large parking
field, including more than 300 parking spaces, to the north of the buildings and at the corner of Africa Road and Polaris Parkway. City staff and planning commission members shared concerns over the volume of parking on the site, the tree coverage on the site and about the circulation through the parking lot. The biggest concern expressed by planning commission members focused on the plans to put a parking lot direct-
ly at the corner of Africa Road and Polaris Parkway. “The sea of asphalt — I think that’s a good description. Something’s going to have to be done there,” said member Paul Johnson. “You’ve got to get through what you’re going to do with the southeast corner, and the parking lot isn’t going to cut it.” Daimler representative Paul Ghidotti See DEVELOPERS, page A2
Huntington Bank gets conditional OK to tear down, rebuild By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Chris Parker/ThisWeek
Congestion on state Route 3 worsens as motorists prepare to turn onto the entrance ramp to I-270 west.
City, ODOT work to keep traffic moving By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
It’s become a familiar site at rush hour: Stopped cars backed up onto Interstate 270 from state Route 3 and stop-and-go traffic on South State Street from Schrock Road to I-270. As both the Ohio Department of Transportation and the city of Westerville make improvements to Route 3, officials are working to keep traffic moving through what was already a congested area. ODOT is spending $7 million to rebuild Route 3 from Huber Village Boulevard to state Route 161. Through October 2012, the two-mile stretch of road will be widened, and bike lanes, turn lanes and sidewalks
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We knew it was going to be a painful process for the next 18 months. Sometimes will be easier than other.
SUSAN BANBURY — Westerville city engineer
will be added. The intersections at state Route 161, Dempsey Road, Paris Boulevard and Brazzaville Road and the ramp from I-270 west to state Route 3 north are being reconstructed. At the same time, the city is continuing its South State Street improvement project, which involves rebuilding portions of Heatherdown Drive and Huber Village Boulevard, widening South State Street to add
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an additional left-turn lane in both directions, replacing traffic signals, widening sidewalks, adding streetlights and enhancing the landscaping. “We knew it was going to be a painful process for the next 18 months. Sometimes will be easier than other,” Westerville city engineer Susan Banbury said. The fact two construction projects are happening in the same area
makes coordinating traffic even more difficult, said ODOT spokeswoman Nancy Burton. “Ideally, we don’t like to have people go from one construction zone to another,” Burton said. “We all have the same construction season, which is April to November. … We all have to work in the same couple of months, and we’re all eager to get our projects done, but that is a challenge.” State Route 3 also is a challenge, Burton said, because it’s an old road with old utilities and a very narrow work space, which means there isn’t much room for construction crews to work while traffic flows through. Westerville’s engineers have been See CITY, ODOT, page A2
Huntington Bank will upgrade its 45-year-old branch at South State Street and Schrock Road. The Westerville Planning Commission on July 27 approved the company’s application to demolish the 3,000-square-foot building and construct a new, 4,600-square-foot facility on the site. The new branch would be built closer to the corner, with a 25-foot setback, as is outlined in the city’s South State Street Overlay standards. Plans call for a single-story, red brick building, with a rounded corner constructed of metal and large windows facing South State Street and Schrock Road. All of the building’s windows would be accented by Huntington Bank’s new signature bright green, prompting some negative comments from commission members. “I’m not real comfortable with it,” said Councilwoman Diane Fosselman, who sits on the commission. “If I knew we were going to have this color green for the next five years, I would be OK with it. I’m concerned about having this color green for the next 20 to 30 years and it look very dated.” Other commission members didn’t appear concerned about the color. “I like the color. Maybe it’s too much; spice it up,” commission member Amy Koorn said. Huntington Bank’s request for left turns from the parking lot onto Schrock Road also drew discussion. Architect David Youse asked the city to allow left turns out of the parking lot in the short term and, after a planned median on Schrock Road is built, to allow a break in the median so that motorists could continue to turn left into and left out of the parking lot. Commission members quickly rejected the reSee PLANNING, page A2
Frozen yogurt comes to Westerville Plaza By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Westerville residents have a new cool treat to help beat the summer heat. The city has joined the self-serve frozenyogurt movement with the opening of Josie’s, which celebrated its grand opening last week in Westerville Plaza, at the southwest corner of South State Street and Schrock Road. Under the self-serve yogurt concept, the store offers 12 flavors of yogurt at a time and 36 toppings, including fresh fruit, candy and syrups, which patrons could use to fill their empty paper bowls. At the register, the bowls are weighed, and customers pay 45 cents an ounce. Other communities have seen similar frozenyogurt shops open in the past year, including Menchie’s in Dublin, Yagoot at Easton and Cuzzin’s in Upper Arlington. Another Josie’s
is scheduled to open at Polaris. The Westerville store is owned by a team of family members from Newark: husband and wife Brian and Lisa Jeffries; Lisa Jeffries’ parents, Randy and Cammie Sabo; and Lisa Jeffries’ cousin, Peggy Komada. The owners said they were inspired to open their own Josie’s after a family member opened a shop in Heath last year. The chain appealed to the family because it focuses on providing a healthier product, with no high-fructose corn syrup, a lower amount of carbohydrates per serving than most yogurts and about 80 calories on average per 4-ounce serving, Lisa Jeffries said. The yogurt is gluten-free, and the company offers sugar-free, Stevia-sweetened variBy Adam Cairns/ThisWeek eties, as well as lactose-free sorbets. Josie’s Frozen Yogurt owners Lisa Jeffries (left), Brian Jeffries, Cammie Sabo, Randy Sabo and Peggy Koma“It goes with the growing trend of the health da opened the dessert shop in Westerville Plaza on June 17. The shop features 12 flavors of self-serve
See NEW FROZEN YOGURT, page A5 frozen yogurt and 36 different toppings.
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