July 14, 2011
Referendum in works to block Walmart By JENNIFER NESBITT
Approval comes with stipulations
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Following approval from Westerville City Council last week, redevelopment plans for the Westerville Square shopping center face another hurdle. A group of residents is working to fight the redevelopment, which includes plans for a 108,000-square-foot Walmart, by placing a referendum of the council vote on the November ballot. Opponents of the redevelopment have 30 days from the July 5 vote to collect signatures from 1,679 Westerville residents and file a petition. Becky Chaney, one of the organizers of the referendum effort, said a lawyer reviewed petition language last week and signature collection began July 11. Chaney said she does not expect to have a problem collecting enough signatures, since she has
By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
George Hadler, CEO of The Hadler Cos., listens as Westerville resident Jane Charles expresses her approval of Hadler’s Walmart plans at the Westerville Square shopping center July 5.
an email list of more than 100 people waiting to sign a petition for the referendum, and the Facebook group “Wack The Wal-Mart in Westerville” has 475 members. “I don’t think the signatures are going to be the problem. I think
Westerville City Council gave the green light to redevelopment plans for the Westerville Square shopping center. Council approved the redevelopment application from shopping center owner The Hadler Cos. after a public hearing July 5. The developer plans to tear down three vacant storefronts, totaling about 90,500 square feet, at the core of the center to construct a 108,000square-foot Walmart. The remainder of the center will be renovated to match the new construction. The approval came on a 6-1 vote, though concerns lingered over Walmart’s planned 24-hour operation, the potential for the retailer to expand
into more of the center and the impact the store would have on traffic at the intersection of South State Street and Schrock Road. The most debate came over the 24-hour operation of the store. Council members took a 4-3 vote to allow round-the-clock hours in the shopping center. The Hadler Cos. previously said Walmart would not be willing to move to the site if it could not operate 24 hours a day. Council members opposed to the 24-hour operation — Diane Fosselman, Jenifer French and Craig Treneff — said they were concerned about the impact on nearby homes. “This is different (than other 24-hour stores in Westerville),” French said. “It’s bordered by more
we’ll have the signatures pretty See APPROVAL, page A7 easily,” Chaney said. However, the group could face a bigger challenge in putting a ref- Westerville Square owner The that the vote taken by council can ploy really good ones. They thorerendum before voters in No- Hadler Cos., has vowed to fight legally be placed before voters in oughly researched all of this bea referendum in court. a referendum. vember. Hadler said he does not believe “I’m not a lawyer, but I em- See REFERENDUM, page A2 George Hadler, president of
School board to evaluate budget cuts, levy options By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Westerville City Schools officials will discuss potential budget cuts and levy options at a special meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. July 18 at Westerville North High School, 950 County Line Road. During a July 11 work session on the district’s finances, members of the Westerville Board of Education asked administrators to suggest potential program cuts and levy options that could be placed on the November ballot. The district faces a $2.7-million cash shortfall at the end of fiscal year 2012, which ends June 30, 2012, under a $186-million temporary budget passed by the board June 27. According to the district’s five-year financial forecast, that shortage would balloon to $21 million at the end of fiscal year 2013. “You know we can’t do this, so we’ve got to do something,” interim treasurer Steve Huzicko said. Huzicko presented the board with three options July 11: Seek additional revenues through a traditional property-tax levy, an emergency levy or an earned-income tax; make budget cuts; or do a combination of the two. Board member Cindy Crowe said she would like to see options for cutting the budget, particularly to cover the $2.7-million shortfall for fiscal year 2012. Superintendent Dan Good said that list would be similar to one compiled during the district’s 2009 levy campaign, which included busing, field trips, extracurricular activities and non-core classes. Potential cuts always begin with a look at what the district is not mandated to provide by law, Good said. “It’s déjà vu. This is my third time in this same conversation with this board of education,” he said. Board member Kevin Hoffman said he would like to see how big a property-tax levy or an income tax would need to be to keep the district solvent through 2015, and how much money the district would need to ask for in an emergency levy to cover deficits for the next two fiscal years. The board would have to make a decision on a levy by July 29 to meet the certification deadline for the Franklin and Delaware county auditors’ offices. A levy then would have to be filed with the counties’ boards of election by Aug. 10. That means a vote to place a levy on the ballot likely would come at the board’s July 25 meeting. “If we’re going to be on the ballot, we’re See SCHOOL LEVY, page B4
By Paul Vernon/ThisWeek
Music and Arts Festival
Tonda Thomas of Westerville looks at stained-glass art pieces on display during the Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2011 installment of the Music and Arts Festival at Heritage Park on July 9. More photos are on page A6.
City council grants tax incentive for St. Ann’s By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital will receive a seven-year, 20-percent income-tax abatement on all the jobs created as part of its expansion. Westerville City Council unanimously approved the incentive agreement at its July 5 meeting. Ground was broken June 30 for Mount Carmel’s $110-million expansion that will include a four-story patient tower with a cardiac unit that will allow the hospital to offer more intense cardiovascular care.
The expansion is expected to create 193 jobs totaling $13.8 million by 2016, according to a Westerville staff report. With the tax offset, the city still will see a gain of $3.7 million in revenue over the seven-year life of the incentive agreement, Westerville economic development administrator Jason Bechtold said. During the same time, St. Ann’s will see between $46,000 and $205,000 in offset costs, Bechtold said. The agreement also grants a waiver for the water-capacity fee and the fire-suppression water-tap fee, not to exceed $165,000.
The tax offset will be granted on any jobs beyond those at St. Ann’s in 2010. According to the staff report, St. Ann’s parent company, Trinity Health, requires its subsidiaries to show proof of public support, including tax-incentive agreements, when asking for funding for expansion projects. Also at the July 5 meeting, city council approved an income-tax agreement with West-Camp Press, a printing and marketing company already located in See COUNCIL, page A2
Volunteers get taste of life in an animal shelter By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
It was 6 p.m. on a Saturday, and Stephanie Wimbish had been walked twice, let out for a playgroup, been fed breakfast and lunch, and saw a steady stream of faces peering into her cage. Wimbish, CHA Animal Shelter director, was one of several volunteers
who spent 24 hours sharing a cage with a shelter dog July 9 as part of an event dubbed “Trading Spaces.” The volunteers ate when the dogs ate, went for walks when the dogs walked and played when the dogs played. “The purpose was to bring attention to the long-term animals,” she said. “Not everyone gets adopted in one or two days. Sometimes it takes months.”
Wimbish’s cage mate, for example, was a 2-and-a-half-year-old boxer mix named Benson who has been at the shelter for three months. “Dogs get overlooked when they’ve been in a shelter for a certain amount of time,” Wimbish said. “I think there’s a perception that if they’ve been in a shelter for awhile, there’s something wrong with them.”
She said that perception couldn’t be further from the truth. “It means (the people who pass the animals by) are missing out,” she said. Sharing space with the animals for 24 hours also gave the volunteers insight into what it’s like to be locked in the cage for the majority of the day like See CHA VOLUNTEERS, page B2