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Primarily serving Pataskala and surrounding areas
January 30, 2011
SWL to request kindergarten waiver By LISA AURAND ThisWeek Community Newspapers Southwest Licking Local Schools will hold off on full-day, every-day kindergarten for at least two more years. SWL school board members voted 50 during a special meeting Jan. 26 to request a two-year waiver — on top of the one-year waiver in use this year — for the House Bill 1 requirement for Ohio districts to offer all-day kindergarten. Superintendent Forest Yocum told the board he had looked into the costs and
challenges associated with full-day kindergarten and found that it would cost about $350,000 for the classroom space alone. Yocum said his calculations were based on the estimate of 300 students — an increase from the current student level. The current Kindergarten Center, 927B South St., would have enough classroom space for about 150 students if the student-to-teacher ratio were increased to 22 students per class. “We would have to take the other students elsewhere,” Yocum said. “At Kirkersville (Elementary School),
we have two classrooms currently. If we were to purchase two two-unit portables, that would give us six classrooms there,” he said. A Columbus company priced the modulars at $45,000-$55,000 each, in addition to a set-up fee of $30,000 each, he said. Another option would be to rent the modulars until the district could purchase or build a new building, but renting the units would cost $700 a month. Yocum estimated it would take two to three years before the district could pass a capital-
improvements levy and another two to three years until the new building would even be ready. “That’s a minimum of six years until the building is built, and that puts the cost of the rental right at the amount of purchase,” he said. In addition, the district must consider the five teachers needed to staff those classrooms. “We’re a little concerned about the expense of those teachers,” Yocum said. “That would put us on the ballot (next time) for larger millage, or we could take
current staff that we have and move them.” Elementary art, music and guidance staff were areas that Yocum suggested could be reduced to meet this need. “We all feel that all-day, everyday kindergarten is a good thing both socially and academically for children,” he said. “But until we know that the (state) funds aren’t going to be pulled away from us, we’re very reluctant to be adding to the program.” Board member Don Huber made the See MANDATE, page A2
Etna land-use committees begin 2011
SHOWING THEIR MOVES
By MICHAEL J. MAURER
prime farmland in Ohio and in
ThisWeek Community Newspapers Licking County. I think it’s
reaching alarming proportions, Etna Township kicked off and I want to do everything I can 2011 with organizational meet- to preserve as much farmland as ings of the board of zoning ap- possible.” peals, naming township resident Schaff said the processes on Mark Schaff to the five-member the committees are complex and body and resitake time. dent Freddie “I’m a All the commitLatella to the rookie on the tees I’ve been on committee, so zoning comare involved with land mission. I’ve got a lot Schaff, who use, and I’m very inter- to learn,” he was named to said. ested in trying to preBZA on Jan. 25 In addition and will sucto adding the serve as much farmceed Michelle new member, land as we can in Weber, has been the BZA the township. working on the named Cheri township ecoRogers chair MARK SCHAFF nomic developand Rick Cox — new BZA member ment committee vice chair. and the comOther memprehensive land-use committee. bers include Claudette VanDyne He said he was highly interest- and Roger Digel-Barrett. ed in farmland preservation. In other business this month, “All the committees I’ve been trustees named Freddie Latella on are involved with land use, to the zoning commission, joinand I’m very interested in try- ing current members Trent Stepp, ing to preserve as much farm- Roger Young and Bill Essex. land as we can in the township,” Mike Kerner and Jim VanDyne Schaff said. “The Mid-Ohio Re- serve as alternates. gional Planning Commission See ETNA, page A2 talks about the rapid loss of
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By Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Licking Heights’ Darius Strickland and Tyron Pack watch as Ronnie Dawson and Brionne Mitchell do a little dance after Dawson was announced prior to the start of the Jan. 26 game at Grandview Heights. See Sports, page A5.
Mobile home still a problem for Pataskala By MICHAEL J. MAURER ThisWeek Community Newspapers Pataskala City Council held an unusual end-of-the-month special session Jan. 24. Members used the 5-minute meeting to authorize the city administrator to enter into a no-cost contract for the removal of a dilapidated mobile home at 51 Depot St, but thus far the city is not able to find a willing taker. Dianne Harris, the city’s planning and zoning director, said one person had expressed interest in taking the home at no charge to the city, but inspections revealed that it probably has no salvage value to justify the cost of removal. “I think he thought it was in good enough condition that he could put it on wheels and haul it out,” Harris said. “But his initial assessment is that it is too bad shape,
A closer look Pataskala City Council members used the 5-minute meeting on Jan. 24 to authorize the city administrator to enter into a no-cost contract for the removal of a dilapidated mobile home at 51 Depot St, but thus far the city is not able to find a willing taker.
that it would probably either collapse while they were preparing it, or that it would be unsafe to take on the road.” Unless the home has enough value to attract someone who is willing to incur the cost of moving it, then the city has to pursue other options, Harris said. “Plan B would be to tear it down and have somebody take the time to physically tear it apart and put it in Dumpsters to
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haul away,” Harris said. “That’s a very expensive proposition.” Harris said the city had tried to have the home demolished under a one-time grant through Licking County, but ownership questions disqualified the Depot Street property from the program. “Within the past year Licking County had some funds available through grants to do some teardowns, and we were able to do several of those torn down that were abandoned or nuisance properties; maybe it was five or six total,” Harris said. “That was a rare opportunity, and we had tried to get this one on Depot done through that program, but the requirements could not be met.” Harris has obtained funding through a federal program, the Community Housing Improvement Program, that provides See HOME, page A2
Johnstown bypass likely, but probably not for 20 years Traffic questions throw wrench into village’s comprehensive plan By MICHAEL J. MAURER
Jim Lenner, village planner and
ThisWeek Community Newspapers acting administrator, told The In-
While the village of Johnstown Planning and Zoning Commission has been working hard for many months to update its 2005 comprehensive plan and expects to continue to do so until at least summer, one issue demonstrates the difficulty of planning: A highway bypass for the village of Johnstown. Construction will begin this spring on changes to the downtown intersection of state Route 37 and U.S. Route 62, including the addition of turn lanes and changes to traffic signals. The work should help reduce growing congestion, but in the long term the only solution to heavy downtown traffic is a high speed bypass.
dependent that the idea of a bypass has been floated since at least 2005, when the current comprehensive plan was developed. At that time, the general belief was that heavy traffic would be to the northwest side of the village, toward Sunbury. “I think this first appeared in 2005 in the original strategic plan,” Lenner said. “A lot of the assumption at that time was that state Route 37 up to Sunbury and then down to state Route 161 was going to be the more heavily traveled roadway, and they were going to try to connect those sections.” Today, however, with the opening of the high speed, interstate See BYPASS, page A2
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