0303tw_grandview by The Columbus Dispatch/Dispatch Magazines

March 3, 2011

Marble Cliff

Conditional use OK’d at Dublin Rd. site By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Marble Cliff Village Council approved an ordinance at a special meeting Feb. 25 granting a conditional use permit for the property at 1450 Dublin Road. The conditional use permit was sought by Matthew Mnich, the owner of the property. Council’s approval of the permit allows the following uses of the property: Maintenance and repair of vehicles belonging to others unaffiliated with the property owner.

terials such as static retail displays, mobile event units and vehicles with attention-getting graphics. The ordinance was introduced and discussed at council’s regular meeting on Feb. 21, but the vote was tabled until Friday to allow for the drafting of an amendment to the original legislation. The amendment states the conditional use permit will remain in effect as long as the property is owned by Mnich and/or Onsite sale of equipment and vehi- members of his family, or by a business cles. in which the Mnich family has a major Onsite design, fabrication and con- ity interest. struction of high visibility marketing maIt also states the permit will expire by

its own terms upon the sale or transfer of the property to an entity unrelated and unaffiliated with Mnich, his family or a business in which the Mnichs have majority interest. At the Feb. 21 meeting, Mnich told council that his family owns the adjacent North American Broadcasting Company radio stations as well as the warehouse building at 1450 Dublin Road. Vehicle maintenance and repair and design, construction and fabrication of marketing materials have been done onsite on behalf of the radio stations, he said.

By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers

See BOGGS, page A2

See SITE, page A2

Trip to Egypt leads to encounter with history

Longtime ROLLING ALONG patron leaves library $5,000 bequest Although she lived nearly all her adult life in Upper Arlington, Barbara Gilchrist Boggs always referred to the Grandview Heights Public Library as “my library.” When she and her husband, John, returned from their winter stays in Florida, “she’d walk in with a big smile and say how nice it was to be back in ‘my library,’” Grandview library staff member Klova Morris recalled. “She definitely loved this library,” John Boggs said. “It Barbara was a special Gilchrist Boggs place to her.” Barbara Boggs, who died last September at the age of 81, left a $5,000 bequest to the library. About $3,000 will be used for the library to purchase a second Early Literacy Station, a computer workstation that features more than 45 educational software titles for children ages 2-10. The remaining money will go to the library’s endowment fund. “It’s perfect” that his wife’s financial gift will be used to help benefit youngsters, Boggs said. Barbara Boggs was a regular visitor to the library as a Grandview student and she taught school in Upper Arlington for 27 years, he said. Students were always at the forefront of her concern, Boggs said. She continued to be a regular patron at the Grandview Library even when

Over time, the operations have evolved so that such work as well as the sale of equipment and vehicles have been done for other entities than the radio stations, Mnich said. Mnich applied for the conditional use permit “to try to come in to compliance with what our ordinance currently says we would like to accomplish with that property,” Mayor Kent Studebaker said. Similar operations are conducted at surrounding properties, Mnich said. “I certainly regret not coming before

By Eric George/ThisWeek

Ben Ritzman, 4, takes advantage of the sunshine to ride his bike on March 1. Temperatures are expected to remain in the 40s and 50s throughout the week.

Grandview Heights Public Library public relations associate Connie Frecker expected a dramatic experience when she made a recent journey to Egypt. But the Upper Arlington resident didn’t expect to find herself in the middle of a country undergoing a revolution. Frecker and her husband, George, were among a group of mostly Americans participating in a trip organized by Quest Travel, an Egypt-based company. “It was a trip that was spiritual in nature,” she said. The journey was designed to provide its participants with a chance to explore landmarks of the country and consider what meaning or message may lie behind their symbols and hieroglyphics. “The point of the trip was to explore Egypt’s past,” Frecker said, but modern Egypt and the changes it is undergoing became an unexpected focus of the trek. “We were beginning to get an inkling that something was wrong” on Jan. 25 as the group

A closer look Grandview Heights Public Library public relations associate Connie Frecker and her husband, George, were among a group of mostly Americans participating in a trip organized by Quest Travel, an Egyptbased company.

were in New York preparing to leave for Egypt, she said. On that day, known as the Day of Revolt, protests occurred throughout Egypt. “It was ironic that while many Americans and westerners were trying like crazy to get out of Egypt, we were coming into the country,” Frecker said. And “we never felt unsafe” during the trip, she said. “It wasn’t the way it was reported or represented by what you saw on TV. “The Egyptians love Americans,” Frecker said. “Everywhere we went, while their country was undergoing this revolution, we See EGYPT, page A4

Registration for parks programs begins Tuesday By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers Resident registration for the Grandview Parks and Recreation department’s spring and summer programs will begin on March 8. The spring/summer program guide has been sent to area homes, and copies are also available at the parks office, 1515 Goodale Blvd., and at the Grandview Heights Public Library, 1685 W. First Ave. “We’ve got a lot of new programs we’re excited to be offering this year,” recreation supervisor Marta

Durban said. “We try to go with what seems to be in demand at the time.” The traditional events will include the Easter Egg Hunt on April 23; the Memorial Day Service, May 26; Memorial Day Parade and pool opening, May 28; the Tour de Grandview Cycling Classic, June 26; Lazy Daze of Summer Crafts Festival, July 23; the Mayor’s Cook-out, Aug. 14; and the Ox Roast, Sept. 8-10. The classic cycling will be held on one day this year, and the street party will be held on the same day as the race instead of the night before, Durban

said. A new program, “Kids at Wallace Gardens,” will give youngsters the chance to try out their green thumbs. “We’ll set aside a small plot of land the kids will be able to work on together as a team” with the help of local mom and organic gardener Kathy Andres, Durban said. A minimum of eight participants is required for the program, which will meet Saturday mornings, See PARKS, page A2