ThisWeek Worthington 3/10

Page 1

March 10, 2011

Addition and renovation at 849 Oxford St.

Neighbors present appeal to council By CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers An appeal of an Architectural Review Board (ARB) approval of additions and renovations to a house at 849 Oxford St. will be heard by Worthington City Council on March 14. Council agreed to hear the appeal at its Monday meeting. The appeal was filed by Sue and Jerry

Kneubel, 108 W. Stafford Ave., who said that the design of the proposed changes are not compatible with the existing house or other homes in the historic district; would have a negative impact on two trees in the backyard; and would cause drainage problems. The ARB addressed those and other issues at its Nov. 11, 2010, and Feb. 10, 2011, meetings, and voted 5-0 in favor of the proposal at the latter meeting.

The house in question is a two-story, green English-revival style located on the west side of Oxford Street, between West Stafford and West Clearview avenues. It is owned by Alli Gentile and Brian McGarry, who purchased it last August. The project includes a new east entry addition of approximately 150 square feet and a 750-square-foot west addition on the first floor, with a corresponding twocar garage on the ground floor.

The current driveway on the south side of the lot would be removed and the onecar garage made into storage and living space. A new driveway would curve across the front lawn to avoid a large tree, and would be located along the north side of the house and addition leading to the new rear garage. A small addition on the north side of the house would be removed. Materials in the new addition would

include charcoal-colored cement fiber board cladding, zinc standing-seam roofing which would also replace the current roof, and weathered-zinc siding for window and door bays. Box-style bay windows without panes would project from the north side of the addition. Besides the design and the materials, See APPEAL, page A2

ESC group to assist with search for new superintendent By CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers

By Adam Cairns/ThisWeek

Vacant for many years, the house at the southwest corner of state Route 161 and Olentangy River Road is set to be demolished.

Eyesore on 161 will be demolished By CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers For many years, the house at the city’s entryway has been vacant and crumbling. Now it will be coming all the way down. By the end of May, the house at the southwest corner of West Dublin Granville and Olentangy River roads will be demolished, said attorney Thomas Moloney. He is trustee for the property, and his name was on the three violation notices issued by the Franklin County building department this past December and January. The notices declared the property to be “a serious hazard” and required the owner to bring the structure up to code or apply for a demolition permit. Moloney did not know if a permit had been issued, but said the owner intends to

It addresses something the township and city residents have been concerned about for many years.

MATT GREESON — city manager

raze the house. He declined to name the owner, but records at the Franklin County Auditor’s Office show the property transferred for no money in 2009 to Moloney from Gerald S. Jacobs. According to the auditor’s office, the house is valued for tax purposes at $76,600. The 1,800 square-foot, one-story house was built in 1954.

According to neighbors, it has been vacant for 20 years. During that time, applications have been made to develop the property with a gas station, a dental office, and condominiums. Each has been turned down. Jane Weislogel said she will be glad to see the house gone, but realizes that she and other neighbors must start thinking about what would be acceptable on the double lot, which is approximately 1.9 acres in size. The land is in Sharon Township, which has worked with the city of Worthington and Franklin County to do something about what many believe to be an eyesore. Worthington city manager Matt Greeson is glad to see progress being made. “It addresses something the township and city residents have been concerned about for many years,” he said.

The Educational Service Center of Central Ohio (ESC) has been hired to assist in the search for a new superintendent of schools. The Worthington Board of Education voted unanimously on Monday to hire the center, which was recommended by a committee that interviewed three search firms on March 4. ESC is an agency that supports school districts in Franklin, Delaware, and Union counties. It has assisted in administrator searches in Dublin, Granville, Olentangy and other school districts. According to its proposal, the ESC will take approximately nine weeks to complete its fourstep process, which will cast a nationwide net for a superintendent to succeed Melissa Conrath. Conrath announced last month that she will retire in October, or as soon as a replacement can be found. She has been superintendent for five years. The search process will begin with a needs assessment, through which it will be determined what kind of leadership skills are needed and wanted by the district; candidate recruitment, through which local, state, and national organizations will be notified,

A closer look According to its proposal, the ESC will take approximately nine weeks to complete its four-step process, which will cast a nationwide net for a superintendent to succeed Melissa Conrath.

and a “targeted” search will be included; screening; interviews; and contract negotiations. The Ohio School Board Association (OSBA), which commonly conducts superintendent searches in Ohio, and School Exec Connect, a private firm from Highland Park, Ill., were also interviewed by school board president Marc Schare, board member Charlie Wilson and Conrath. One outstanding quality of the ESC is the cost. It will not charge the district for its services, except for expenses. “They are already being paid by taxpayers’ dollars from the state or our district,” Schare said. OSBA proposed charging $6,900, plus expenses such as advertising, printing, postage, telephone, travel, screening committee costs, brochures and site visitations. School Exec Connect proposed charging the district not more than $23,300.

Smile! City not ready to use red-light cameras By CANDY BROOKS ThisWeek Community Newspapers When it comes to using cameras to enforce traffic laws, the city of Worthington will proceed with caution. “I feel there is a place for photo enforcement in high-accident areas,” said Police Chief James Mosic. “At this time, I haven’t identified any of those areas in Worthington, but I would be open to looking at it.” The chief and about 25 residents listened to a pitch on March 3 from a representative of Redflex, the company that installed and operates the red light photo enforcement program in Columbus. A new organization of residents of Worthington Estates East invited the company to talk to them about using cameras to enforce speed laws in their neighborhood. “On Highland Avenue, we feel people speed down the street,” said Sean Demaree, who organ-

ized the meeting at the Worthington Community Center. The company operates camera enforcement systems in approximately 250 communities, including Columbus. Though the cameras that snap shots of vehicles running red lights are most common, cities can also contract for Redflex cameras set up to catch speeders. With cameras situated either atop poles or more covertly in unoccupied parked vans, sophisticated radar systems measure speed and snap photos and videos of motorists exceeding the speed limit. Photos are reviewed at the company’s Phoenix headquarters, then sent to the local police department, which does another review before approving a citation. Each community is encouraged to set its own limit at which citations are issued. Not everyone

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See CAMERAS, page A2

Flipping flapjacks

By Eric George/ThisWeek

Thomas Worthington High School girls basketball coach Laurie Barr assists football coach Scott Gordon in flipping a Mickey Mouse pancake on March 4 at the annual Pancake Day at Thomas Worthington.

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