April 14, 2011
District mulls more options for realignment By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Upward bound
By Chris Parker/ThisWeek
Children participating in the Westerville Public Library’s preschool storytime climb the stairs in a “Pet Parade” on April 11. The “Pet Parade” helped to kick off Pet Week at the library, which featured such activities as creating pet rocks, animal-related crafts and reading time with a certified therapy dog.
The Westerville City School district presented four options for middle school realignment to the school board April 11. The district is looking for a way to alleviate overcrowding at Genoa Middle School, which is 8 percent over capacity, and at Walnut Springs Middle School, which is 9 percent over capacity. Blendon Middle School is 3 percent under capacity and Heritage Middle School is 10 percent under capacity. At the board’s March 14 meeting, district administrators presented five options for realignment. Following that meeting, the district began gathering input from faculty, staff and the community about those options. From that feedback, the district developed four more options, meant to be a short-term fix to the overcrowding problem, which the
board reviewed and discussed Monday. The board needs to make a decision on a realignment plan at its April 25 meeting in order to give the district adequate time to assign teachers, schedule students and make a transportation plan for the next school year, Superintendent Dan Good said. The board typically hears two readings of legislation before taking a vote, but could choose to pass this with only one reading to meet that deadline, he said. The realignment options primarily aim to keep overcrowding levels where they are now, district facilities and operations services director Jeff LeRose said. Genoa Middle School’s overcrowding problem is of most concern because the school’s population is expected to continue growing, LeRose said, with 45 more students expected at the school See REALIGNMENT, page A2
Council approves City, ODOT plan Route 3 overhaul ‘smart meters’ for businesses By JENNIFER NESBITT
ThisWeek Community Newspaper
By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Westerville’s 3,500 commercial and industrial electric and water division customers will be getting digital meters, or “smart meters.” City council approved a $3.59-million contract with Itron Inc. at its April 5 meeting to purchase the meters,install them and implement advanced metering infrastructure for the city’s businesses and institutions. The system will be paid for with $4.1 million in bonds council approved as part of a larger bond package in February. That money has been budgeted by the electric and water divisions and will not come out of the city’s general funds, said city manager Dave Collinsworth “There are no tax dollars, per se, that are tied to that,” he said. See METERS, page A2
City plans ‘Bunny Hop’ 5K, egg hunt By JENNIFER NESBITT ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The Westerville Department of Parks and Recreation has added more events to its annual Easter egg hunt, the Spring Eggstravaganza, scheduled for April 23 at Hoff Woods Park, 556 McCorkle Blvd. This year, the city will have a “Bunny Hop” 5K to raise money for the Hanby Train Depot, a rest station for bikers along the OhioErie Trail planned for Hanby Park. Registration for the 5K costs $30 in advance or $40 the day of the race. Runners can register before the event online at www.ultrafit-usa.org. The idea for the 5K,which is sponsored by the Westerville Parks Foundation and Mount Carmel St. Ann’s Hospital, came out of a See EASTER, page A2
The city of Westerville and the Ohio Department of Transportation are preparing for two projects that aim to make state Route 3 both safer and more attractive. The projects are planned to kick off in May, though both ODOT and Westerville are finalizing details with their contractors, so groundbreaking dates have not yet been set. Between now and October 2012, ODOT will overhaul state Route 3 from Huber Village Boulevard to state Route 161. The two-mile stretch of road will be widened, and bike lanes, turn lanes and sidewalks will be added. ODOT also will reconstruct the intersections at state Route 161, Dempsey Road, Paris Boulevard and Brazzaville Road. The ramp from I-270 West to state Route 3 north will be reconfigured to improve the merge length and the flow of traffic, ODOT spokeswoman Nancy Burton said. The $7-million project is needed to improve the safety of the road, Burton said. ODOT has studied the traffic volumes and safety concerns carefully in making the improvements, she said. “This is a safety-improvement project. By widening, by resurfacing the road, by realigning, adding lanes, adding distance — those are all safety measures that add better visibility and,hopefully, better traffic flow and safer traffic flow,” Burton said. “It’s a welltraveled road and needs that work to improve conditions of travel for businesses, for residents, proper-
ty owners, visitors.” Westerville’s South State Street improvement project will involve rebuilding portions of Heatherdown Drive and Huber Village Boulevard. South State Street will be widened to add an additional left-turn lane in both directions. The traffic signal at the intersection will be replaced with a mast arm signal. Between Huber Village Boulevard and Tim Horton’s, 772 S. State St.,the city will reconstruct the streetscape by widening sidewalks, adding streetlights and enhancing the landscaping, city planning and development director Karl Craven said. Decorative fencing and signs directing motorists to popular places in Westerville will be added. The improvements are part of a master plan that was created roughly 10 years ago to improve the South State Street corridor from the traffic light just north of I-270 north to enhance the city’s southern entrance. “When this is all said and done, within the next couple of years, that traffic light will look like the entrance to Westerville,” Craven said. “The motorists, when they arrive at that spot, will say, ‘This is the entrance to Westerville.’” Once ODOT finishes its project next year, Westerville will look to redesign the next phase of South State Street, from roughly Tim Horton’s, just south of Schrock Road, to Starbucks, just north. “We already started the design for the next phase, which goes from Tim Horton’s to Starbucks and also Schrock Road,to Roush Hardware and PNC Bank,” Craven said. Within the next three years, the
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set any sort of timeline for working on the final piece, Craven said. This year’s work to South State Street is expected to cost $3 million, Craven said, and the improvements that will be undertaken after ODOT has finished its work will cost about $1 million. The city also has contributed about $400,000 to the ODOT project, he said. For both the city and the ODOT projects, traffic will be maintained in both directions during the construction period. ODOT’s project will be broken into phases, but a schedule for those phases has not yet been set by the contractor and ODOT, Burton said. Dempsey Road will have to be closed for 30 days and Paris Boulevard for 14 days, she said. Brazzaville Road also will need to be closed for construction, Burton said, but the dates for those closures have not been determined. To keep residents and business owners aware of future road closures and changes to traffic patterns for the project, ODOT has developed an email list that includes hundreds of email addresses, Burton said. “Whenever we issue information about that project, we email everyone who has requested information,” she said. “From past experience, when people know about it, they might not like the construction, but knowing about it ahead of time allows you to plan. city plans to have all of South State At least you know.” Street redesigned from I-270 to People can add their email adSchrock Road, he said. dresses to the list by emailing BurThe master plan for South State ton at D06.PIO@dot.state.oh.us. Street does include projects to improve the street all the way north jnesbitt@thisweeknews.com into Uptown, but the city has not www.ThisWeekNEWS.com
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