Water To Owens: Granville Out And Southwest Licking In?
The Granville Township Trustees are seeking $5 million in state funds to help Owens Corning develop the site of its research park. Among other things, the Trustees are seeking $1.2 million to lay a two-mile sewer line along Columbus Road, connecting the Pataskala-based Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District to the Owens Corning property. According to the application, water is to be supplied by the Village of Granville which currently services the property. However, Southwest Licking also was asked to provide water.
On the morning of May 2, 2008, David Selhorst of Poggemeyer Design Group contacted Donald Rector, General Manager of Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District and asked him to provide "an estimate for Owens Corning's cost to bring water service to the site from your system."
Click here to view the email exchange containing Selhorst's request.
Shortly after receiving the request, Rector replied with a $327,600 cost estimate and then, on May 5, sent a letter of commitment to provide water service to the Owens site.
Click here to view the commitment letter sent by Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District.
Southwest Licking's water commitment letter is the same as their sewer commitment letter with "water service" substituted for sewer service. Both letters were based on a sample letter supplied to Southwest Licking by Poggemeyer.
The request for a commitment for water service from Southwest Licking was not previously made public but was obtained by The Granville Press through a public records request to the utility. The water commitment letter was not put in the application, so state funds are not being sought. However a water line could be laid at the same time Southwest Licking's sewer line is installed using some of the matching funds contributed by Owens Corning.
It is not clear who made the decision to provide Owens with an option for cutting the Village completely out of providing utilities. It appears to have come from Poggemeyer, which was paid by Owens Corning to submit the grant application on behalf of Granville Township.
Poggemeyer is also being paid by Granville Township and the Village of Granville to produce the comprehensive plan update. Since the comprehensive plan deals with all land in the village and township, Poggemeyer has a conflict by representing Owens, Granville's largest property owner. The conflict is especially problematic because the village wants to supply water and sewer to the Owens site, but Poggemeyer has been working to give Owens the option of getting utilities from Southwest Licking, which has no concern with limits on land use.
With a commitment for both sewer and water service from Southwest Licking, Owens would be in a position to develop as it wishes without regard to the desires of the Village. That could mean a research park, but it also could mean a town center and residential development.
Click here to view the grant's complete site improvement plan.
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See previous stories about the Township - Owens Corning grant:
Trust, or lack thereof
Once again, why didn't the Trustees tell us this?
Who doesn't know that a request to bring Southwest Licking water to Owens is something the public cares about? Especially after the furor over Southwest Licking sewer. Especially since the Village already supplies water to Owens.
Let me guess.
* The Village wasn't told either.
* Elected trustees Wes Sargent and Fred Abraham didn't know. (The Know Nothing Party reborn?)
* Non-elected Trustee Bill Habig knew, but, golly, he prefers the Village supply water and why would anyone think otherwise. He's shocked, shocked that Granville residents think they should be told about his brilliant, secret plans.
* Poggemeyer, our conflict-ridden comprehensive plan consultant who works for Owens, the Village and the township -- but when push comes to shove helps Owens and screws the Village in ways that are amazingly brazen -- was just doing the best for its client(s). Which client? Who knows? This is why conflicts should be avoided.
The proposal for water from SWL is going nowhere, just as the proposal for SWL sewer is going nowhere. They are asinine ideas of near universal unpopularity. They provide redundant utilities in ways that burn taxpayer dollars like kindling.
What this SWL water foolishness confirms is what we already know: these Trustees cannot be trusted. They won't tell it to us straight. Indeed, they can't tell it to us straight. It's not in their make-up. A sorry, sorry situation.
Either way the trustees should go
YesMan,
At this point if Wes and Fred did not realize what was going on, then they are not fit to be trustees.
If they did know, then they are so out of touch with both their constituents and reality, that they should go.
Either way this group of trustees should resign.
Is Poggemeyer messing with us?
Isn't anybody concerned that Poggemeyer is being paid by the Village and the Township to update our comprehensive plan and is also working for Owens to get them $5 million in state money?
Take a look at the recent addition to the plan. Poggemeyer has added an "Owens" section that includes a proposal for building an overpass to connect the Owens property to Granville north of Route 16.
Well, what about the River Road people? They are south of 16 and cut off from Granville. Shouldn't they be the first to get an overpass?
I think Poggemeyer is working both sides of the street and I think we should be very suspicious of their proposed comprehensive plan update.
At the very least, let's drop the Owens part.
You must be kidding
Why would Owens or Poggemeyer or the Trustees ask Southwest Licking for a price / proposal to supply water to the Owens property?
Oh, I know, Southwest Licking has organic water and Granville doesn't.
Remember that deep down Habig thinks sprawl is good
Remember that Habig has a different set of goals that come from his work experiences during a time when sprawl was viewed as positive expansion, not as the disaster it actually is.
For Habig, SWL water makes perfect sense. Just look at what SWL water did for Pataskala; it allowed sprawling residential and retail commercial developments to rapidly spread out.
What we need to do is get different people involved. The problem with Habig is that he has not changed with the times. He is still stuck back in the pro-sprawl "any growth is good growth" mode that has characterized Columbus development during the years of his stint at the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission.
People who seem to support Habig, such as the other trustees, just don't yet realize that Habig's many years of experience are years of learning the wrong techniques; techniques that have since been dropped by those who have kept up with the times.
hey there, Fred and Wes....
Why are you guys so silent in all this Owens crap? We didn't elect Habig, we elected YOU.
You need to be listening to the folks who elected you, not Habig.
Now we know
ct,
You are right, we did elect Fred and Wes.
That is a mistake we should not repeat.
don
Let's just build urban sprawl and join the 21st century
I guess we should just give up! Let Habig bring his concept of central Ohio development to Granville.
Now it appears that Southwest Licking Sewer and Water District has been contacted to supply water to the Owens property. I thought Granville supplied that water.
But, of course, with the Village services and the associated "strings" out of the picture, Owens and the Trustees can build anything they want: Gahanna, Westerville, etc.
Who is Habig? Where did he come from?
Where are Wes and Fred? Didn't we elect them to represent us?
Why don't they take over this mess and impose the values and goals that have united the Village and the Township for years?
What's wrong with Wes and Fred? Are they uninformed, stupid, crazy, paid off, lazy, evil, or just in over their heads?
I'm really depressed about this. It looks like we've lost our community's values. It looks like we are joining Bill Habig's vision of the 21st century in central Ohio.
Can we do anything?
Habig has years and years of experience
Habig has many, many years of experience. Unfortunately his years of experience took place in central Ohio during the last few decades.
The sprawl that characterizes much of central Ohio, and that Habig helped bring about, is recognized as one of the greatest mistakes of the past few decades by today's respected urban planners.
Habig is old school. When Habig was being trained sprawl was called expansion and viewed as positive. He has just never learned the newer approaches to development. You cannot expect a guy who has devoted his entire working life to sprawl to realize or admit that sprawl is detrimental; it simply is unlikely to happen.
What we need is the help of people who have had their years of experience in the kind of development that make sense for Granville.