buildingcincinnati

From the 2/28/07 Tiffin Advertiser-Tribune: Unnamed party asking courthouse questions By Zachary Petit, [email protected] As the Seneca County commissioners move closer toward razing all or part of the courthouse, a local lawyer spoke to them Tuesday on behalf of an unidentified client interested in saving the structure. Attorney John Barga presented a five-page “compromise plan” letter to the board posing six questions involving courthouse alternatives he said could save taxpayers millions. The letter asked the commissioners to answer the queries before spending more funds on courthouse studies and proposals. http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/articles.asp?articleID=6814

From Northeast Suburban Life, 2/23/07: Office park proposal OK'd by Sycamore Twp. BY ROB DOWDY | COMMUNITY PRESS STAFF WRITER SYCAMORE TWP. - After several conceptual drawings and numerous meetings with residents and trustees, the office park development on the southeast corner of Fields Ertel Road and Reed Hartman Highway will soon become a reality. Sycamore Township trustees unanimously approved the proposed zoning change from residential to office for the property during its Feb. 22 meeting, paving the way for the new development. The meeting was unusually well-attended, but most of the audience was filled with Sharonville residents interested in the development because it will be built so close to their homes. The office park will consist of 50,000 square feet of office space in a total of three buildings and two retention basins. MORE: http://news.communitypress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070223/NEWS01/702230355/1084/Local From the 2/26/07 Enquirer: Residents fight city's development plans Traffic, safety issues worry neighborhood BY FEOSHIA HENDERSON | [email protected] MONTGOMERY - It's a battle becoming more common as businesses and homes creep closer together in the suburbs: how and where to build new developments. In Montgomery, a handful of vocal Forestglen subdivision residents have tried to convince the city not to approve expansion plans of the Twin Lakes senior living center across the street, off Montgomery Road. But on Feb. 19, the city planning commission approved those plans, which include a new access road just across from the subdivision. Residents say that road will create an unsafe intersection and said their next fight might be in Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas. At issue isn't the 13-unit development, but the road that would lead into Twin Lakes. MORE: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070226/NEWS01/702260378/1056/COL02

From the 2/14/07 Booster: Business First of Columbus: State backs new facility for blind, deaf schools (2/5/07) Columbus Dispatch: Schools for deaf, blind may share new campus (2/1/07) Time may finally be right to combine deaf, blind schools A Columbus official said it's too soon to start thinking about how to develop the abandoned campus. By KATHLEEN L. RADCLIFF Even though a proposal to combine the campuses of two state school is only in its preliminary states, the idea is hardly new. Discussion over combining the Ohio State School for the Blind and the Ohio School for the Deaf sites has been under way since about 2000, said School for the Deaf Superintendent Ed Corbett. A study by the Ohio School Facilities Commission showed that both schools meet the "two-thirds" rule -- in other words, rebuilding is recommended over renovations because the cost of renovating is more than two-thirds the cost of rebuilding -- and both have been waiting for an opportunity to go ahead with rebuilding plans. "The timing has always been wrong in the past ... (recently) it became right," Corbett, who is hearing-impaired, said through an interpreter. Read more at http://www.snponline.com/NEWS2-14/2-14_bostateschools.html

OK... I've deleted posts relating to votes. If you voted in a post on here, don't worry. I have sent the contents of those posts to inkaelin. Also, to address 3231's issue, I will be sending out a reminder on March 2 (1 week before voting ends) to everyone's PM. Everyone who is a member of this forum will see this when they log in. Hopefully this will be enough to alert them to this contest. Please continue to vote via PM to inkaelin, and not on this page. Please feel free to campaign or to trash talk, though!

From the 1/8/07 ABJ: Ohio digs deep to solve CO2 problem By Bob Downing Beacon Journal staff writer Stung by its failure to land a $1 billion experimental nonpolluting coal-burning power plant, Ohio is preparing to drill a deep geological test well this spring that could play an important role in fighting global warming. The 9,000-foot-deep borehole will better identify underground formations capable of sequestering, or storing, carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas identified as the No. 1 global warming culprit. Storage of carbon dioxide, or CO2, is "a very important tool... and one we have to have if we are going to meet global warming reductions,'' said Ohio-based Kurt Waltzer of the Clean Air Task Force, a national environmental organization. The $2.3 million drilling project -- called the Ohio Stratigraphic Borehole -- will take place in Tuscarawas, Carroll or Meigs county. A decision on the exact site has not yet been made. MORE: http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/state/16408738.htm?source=rss&channel=ohio_news

From the 2/7/07 Blade: Town hall meeting at UT is canceled The town hall meeting that was scheduled for today at the University of Toledo's health science campus by President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs has been canceled. The next meeting will take place at 6 p.m. March 1 in the Student Union Ingman Room on the university's main campus. http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070207/NEWS16/702070438/-1/RSS10

From the 2/1/07 (UT) Independent Collegian: Planning document finished IC Staff Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: News The ultimate draft of Directions: The University of Toledo now has all of its T's crossed and I's dotted. Yesterday, the Executive Strategic Planning Committee decided on final grammar additions to the document, which will go to the UT Board of Trustees for approval at the next meeting on March 19. At the Jan. 8 meeting, the board of trustees approved the mission statement, vision statement and values the ESPC devised. Despite a recently broken ankle, original author of the document UT President Lloyd Jacobs, also attended the meeting. He congratulated the committee on the hard work it accomplished in the last six months. More at http://media.www.independentcollegian.com/media/storage/paper678/news/2007/02/01/News/Planning.Document.Finished-2691319.shtml

From the 1/22/07 (UT) Independent Collegian: Core change underway Chris Ankney Issue date: 1/22/07 Section: News Interim Provost Rob Sheehan wants to speed up the process in changing UT's core curriculum. When the Core Curriculum Revision Committee reconvenes on Friday to discuss the five-point plan Sheehan laid out to them on Jan. 12, he'll be one step closer to his goals. The plan, which Sheehan said he didn't want to be called "The Sheehan Plan," was a list of five requirements designed to connect students with five different areas of learning and to distinguish the undergraduate programs at UT. "We need to see if you can do something to reduce the perception that the [current] core makes it difficult for our students to have common experiences," Sheehan said at the Jan. 12 meeting. Included in Sheehan's plan: * One required distance learning (not Web-assisted) course * One required service-learning course or experience * Required research experience in the student's major * Required internship, co-op or field work * Required educational experience abroad Full article at http://media.www.independentcollegian.com/media/storage/paper678/news/2007/01/22/News/Core-Change.Underway-2656163.shtml

From the 1/18/07 (UT) Independent Collegian: Town halls continue Ed Carroll Issue date: 1/18/07 Section: News Last Thursday's town hall meeting was not as well-attended as the last two. Speaking to mostly empty seats, UT President Lloyd Jacobs said he did not know yet whether the new state requirements for math and science would affect admission standards. Jacobs referenced The White Paper, which was erroneously referred to as not being approved at the last UT Board of Trustees meeting in The Independent Collegian's Jan. 11 edition (see correction, page A2), in regards to the new state requirements. "Our strategic plan does specify that we want to try to review and revisit admission standards for each of our colleges," Jacobs said. "Whether those admission standards can be raised because the Ohio Core requirements are in place remains to be seen." Full article at http://media.www.independentcollegian.com/media/storage/paper678/news/2007/01/18/News/Town-Halls.Continue-2653020.shtml

Both from the 1/8/07 (UT) Independent Collegian: Plans may get final OK Melinda Lauber Issue date: 1/8/07 Section: News Finals week may be over and students have their final grades, but the Executive Strategic Planning Committee is still waiting for its grade on the final draft of UT's strategic plan. The document, also known as Directions: The University of Toledo and as The White Paper, was submitted to UT President Lloyd Jacobs on Dec. 13 by the committee for his approval. He approved the document and it must now be sent to the UT Board of Trustees for approval before coming into effect as the official strategic plan of The University of Toledo. Full article at http://media.www.independentcollegian.com/media/storage/paper678/news/2007/01/08/News/College.Restructuring.Planned-2601656.shtml

From ThisWeek Reynoldsburg, 2/22/07: Columbus Dispatch: Mayor hopes YMCA brings rec facility to suburb (2/19/07) Council welcomes YMCA proposal Thursday, February 22, 2007 By TRICIA SYMANSIC ThisWeek Staff Writer The YMCA of Central Ohio would like to open a center in Reynoldsburg, if the city were to chip in on the cost of building the facility, the organization's president said. "We have had an interest in Reynoldsburg for a long time," said John E. Bickley, president and chief executive officer of the nonprofit YMCA of Central Ohio. Mayor McPherson has met with representatives of the YMCA twice and invited Bickley to council's community development committee on Monday. Councilman Preston Stearns, along with other members, said he wanted to begin exploring the idea and that he would assemble a committee to begin discussions within the next week. Read more at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?story=sites/thisweeknews/022207/Reynoldsburg/News/022207-News-310278.html

From the 2/24/07 Enquirer: Mason and Deerfield Twp. urged to think about adding new firehouse BY JESSICA BROWN | [email protected] Deerfield Township and Mason don't have enough fire stations to respond to emergencies within six minutes, which could pose a problem as the area grows, a consultant said Friday. The consultant recommended the departments work together to relocate some fire stations and build at least one new one to best serve the 60,000 residents in the two Warren County communities. "You would do a very effective job with seven stations," consultant Michael Kelly told Deerfield Township trustees Friday. http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/NEWS01/702240433/1056/COL02

^ Yeah, no one really listens (reads). Hey ink, you should probably set a time limit on when voting stops. Maybe a week or two.

New correctional facility for women is dedicated Findlay Courier, 2/24/07 CROSSWAEH for women, a new 35-bed community correctional facility that will serve nine counties, was dedicated Friday afternoon at the corner of U.S. 224 and Ohio 100 south of Tiffin. The correctional facility, which will provide an alternative to a state prison sentence, was built by the state and will house non-violent women who have been convicted of third-, fourth- and fifth-degree felonies. It will house women from Crawford, Richland, Ottawa, Seneca, Sandusky, Wyandot, Ashland, Erie and Huron counties. The facility's name is an acronym for the first letters of the counties' names. The freestanding facility has about 12,000 square feet and is located across the parking lot from a men's facility which opened in 1999. Since then, 1,143 clients have been served in the men's facility. The women's building is a dormitory-style one-floor plan, similar to the men's building. It will house 16-20 women initially.

From Business First of Columbus, 2/27/07: Home sales up for 1st time in 6 months Business First of Columbus - 3:43 PM EST Tuesday, February 27, 2007 With a 12 percent increase in the number of houses sold in Central Ohio in January, the region saw its first gain in home sales since June. The Columbus Board of Realtors said Tuesday that 1,510 residences were sold in the region last month, up from 1,346 in January 2006, ending the six-month long streak of declining sales. The average sales price was down 3.6 percent to $166,096, from $172,267 a year earlier, with houses spending an average 114 days on the market, compared with 102 days in January 2006. The total number of new homes listed for sale in January was flat compared with last year at about 4,154. The Columbus Board of Realtors monitors sales in all of Franklin, Delaware, Fayette, Madison, Morrow and Union counties and portions of Licking, Pickaway, Fairfield, Champaign, Clark, Knox, Logan and Marion counties. The report does not include sales of new houses by builders. More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/02/26/daily9.html?surround=lfn

From Business First of Columbus, 2/26/07: Housing market starts '07 in a slump Business First of Columbus - 9:56 AM EST Monday, February 26, 2007 The residential construction market has continued its downturn from last year, while nonresidential construction started off with a boost in contracts in January, according to a McGraw-Hill Construction report. Contracts for future construction of single- and two-family houses and apartments in the Columbus area sank 33.8 percent to $97.2 million last month, down from $146.8 million in the same period last year, the monthly report said. Meanwhile, the value of contracts for commercial construction, which include contracts in the manufacturing, education, religious and hotel industries, saw big gains. For January, McGraw-Hill said the value for contracts in the eight-county region stood at $138.7 million, up 87.9 percent from $73.8 million in 2006. Total building contracts grew 6.9 percent to $235.9 million, up from $220.6 million in January 2006. Read more at http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/02/26/daily1.html?from_rss=1

From Business First of Columbus, 1/25/07: Central Ohio home sales drop 9% in December Business First of Columbus - January 25, 2007 Central Ohio saw a 9 percent drop in the number of houses sold in December, while home sales for 2006 were 5 percent below 2005's totals. The Columbus Board of Realtors said Wednesday that 1,658 residences were sold in the region last month, down from 1,829 sold in December 2005. The average sales price last month was down 2.8 percent to $168,863, from $173,723 a year earlier, with houses spending an average of 111 days on the market, compared with 93 days in December 2005. The total number of homes listed for sale in the Columbus area was up 11.6 percent to 15,613, from 13,995 in 2005, but the number of new listings added during the month was down 10.4 percent to 2,302, from 2,570. For the year, the number of houses sold fell to 26,251, from 27,493 in 2005. More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/01/22/daily17.html

From Business First of Columbus, 1/23/07: Report: Housing construction plans dropped sharply in December Business First of Columbus - January 23, 2007 Contracts for housing construction continued their year-long downturn with a 39 percent drop in December, while nonresidential construction contracts fell 26 percent compared with a year earlier. A report from McGraw Hill Construction said residential contracts last month were valued at $78.2 million, compared with $127.3 million in December 2005. Contracts for commercial construction totaled $75.6 million, down from $102.7 million a year earlier. For the year, contracts for housing construction sank 24.8 percent to $1.67 billion, from $2.22 billion in 2005, while gains in the spring helped push nonresidential contracts up 16.8 percent for the year to $1.56 billion, from $1.33 billion in 2005. McGraw-Hill's research and analytics unit compiles monthly reports on construction contracts using data from Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Licking, Madison, Morrow, Pickaway and Union counties. Nonresidential buildings include those for commercial, manufacturing, educational, religious and hotel uses. Residential buildings include one- and two-family houses and apartments. More at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/01/22/daily7.html?surround=lfn

From Business First of Columbus, 1/8/07: Newsmakers Homebuilders may continue to struggle until closing months of year Business First of Columbus - January 5, 2007 by Dan Eaton Business First Not surprisingly, the business of building and selling houses was a tough one in 2006, a condition expected to continue into 2007. But some are beginning to see light at the end of a dark tunnel for the home building industry. Bad for 2006, but potentially good for 2007 and beyond. Unemployment, high foreclosure rates, predatory lending, cost of supplies, oil and heating products and bad press were among the factors that hurt the industry last year, Bennett said. With economic indicators moving upward, improved interest rates and a good inventory of housing to choose from, Bennett said he expects to see buyers begin returning to the Central Ohio market this year. "It won't be a quick, strong increase, but it'll be a steady gain," he said. "Other metropolitan areas have rapid swings. We don't take those wild swings." Read more at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/01/08/story13.html

From the 2/22/07 DDN: Pulse-Journal: Maineville readies for comprehensive plan (2/8/07) Western Star: Village of Maineville eyes comprehensive zoning plan (1/25/07) Village receives contract for comprehensive plan By Danyrae Lockwood Staff Writer Thursday, February 22, 2007 Village council members are considering hiring CDS Associates Inc. to create a comprehensive plan for growth and development in the village. "It does have some initial traffic concept plans, the overall comprehensive plan which deals with the various aspects of potential development along 48 (and) potential residential developments," Don Scvcgzda of CDS Associates said. "(But) we can certainly add to it." http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/02/22/pjl022207mainevillecouncil.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=16 From the 2/22/07 Pulse-Journal: Center designed to inspire By Denise G. Callahan Staff Writer Thursday, February 22, 2007 MASON — If he builds it they will come. Actually, Steve Schwander's motto is "build it right, and they will come." The "it" is the Seeideas Creativity Center he plans to construct on Courseview Drive near the new Sinclair Community College that is under construction and across from Kings Island. Schwander, a business development consultant and marketing guru, is creating 34,000 square feet of conference rooms designed to pull creativity from the people who inhabit the space. http://www.pulsejournal.com/n/content/oh/story/news/local/2007/02/23/pjm022207seeideas.html

From the 2/24/07 Toledo Blade: ST. VINCENT HEART, VASCULAR CENTER TAKES SHAPE PHOTO Jake Gardner and Duane Cousino of Decorative Floors lay tile in the lobby of the Regional Heart and Vascular Center at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center under construction as part of St. V’s Legacy Project,a $90 million investment that will provide for private rooms, advanced technology, and refurbished patient care areas within the main hospital. PHOTO At left is the health unit coordinator station on the third fl oor of the new center. Slated to open in June, the center will house all cardiovascular services in one location, enhancing patient care through state-of-the-art tech-nology and facility design. More at http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070224/BUSINESS03/70224011/-1/RSS04

From ThisWeek German Village, 2/15/07: Brewery District to go for rezoning Thursday, February 15, 2007 By SUE HAGAN ThisWeek Staff Writer Brewery District residents are starting a drive to get portions of their neighborhood rezoned. They want to make the area more conducive to mixed residential and commercial living. Members of the Brewery District Society have drafted and approved a letter, to be sent to city planners, to get the rezoning process started. Area zoning is currently a mixed bag of commercial and manufacturing -- none of which is friendly to single-family residents. "The current zoning is not a big problem if you're a big developer, because you can go in and get a variance," said Lori Baudro, senior project coordinator for the Columbus planning division. "But for a single-family home, it's onerous," she said. Single-family homes are grandfathered in and can exist as they are, but problems arise when residents want to remodel or sell. Read more at http://www.thisweeknews.com/?story=sites/thisweeknews/021507/GermanVillage/News/021507-News-306192.html

This is the way it was done for 2005, and it worked fine.

^ We had to limit the size of avatars after the first few months of Urban Ohio because some were either way too large or were slowing down people's computers. I find some of them annoying too, but if they're not affecting the performance of the forum then we'll just have to live with them. (I was against sig images too, and look how that turned out....)

Birchaven annexation request advances Findlay Courier, 2/21/07 The annexation to Findlay of about 217 acres, including the Birchaven retirement community on the city’s east side, apparently is a go. The Hancock County Commissioners approved the annexation Friday, but did not add on six parcels that the Marion Township Trustees had suggested. It turned out that several residents of those six parcels did not want their properties to be annexed to the city. Last month, Marion Township Trustee Chair Max Stacy had asked the commissioners to add about five acres to the proposed 217-acre annexation, to simplify road maintenance and fire service in the area. Adding those parcels would have meant starting the annexation process over again, however. Findlay Courier: Decision likely on annexing Birchaven (2/20/07)