ThisWeek CW 02/12/2015

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2015/02/10/final-decision-expected-feb–17-eastside-athletics-pushes-for-favorable-rezoning-vote.html

A dozen people, some offering emotional testimony, attended the Feb. 2 city council meeting in support of a plan to build a private athletic training facility on donated land in Canal Winchester.

A final vote is expected Feb. 17 on Glenn Ferrone’s request to rezone 8020 Groveport Road from residential to general commercial so a multisport athletic training facility can be built there.

The city’s staff has recommended against the rezoning, citing potential environmental concerns that could prevent Ferrone, a Canal Winchester resident, from constructing a new Eastside Athletics facility. If that were the case, the changed zoning designation could limit Canal Winchester’s development options for the property, Development Director Lucas Haire said.

Part of the 3.1-acre site adjacent to the Waste Management complex is being used as agricultural land with some sections in use as a landfill.

Haire said current data show the property is still within the flood plain of the Tussing Ditch — a tributary of Walnut Creek — regardless of statements to the contrary by Ferrone.

He said a hydraulic study will need to be completed and updates to the FEMA flood plain maps made to reflect any changes that resulted from dumping fill materials on the property.

“The site appears to have been elevated above that flood plain, but that has never been made official, so our best data still show it in the flood plain,” Haire said.

Ferrone, director of Eastside Athletics, and project construction contractor Fred Kreutz said they are confident they will be able to submit updated study information to meet the city’s requirements.

At last week’s council meeting, volleyball player Rebecca Vogt, a Canal Winchester resident, became teary-eyed as her father, Jimmie Vogt, talked about the bullying and abuse his daughter faced in other programs, but overcame as a member of Eastside Athletics.

“For the last two years, I’ve been part of a family where they help these kids and teach them about ethics and responsibility,” Jimmie Vogt said. “It’s not just about playing the game … We need programs like this. It’s not about pieces of land or programs that may do something. This isn’t a program that just makes promises — they accomplish things.”

Rebecca Vogt said she wants council to consider the importance of having a safe place for the city’s youth to go, where she said they would learn more than just a healthy sports activity.

“I want to have a place that every kid has a place to go that’s safe,” she said. “Canal Winchester kids can go to Groveport or Pickerington for their rec centers, but why not bring the kids from here to a place in Canal Winchester?”

Ferrone said Eastside Athletics, a nonprofit organization, currently runs 17 volleyball teams involving 160 high school girls from throughout central Ohio.

He’s hoping, with this permanent location, to expand into basketball and other sports over time.

Council’s Feb. 17 meeting is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 10 N. High St.