ThisWeek CW 12/11/2014
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/12/08/cota-seeks-rezoning-for-new-park–ride.html
Canal Winchester residents who live on Winchester Pike near a proposed new Central Ohio Transit Authority Park & Ride location let their opposition to the project be known at a Dec. 1 public hearing.
Nearly 30 residents turned out for hearing. Nine of them — all of whom live near the proposed new site — asked Canal Winchester City Council to deny a zoning request that would allow COTA to build a permanent Park & Ride location off Winchester Pike, on land bordered by Gender Road, Winchester Pike and the exit ramp of U.S. Route 33.
Three others, who use the Park & Ride now located at Gender Road Christian Church, spoke in favor of finding a new spot for the service.
COTA purchased a total of nine parcels of land, five of which adjoin Gender Road and are already zoned as general commercial. Those five parcels could be turned into a Park & Ride without further rezoning.
However, according to COTA representative Mike Bradley, COTA determined that moving the location of the bus loading zone and the parking lot further off Gender Road toward Winchester Pike would make the operation safer for bus riders and for other motorists.
This reasoning did not satisfy the residents of Winchester Pike.
“Those buses are going to be going down right next to my bedrooms, and I got to put up with the noise and fumes,” resident Glen Faught said.
“I’ve lived there 50 years. My wife and I built our home there, and at that time, we had to be 100 feet off the street, and now they’re building a street right down beside my bedrooms. I’m 100-percent against this.”
City Development Director Lucas Haire said a new public road to be named Trillium Avenue would replace a private dirt road connecting Gender Road and Winchester Pike. If built, Trillium Avenue would be about 25 feet from Faught’s house, he estimated.
“COTA is proposing significant landscaping and will be amicable to putting up a privacy fence to shelter light and noise,” Haire said.
“At this point, this is just a concept plan to see if the rezoning is OK. The engineering would have to be approved separately later.”
Other resident concerns included a decline in property values, trash, vehicle vandalism, traffic issues on Winchester Pike and damage to the roadway, which currently has very low usage because it’s a dead-end street.
“I think the concept is a great idea. I just think it’s a bad location,” Winchester Pike resident Doug Patterson said.
“We moved in because I’ve got four kids and we wanted to be on a quiet street. We only have about 10 houses on the street; you take down two or three houses to build this and it’s going to take down our real estate values with it.”
Those in favor of building a new Park & Ride said the current location at the church is hazardous due to the traffic on Gender Road as well as traffic in the church parking lot during events.
“Where we have it at the church, there’s no vandalism and no trash, and it’s been good, but the problem is that there’s not much room there,” Bonita Rickerson said.
“When there’s a lot of activity at the church, it’s difficult for the (bus) driver to make those turns necessary; and for those of us leaving the parking lot, we have to make a left turn out of there and it’s taking your life in your own hands.
“It’s very dangerous for everyone because of that traffic,” she said. “At the proposed location, it will be safe for everyone.”
City council heard a first reading of the rezoning legislation following the public hearing and expects to hold another two readings before taking a final vote.
The next reading of the legislation will be at council’s Dec. 15 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 10 N. High St.