Need a pool!
Community center & pool!
More diversified tax base (commercial development).
Affordable housing.
Embrace diversity and change.
Parking.
These are among the suggested opportunities for the Granville community to evolve or improve as it develops an updated comprehensive land-use plan.
The comments showed up on sticky notes written by more than 70 people who attended a planning open house Tuesday evening, Sept. 16, at the Granville Intermediate School.
“One of the things we wanted to accomplish tonight is community engagement, for sure,” said Granville Township Trustee Bryn Bird, who is a member of a working group that helped consultants from Crossroads Community Planning of Columbus develop a framework for community input.
Those who couldn’t attend the open house can still offer their thoughts about priorities and opportunities to potentially build into the land-use plan. Residents can still add suggestions to the poster boards, which will be located at the Granville Public Library through Sept. 26. And the boards and the planners will be at the Granville Farmers Market at Raccoon Valley Park on Saturday, Sept. 20, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Bird said the village and township work well together to look out for the best interests of the entire community, and that’s rare in Ohio.
“We’re pretty sure we’re the only township and village in the state to work together on a comprehensive plan like this,” she said. “We go to conferences and talk with folks from other communities, and they tell us how unusual we are.”
And in a good way, she said.
“This will be our strength for the next decade or more – that we work together,” Bird said.
She acknowledged that some people don’t want anything to change.
“But that puts us at risk of losing economic opportunities,” Bird said. “Also, change will happen with you, or it will happen to you.”
She said that the village and township have been doing joint planning for more than 30 years, and one result is the Open Space program that strategically limits development and preserves green spaces to maintain a rural character in the township.
The program has become the envy of other fast-growing areas of the state that do not have such a mechanism to preserve open spaces.
Jennifer Rubal, assistant village planner, said she was pleased with the turnout on Sept. 16, and that residents seemed happy that they were asked for their opinions.
“They feel like they are being heard,” she said.
After receiving community input, the planners will work during the next two months to draft a land-use plan and present recommendations to a working group of local leaders and residents for feedback.
After another revision, the planners will submit the final draft to the village council and township trustees for their consideration.
Alan Miller writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.