By Katelyn Sattler
Staff Writer
Obetz City Administrator Rod Davisson presented the revised Capital Improvement Plan at the May 8 Obetz City Council meeting.
“It’s an amalgam of ideas from the community, council members, the mayor, and staff members,” said Davisson. “I have sorted for you the ones that I think we are likely to either accomplish or get a very good start on this year.”
Some are multi-year projects include:
•Continue the street sign upgrades.
•The kayak vending machine at Dixon Quarry.
•Add a kiln at the Obetz Community Center for pottery classes and finish the community center remodel.
•Install Walnut Creek sign next to the hospital at the Walnut Creek Development.
•Veterans Park curbs.
•Upgrade front entrance to Area 51 disk golf course for better aesthetics.
•Demolish some of the city-owned Collins property.
•Finish Mulberry connector to ensure access in case the other access gets shut down.
•Paving roads. The city has 100 lane miles of road.
•Add dog park parking lines and striping out the side of the street near the park. .
•Start paving some of the path system. Davisson said it is seven miles as designed right now, but with Buckstone, it is approximately 15 miles.
•Rebuild Casey Neff playground.
•General beautification – generally adding mulch beds around town.
•City building signage.
“Again, signs are expensive,” said Davisson. “The city never spent money on them because everybody kind of knew where everything was. But, we’re getting so big now with enough buildings to probably to start labeling them.”
•Fix drainage problem in Area 51 city disk golf course..
•Resurface the Obetz Community Center court.
“It’s tennis at the OCC, pickleball at Lancaster Park, and basketball out at the Fortress,” said Davisson.
•Significantly redesign Lancaster Park and rename it.
“Add some pickleball courts, add some paving, put in an enclosure – something that’s removable or movable over top of the ice rink/splash pad, to be used for multiple seasons to be opened for splash pad days and closed for ice or for roller skating in the fall or spring,” said Davisson. “Curb and sidewalk repair. Finish fence. This is probably a multi-year project, but we’d like to get some of started this year.”
•Recreation Trail lighting.
“The city has the street lights go on Recreation Trail, but as the snow is plowed over the years and salt is kicked on the bottom of those, they rust it out,” said Davisson. “And so they’re about done. They break all the time. Because of the electric wiring, the heads are getting old. So those need to be replaced. The city is looking at way finding lights instead of street lights.”
•Two electronic signs have been purchased to be deployed this year. Two tentative locations are on Alum Creek in front of the Obetz Administrative Offices and replace the white analog sign where Obetz Avenue dead-ends into Groveport Road.
•Install some blow up anchors for the Christmas blow ups that the city does to avoid dragging the big Jersey barriers where they’re needed.
•Make website improvements, including the city’s main website.
“The Multimedia Communications Specialist has a suite of mirrors and pictures and cameras and drones that are needed to upgrade our ability to put out both photos and video of the city’s stuff,” said Davisson. “It’s quite an investment, including a cinematic drone. The chief and the police need stuff going every year. They need new cruisers, new ballistic vests.”
Davisson added that together and based on rough estimates, the improvements should cost about $3.4 million.
He said, outside of that, the city is looking at purchasing some property.
“We are seriously considering a northern swimming pool and a southern swimming pool,” said Davisson. “We’re still in the development stage for those. But there’s no chance it’s going to start this year. The planning and design of that could very well start this year for the northern pool, the concept being we’d get a pool (in the northern part of the city sooner). And then (in the south) at Buckstone, as Buckstone comes online.”
He said grass was planted for the additional four baseball fields at McClish South.
“We don’t know if that’s ultimately where they land or not. And I might have a better deal in the baseball fields to go in there,” said Davisson. “There are a number of things on this list that are in 2023 that quite frankly are just going have to move. Because you don’t have as much money as you would like to. I think if you added up all the things, add 2023 next to them, it ends up being some ridiculous amount of money that we just don’t have to spend right now. So the rest of those, I’ve moved into 2024, 2025, or later.”
