By Rick Palsgrove
Southeast Editor
A proposal for a warehouse development along Saltzgaber and Groveport roads has been dropped.
“The applicant has withdrawn their application,” said Groveport Law Director Kevin Shannon at the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting on June 4.
Added Groveport Building Official Stephen Moore, “This plan will not be pursued. We don’t know if they will come back with another plan.”
Fed One Properties XVII, LLC had asked the Planning and Zoning Commission to consider rezoning 21.4 acres to planned industrial park and 3.9 acres to select commercial planned district. The land, located at 5770 Saltzgaber Road on the southeast corner of Groveport and Saltzgaber roads, is currently zoned as rural.
Prior to withdrawing the request, the developer had proposed to build a 310,000 square foot warehouse on the 21.4 acres and use the 3.9 acres at the north end of the property for other commercial purposes.
Moore said an additional approximately 11 acres at the south end of the property was not part of the proposed development and it would have remain zoned as rural.
When asked about the possible future development of the Saltzgaber Road property, Groveport Mayor Lance Westcamp said, “I’d rather see it stay farm land, but realistically we know that’s not going to happen. We don’t know what else could be planned for the site. We’ll just wait and see what proposals come forward and make a decision then. Hopefully it will be something that fits in. I’m not against development.”
Groveport City Councilwoman Becky Hutson, who also serves on the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, said, “I don’t want to see a warehouse there. The area’s roads can’t handle it. I’d like to see something else be developed there.”
Toy Road and Madison Township resident Laurie Lyles said she was happy the warehouse proposal for Saltzgaber Road was withdrawn.
“I’m relieved, for now,” said Lyles. “We know at some point that land is going to be sold and become a warehouse development. We ask that we are respected as residents when plans are eventually made regarding the entrances and exits for whatever is developed there.”
Lyles said she would rather see the access points for a future development on the site be made at Greenpointe Drive or Groveport Road instead of Saltzgaber Road.
Lyles added she would prefer something other than a warehouse be built on the site.
“I’d rather see a restaurant or other similar business go there,” said Lyles. “But I also don’t want to see houses or apartments.”
At a public meeting on March 21, Fritz Crosier, chief deputy of engineering for Franklin County Engineer Cornell Robertson, said the area’s roads – Toy Road, Saltzgaber Road, and Swisher Road – were “not intended to handle semi-truck traffic” and that the condition of the roads is poor.
Madison Township residents living on Toy Road, Saltzgaber Road, and Swisher Road remain frustrated by the heavy traffic from nearby commercial warehouses that use these narrow, formerly rural roads. The area’s residents have been seeking relief from the vehicle and semi-truck traffic that they say damages the roads, tears up yards, knocks over mailboxes, causes noise, generates trash, and creates congestion.
The three roads have the added problem of falling within several different government jurisdictions including Madison Township, the cities of Groveport and Obetz, and Franklin County.
