Galena supports Watershed Plan; moves forward with Walnut St. project

David Rut­ter, Mid-Ohio Regional Plan­ning Com­mis­sion, pre­sented details of the Big Wal­nut Water­shed Plan­ning Partnership’s Bal­anced Growth Plan dur­ing the July Vil­lage of Galena Coun­cil meet­ing. Rut­ter explained that var­i­ous town­ships, munic­i­pal­i­ties and stake­hold­ers spent the past two years draft­ing the vol­un­tary, incentive-based plan for the Big Wal­nut Water­shed span­ning Mor­row, Delaware, Franklin, Lick­ing and Fair­field coun­ties. The main empha­sis of the plan is clean water and it des­ig­nates pri­or­ity agri­cul­ture, con­ser­va­tion and devel­op­ment areas. Rut­ter empha­sized “It’s an all car­rot, no stick approach”. Com­mu­ni­ties can incor­po­rate rec­om­men­da­tions into their local com­pre­hen­sive plans and uti­lize incen­tives for con­ser­va­tion and devel­op­ment ini­tia­tives. Fol­low­ing the pre­sen­ta­tion Coun­cil passed a res­o­lu­tion of sup­port for the plan.

EMH&T Engi­neer Travis Eifert was also in Coun­cil to dis­cuss the Wal­nut Street recon­struc­tion projects. Dur­ing a pub­lic meet­ing on July 16 Eifert shared infor­ma­tion about road sur­vey results with the pub­lic. He explained that the side­walk will either be in its cur­rent loca­tion on the west side of the road or closer to the road and the road will be wider. After pub­lic feed­back at a pre­vi­ous pub­lic meet­ing, it was decided that there would be no on-street park­ing. Fol­low­ing the meet­ing, those inter­ested walked the entire length of Phase 3 and 4 of the project with Eifert to iden­tify poten­tial curb cuts for each lot. The pub­lic chose the Eng­lish Iron Spot brick for the street which will fea­ture storm water friendly per­me­able pavers.

Interim Vil­lage Administra-tor Jeanna Bur­rell explained that the Wal­nut Street project is being funded through the Ohio Pub­lic Works Com­mis­sion (OPWC) which announced the for­mal approval and abil­ity to pro­ceed with the project on July 1. The total Phase 3 project from High to Church streets is $437,266 includ­ing a grant for $250,000 with a $137,266 30-year, zero per­cent loan. The Vil­lage is also match­ing $50,000 toward the sur­vey and design of both Phase 3 and 4 from High to Har­ri­son streets. Coun­cil approved accept­ing the grant/loan and adver­tis­ing for bids. Con­struc­tion will begin in Sep­tem­ber and run through Decem­ber. Del-Co Water and Colum­bia Gas will do util­ity work prior to the road con­struc­tion. Del-Co will place new lines on the east side of the road; will do design and build in August; and, will con­tact res­i­dents soon.

Coun­cil approved a con­tract with the Greater Galena Civic Asso­ci­a­tion detail­ing respon­si­bil­i­ties for Sum­mer­fest. They also approved an ordi­nance to close the streets around the square for the Sum­mer­fest beer gar­den area. The August 25 fes­ti­val includes more than 60 food, craft, art, busi­ness and non-profit ven­dors as well as blues bands includ­ing Ray Fuller and the Blues­rock­ers, Miss Lissa & Com­pany, Hur­ri­cane Jerry & the Storm­front, and the Sean Car­ney Band. The Ruffner Park Kid­Zone will include bounce houses and a stage fea­tur­ing the Shazzbots, Annie’s Jam Band and the Ohio Youth Enter­tain­ers Stage Show. Addi­tional fes­tiv­i­ties include a car­i­ca­ture artist, face painter, Ohio State High­way Patrol heli­copter land­ing, bal­loon artist, a chain­saw artist, and more.

The Vil­lage will again offer free parks, trails and his­tor­i­cal wagon tours. A free shut­tle will pro­vide round trip ser­vice from the main park­ing area at the Galena United Methodist Church to the Galena Vil­lage Square. Free shut­tles will also run between Sum­mer­fest and Sunbury’s Siz­zle and Sounds fes­ti­val all day.

Infor­ma­tion is avail­able at < www.discovergalenaohio.com/ >. Vol­un­teers can sign up at < www.SignUpGenius.com/go/4090D4DA8AC22A57-galena/4005291 >.

Bur­rell dis­cussed ongo­ing ren­o­va­tions at the new Galena Vil­lage Hall (for­mer Galena United Methodist Church). Time has been spent gath­er­ing esti­mates for a vari­ety of main­te­nance projects. Asbestos in the mechan­i­cal room will be removed. Work will pro­ceed on updat­ing exist­ing and installing new emer­gency and exit light­ing. Hall­way elec­tri­cal updates will begin soon as well. A lap­top was pur­chased for the Coun­cil Cham­bers sound/recording sys­tem. Stage recon­struc­tion is in process. In a related mea­sure, Coun­cil held a first read­ing on an ordi­nance regard­ing sell­ing its cur­rent Vil­lage Munic­i­pal Build­ing at 9 West Colum­bus Street.

After an exec­u­tive ses­sion, Coun­cil dealt with a vari­ety of per­son­nel issues. They passed a res­o­lu­tion for a ser­vice agree­ment with Pro­fes­sional Pack­age Plant Ser­vices (PPPS) to run the waste­water treat­ment sys­tem. They passed a res­o­lu­tion mov­ing David LaValle from deputy zon­ing inspec­tor to zon­ing inspec­tor. He is also the prop­erty main­te­nance inspec­tor and flood­plain admin­is­tra­tor. Bur­rell will con­tinue in the interim vil­lage admin­is­tra­tor position.

In other busi­ness, Coun­cil passed an ordi­nance declar­ing a no park­ing zone and a par­al­lel park­ing zone at South Wal­nut Street and Colum­bus Street. Park­ing there obscures the stop sign and blocks the road. A first read­ing was also held on a res­o­lu­tion approv­ing the Delaware, Knox, Mar­ion and Mor­row Solid Waste Man­age­ment Dis­trict Plan Update.

Bur­rell reported that the SCADA elec­tronic sys­tem is being installed on the waste­water sys­tem. The fine screen project is on hold. In the waste­water treat­ment report, pre­ven­tive main­te­nance was con­ducted on blow­ers and the UV sys­tem was repaired. The decant tubes were inop­er­a­ble when Jason Watts began oper­at­ing the plant so they were repaired. Watts plans to change chem­i­cals used to save money.

Fis­cal Offi­cer Marty Mazzie reported that three new sewer accounts have been set up and three new res­i­dent pack­ages were mailed. Storm-related costs were sub­mit­ted to Delaware County for poten­tial fed­eral reimbursements.

Zon­ing Inspec­tor Dave LaValle reported that three zon­ing per­mits for new homes were issued and one is pend­ing in the Wal­nut Creek sub­di­vi­sion on Joe Walker Road. The lots have been sell­ing rapidly in the devel­op­ment and only six lots are left.

An acces­sory build­ing per­mit was issued and a minor subdivision/lot split was approved. LaValle also reported on prop­erty main­te­nance com­plaints and inves­ti­ga­tions. LaValle said he will work with prop­erty own­ers and res­i­dents infor­mally to get infe­rior con­di­tions cor­rected before issu­ing for­mal vio­la­tion notices.

Main­te­nance Super­vi­sor Jeff Stokes has been busy pick­ing up limbs after four major storms on June 29, July 1st, July 4 and July 26. Thanks to the many res­i­dents who came out to assist neigh­bors in need fol­low­ing the storms. A street­light was lost dur­ing the last storm.

The Vil­lage is wait­ing on a tree ser­vice com­pany to fin­ish emer­gency work in order to get to some Vil­lage trees that fell dur­ing storms, but are not imped­ing any roads. Stokes has been busy assist­ing with Galena Vil­lage Hall work as well.

Dick Tut­tle is offer­ing a chim­ney swift pro­gram at 8 p.m., August 10, at the Galena Vil­lage Hall, 109 Har­ri­son Street. He is also offer­ing the pro­gram again dur­ing Summerfest.

Vil­lage res­i­dents are invited to the annual Ice Cream Social, 6 to 8 p.m., August 26 in Ruffner Park.

Posted by Gary Henery on Aug 8 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.