Westerville City Council is delaying further discussion and action on selling an Uptown Westerville city office building for a mixed-use redevelopment until September after residents overwhelmingly opposed the project.
Residents packed the May 19 council meeting over a potential $2.5 million sale of 64 E. Walnut St. to Continental Development Ventures for a hotel, apartments, restaurant and parking garage. Some residents arrived at the city’s Huber Village Boulevard Justice Center at 5:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. meeting. The 112-person room was at capacity with dozens more in the lobby watching the meeting on TVs.
Residents spoke for more than half of the roughly three-hour meeting, and all opposed the potential project over concerns about density, incompatibility of an urban-style development in a residential area, increased traffic, safety, proximity to three Westerville City Schools, especially Whittier and Hanby elementary schools, and other reasons.
Julie Wildermuth lives across the street from the East Walnut Street building with her young children. Her kids and others who live along East Walnut Street have close friendships. She said the best sound in the city is hearing them call to one another across the street while they are outside. Those interactions away from social media and screens are vital. She said she’s worried Westerville will trade financial gain for the deterioration of the special community the neighborhood children have.
“If the kids are not safe here due to all the reasons you’re hearing tonight, then there’s no community at all. The community is over, but I promise you this community is worth protecting,” Wildermuth said. “It’s not about a misunderstanding of the plan or the botched rollout or rumors. This is a tipping point where it will be made clear what kind of care the city of Westerville has for its residents.”
She asked that the city consider a safer, smaller scale alternative about which the entire community can be excited.
Nico C., a 10-year-old who lives near Uptown Westerville and attends one of the nearby elementary schools, told council members he regularly walks and bikes on Walnut Street and hangs out the nearby Westerville Public Library and Hanby Park with his friends.
“If a hotel was built right there, I would not feel safe, and I don’t think my friends would either,” he said. “This community does not need or want a hotel by the park, the library and the especially the schools.”
Community reaction to the project has been overwhelmingly negative as residents have made signs, shared flyers with neighbors and created an a Change.org petition urging city leaders to pause the development until the city engages more with residents. More than 1,000 residents had signed the petition as of 11:30 p.m. May 19.
The building owned by the city is more than 30,300 square feet and was constructed in 1960, according to records from the Franklin County Auditor’s Office. It sits on a little more than 5 acres of property just east of South State Street and south of East Park Street.
The city is planning to sell the East Walnut Street office building now that the Westerville City Hall renovation is complete and city staff have relocated to 21 S. State St. While plans for the mixed-use building are still in the conceptual phase, the proposed mixed-use project would include:
Continental Development Ventures specializes in mixed-use developments, student housing, and multifamily projects. The developer has mixed-use projects in Upper Arlington and Bexley, including the six-story mixed-use “Fitzgerald” building, as well as multifamily housing developments in central Ohio in Gahanna, Whitehall, Upper Arlington, Dublin, and Pickerington, according to its website.
The proposed legislation before council is only about the sale of the property, and is just the first step of many to redevelop it.
Council held the first of three readings on the sale, but Chair Megan Czako said council needed more time to review the proposal and more community input. She moved to postpone further consideration of the legislation until Sept. 15, and the seven council members unanimously agreed.
Council also unanimously approved directing city staff to hold two open house events about the project, one that is already scheduled for June 8 as well as second one on a date to be determined.
Delaware County and eastern Columbus suburbs reporter Maria DeVito can be reached at mdevito@dispatch.com and @mariadevito13.dispatch.com on Bluesky and @MariaDeVito13 on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Resident backlash pushes Westerville to pause Uptown redevelopment
Reporting by Maria DeVito, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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