Outcry by residents in Clintonville sinks COTA turnaround plan

clipped from www.dispatchpolitics.com Friday, July 23, 2010 02:51 AM By Collin Binkley THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH COTA buses on N. High Street will have to turn around somewhere else. Facing pressure from Clintonville residents, the board of the Central Ohio Transit Authority unanimously turned down a proposal last night to transform a fully occupied N. High Street strip mall into a turnaround for buses. "We are ecstatic," said D Searcy, chairwoman of the Clintonville Area Commission. "I'm so happy for the businesses that won't have to go." The decision came after an hour-long presentation by COTA President Bill Lhota, who read a list of residents' objections to the plan to purchase and develop the land at N. High Street and Kanawha Avenue for $2.3 million. The proposal failed primarily because COTA didn't involve residents enough in the decision, Lhota said after the meeting. The mall's neighbors said they learned about the proposal only weeks ago, but COTA officials have been seeking a new location for a turnaround for two years. "I will be the first to admit that, looking back, we did not manage the public-involvement process as well as we could have," Lhota told more than 60 neighbors who came to the meeting. "I have no excuses for that. We did not do a good job." Buses will continue turning around at Graceland Shopping Center, where they have for years, while officials search for a new location. But shopping center owner Casto has told COTA that as the center develops, it will not be able to accommodate buses, Lhota said. At any time, Casto could give the authority 30 days' notice to stop using its property. Before voting at last night's meeting, many board members noted that they had received a barrage of calls, e-mails and letters in recent weeks urging them to shoot down the proposal. "I just don't think that the purchase of this property at this point is the right plan for COTA," said Linda Mauger, chairwoman of the board. Still, Lhota defended much of the proposal and countered claims that it would be a noise nuisance and that it would clog the area's narrow roads. After the meeting, Lhota said officials likely would review other properties they've considered. The bottom line, Mauger said, is that the authority needs to find a new location. "We still need to be able to turn the buses around."