By Mark Ferenchik
For a commission drowning in controversy, it would seem like an issue that new members might want to avoid.
Yet members of the Clintonville Area Commission are putting the controversial turn lane at North Broadway and N. High Street back on the agenda.
Clintonville commissioner D Searcy and three newly elected commissioners met yesterday with city officials to discuss the turn lane and other issues, said Dan Williamson, Mayor Michael B. Coleman’s spokesman.
Williamson said the area commission would have to vote in favor of the turn lane from westbound North Broadway to southbound N. High Street for the city to consider the issue again.
“If they get the votes for it, the mayor’s committed to it,” Williamson said. “He supports the turn lane.”
City council would have to approve the money for it.In 2009, the commission voted in favor of the turn lane. The next year, members voted it down.
Now, the commission has three new members — Dana Bagwell, Jason Meek and Daniel Miller — and another will be needed to replace Chairman John DeFourny, who resigned last week amid conflict-of-interest accusations.
“There are many people in Clintonville that want the turn lane done,” Searcy said. “Until the turn lane is done, the community cannot be settled.”
Bagwell favors the turn lane. She said it would help the area of High Street south of North Broadway thrive while cutting down on speeders who use side streets to get around the intersection.
Meek said he still is considering the issue.
The mayor had planned to make a decision on the turn lane himself. But in March he said he would leave it up to the commission.
The turn lane, a bus turnaround, gateway signs and a rezoning for a parking lot are among the laundry list of issues that have divided the community.
Bickering among commission members as well as name-calling and other bad behavior have given the commission a bad reputation.
A Columbus resident who doesn’t even live in Clintonville fired off an email to commissioners this month, writing that “it is quite embarrassing to read about the drama, self-interests, selfish/personal motives and what appears to be an overall lack of true commitment to YOUR community about many of the issues.”
Clintonville is a place where residents take pride in their leafy streets, well-kept yards, and for many, their progressive views. Columbus City Council President Andrew Ginther, a Democrat, lives there, as does state Sen. Jim Hughes, a Republican.
Ginther, who said he favors the turn lane for safety reasons, said that an at-large council system in a city as big as Columbus works only with organized and effective area commissions. Commissions advise the council on neighborhood priorities and zoning issues.
Meek said he worries that the commission has hurt its reputation and weakened its relationship with Columbus officials.
Neighborhood politics can be messy, and that isn’t unique to Clintonville, Williamson said.
“City Hall is never going to turn its back on Clintonville because of instability in the commissioners,” he said.Bagwell said she and others will work to restore the Clintonville Area Commission’s reputation.
“We’re going to have to prove to (City Hall) that we can be taken seriously again,” Bagwell said.
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