July 28, 2011
Pierce Field building plans continue By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers As one project at Pierce Field is completed, plans for another improvement at the park have been finalized. The new accessible playground equipment has been installed at Pierce and is open for pleasure, said Sean Robey, parks and recreation director. The playground piece includes numerous elevated play components with ramps that make them accessible for those in wheelchairs or motorized devices, he said. There are also several ground-level components that youngsters can use, Robey said. A rubberized accessible sur-
A closer look The multi-purpose building would include a kitchen area in which the Boosters would sell, but not cook, the beef they sell at each year’s Ox Roast; a storage area; and restrooms.
face was also installed. Since the playground equipment was installed earlier this month, it has been heavily used, he said. “People really seem to like it,” Robey said. The final design plans for a new multipurpose building at Pierce Field have been
completed and Robey said the next tasks will be to work out financing for the $500,000 project and to gain planning commission approval of a major site plan. “We’ll be sitting down with (city council’s) finance committee to look at funding options,” he said. “We’re kind of working on a tight schedule,” Robey said, because the parks department would have work on the new building begin as soon as possible after the Bobcat Boosters’ Ox Roast, schedule for Sept. 8-10 at Pierce Field. The plan would be to complete the new building by the beginning of the high school softball season next March, he said. “That’s the time when nothing really
is happening at Pierce Field,” Robey said. The multipurpose building would include a kitchen area in which the Boosters would sell, but not cook, the beef they sell at each year’s ox roast; a storage area; and restrooms. The side of the building facing toward the T-ball diamond would include a shaded patio area where people could sit while watching games. The other side would feature a covered patio with picnic tables. The building would be located between the park’s two ball diamonds, approximately where the current restroom building sits, Robey said. The building would be about 1,300 square feet in size. A new pit for the Boosters would be
located to the north of the new building near Hilo Lane. The Bobcat Boosters have approved of the new location for the pit, Robey said. The existing three buildings at the park would be demolished, he said. “They were built by volunteers sometime in the late 1960s, 1970s time frame,” Robey said. “They have served us well, but they are well past their prime. The restroom facilities are in particularly bad shape.” Some of the funding for the project could come from revenue from the additional 0.25 mill in available inside millSee BUILDING, page A5
GHHS student to build bat house for Wallace Gardens By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Photos by Lorrie Cecil/ThisWeek
Parker Brown, 2, chases the bubbles around the library lawn during the 18th annual Lazy Daze Festival on July 23. The festival featured a number of arts and crafts booths, activities, food and entertainment.
Pet portrait artist wins Lazy Daze Best of Show By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Dana Keating-Marziale, a New Albany-based artist who specializes in pet portraits, won the Best of Show award July 23 at the 18th annual Lazy Daze of Summer arts and crafts festival. Keating-Marziale was one of more than 50 exhibitors who displayed their work at the festival, which was held on the lawn and streets surrounding the Grandview Heights Public Library. The festival is presented by the Grandview Heights/Marble Cliff Arts Council and serves as the organization’s main fundraiser. This year’s festival was cut short by about 45 minutes due to the threat of a thunderstorm. “It had been so hot all day and we Mozart Dane of Harlequin Haven Great Dane Rescue hangs out at the organization’s booth during the festival. Mozart Dane was rescued by the organization and uses his
See ARTIST, page A2 paws to paint artwork that is sold to raise funds for the organization.
The United Nations has declared 2011-12 as the International Year of the Bat, part of a global species awareness initiative. So it is perhaps fitting that a Grandview Heights High School student will be building a bat house this summer for the Wallace Community Gardens. Gen Ritz approached the city with the bat house project, which she will be completing to earn her Girl Scout Gold Award. The planning commission gave its approval of the project at its July 20 meeting. The idea for the project stemmed from both her concern for the environment and interest in bats, Ritz said. The bat exhibit at the zoo always fascinated her as a young girl, she said. “I just thought bats were kind of mysterious and misunderstood,” Ritz said. “Probably the biggest misconception people have about bats is that they all have rabies and that they will attack you.” In fact, bats are beneficial for the environment and for humans, she said. A brown bat can eat as many as 1,000 mosquitoes per hour, Ritz said. “Mosquitoes are a problem at Wallace Gardens and we’ve had instances of mosquitoes being captured there displaying signs of West Nile virus,” said Sean Robey, parks and recreation director. “This will be a green, non-pesticide way to help eliminate the mosquito population at the gardens and at McKinley Field.” Bats are also capable of pollinating flowers, he said, and they consume garden pests such as gypsy moths and Japanese beetles. The bat house Ritz will be build-
“
I just thought bats were kind of mysterious and misunderstood. Probably the biggest misconception people have about bats is that they all have rabies and that they will attack you.
GEN RITZ — GHHS student
”
ing will measure 2 feet tall by 1 1/2 half feet wide. It will be placed on a post and be about 13 feet above ground. “There will be three chambers for the bats, each about threefourths of an inch apart,” she said. “The one I’m building will be able to hold up to 100 bats.” “It’s amazing how many bats can cram into such a small space,” Robey said. The house will be placed in the southwest corner of Wallace Gardens, closer to the railroad tracks and away from the trees, he said. It will be painted black, both to make it more hospitable for the bats and to make it less visible to nearby businesses and homes, Robey said. There will be an educational component to the house, with a sign or plaque attached to the post providing information about bats and their benefits to the community, he said. Bats are already in the Grandview area, living in homes and attics and dead trees, Ritz said. “They come out at night to feed,” she said. The bat house will provide them with an alternative home, Ritz said. See BATS, page A5
Marble Cliff considers disturbing-the-peace legislation By ALAN FROMAN ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Marble Cliff Village Council held first reading July 25 of an ordinance to amend village code to enact a “disturbing the peace” section. The measure would set regulations for residents and commercial and industrial businesses regarding the operating of equipment and penalties for violating the regulations. Village solicitor Mitch Banchefsky presented council with a draft of the legislation.
be used rather than stating when equipment could not be used so as to avoid disturbing neighbors A closer look with noise. The draft ordinance would allow outdoor equipThe draft ordinance would allow outdoor ment, including lawn mowers, leaf blowers, chainequipment, including lawn mowers, leaf saws or other landscaping equipment, to be used blowers, chainsaws or other landscaping between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. equipment, to be used between 8 a.m. and Anyone other than the property owner, mem8 p.m. ber of the property owner’s immediate family or a person conducting construction activities as a Council members asked that the language be volunteer would only be able to operate conrevised to set the allowable hours equipment can struction equipment between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
You have a hole in your house.
weekdays and 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. Such activity would not be allowed on Sundays. The loading or unloading of any commercial truck or van in a residential area or a commercial or manufacturing zone adjacent to a residential area would also be allowed between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. weekdays and 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays and not at all on Sundays. This section would apply to the use of hydraulic trash-compacting equipment such as commercial
And don’t even know it. Learn how to plug it with an energy assessment or audit from AEP Ohio. Call 877-856-2454 to sign up today.
See PEACE, page A5