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Ackerman/Zollinger Road Connector Project

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Started 1 year ago by futureman
Latest reply from Analogue Kid

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futureman
Grandview Heights
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Concern Over Upper Arlington Connector Continues
By STEVE WAINFOR
Published: September 19, 2010
Updated: September 20, 2010 - 9:39 AM

The city of Upper Arlington recently started the process of applying for grant money with the hopes of building a connector between Ackerman and Zollinger roads.

If the city were to do that, it would mean carving a four-lane road through a wooded area.

The wooded area is owned by the Ohio State University and backs right up to 40 homes along Sunny Hill Drive, which is in Columbus.

"It's been extremely stressful for our household -- and I am sure for many neighbors -- because we don't know what is coming and we don't know when it's coming," said concerned homeowner Lisa Barber.

Many neighbors, such as Andrea Prud'homme, moved to this area because of the surroundings.

"We just want to make sure that both the city of Columbus and the city of Upper Arlington know that this is not something that we support," Prud'homme said.

Prud'homme was one of 60 neighbors who attended an emergency meeting called by the Sunny Hill Civic Association to get some answers.

...

Read More - http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/sep/19/5/concern-over-upper-arlington-connector-continues-ar-235808/

While not as destructive as the long proposed Bethel/Morse Rd connector this project apparently is seeing significant push back from neighbors. I would prefer to see it built, it would better connect the two areas without having to destroy any houses. I'm sure traffic would increase on Zollinger, but it is already is a four lane road and from a grid perspective it looks like it was designed to be a major thoroughfare for the area, just never connected to Ackerman.

Posted 1 year ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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Upper Arlington hot for Ackerman-Zollinger connector
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 02:50 AM
BY DEAN NARCISO
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

If Upper Arlington has its way, Ackerman Road west of Rt. 315 could become a main entrance to the center of the city.

But the road, which currently dead-ends at Kenny Road less than a quarter-mile from the freeway, would first need to connect to Zollinger Road, about two-thirds of a mile to the west.

Doing so would mean building a road as close as the house next door to a Columbus neighborhood of more than 40 homes.

"That would be a disaster," said Stephane Spoiden, a University of Michigan professor who commutes daily and relishes the quiet of his backyard on Sunny Hill Drive. "The noise, the feeling of being constrained in your own home, the congestion."

Upper Arlington officials want to connect Ackerman and Zollinger, which are already aligned, to ease congestion on other streets and create a route into Kingsdale Shopping Center, which is currently being redeveloped.

Last night, the Upper Arlington City Council voted to allow its city engineer to apply to the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission for up to $4.3 million in federal road-improvement and traffic-mitigation grants

...

Read More - http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/09/14/copy/arlington-hot-for-connector.html

Posted 1 year ago #
pilsner

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I'd rather Morse and Bethel Roads be connected.

Posted 1 year ago #
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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Off topic, there is an Ackerman Effect in vehicle steering design:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_steering_geometry

The inside wheel steers more than the outside, and the centerlines of all wheels converge on one point

Posted 1 year ago #
The Hegemo
Delusions of Grandview
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My father's cousin lives on Sunny Hill, and it really is lovely the way her backyard backs onto the OSU land. Very peaceful, a lot of varied wildlife around. I would be pretty pissed if I lived there and they put a road through that...

Posted 1 year ago #
Soaktree
Fancyburg Park, UA
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Although I don't favor road-widening or construction for the sake of doing so, I think this connector is a missing link in our transportation system.

My caveat would be to see the new connector have a fully-dedicated bike path/lane and continue said path onto Dodgridge and then to the Olentangy trail. Consider that the Scioto trail will eventually reach the Griggs Dam area, doing this will provide an opportunity to interlink our feldgeling bike trail system and make it very easy for bikers in the NW side of Columbus and Hilliard reach OSU easier.

-Seth

Posted 1 year ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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First a mosque at ground zero and now this!

Posted 1 year ago #
pchristen01

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If getting people in and out of new mall as worker describes is the problem then a new government would understand something as simple as this will fix the problem. UA citizens have to want it. http://home.rr.com/uagopking

Posted 1 year ago #
MFRONE
Lakewood
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Wait...they quoted a guy who reportedly commutes 6 hours a day from his home to his job and back? What would he know about the quiet if he's never home?

Posted 1 year ago #
Analogue Kid
5th by West-Northwest
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So I'm sure there will be lots of back and forth about selfish NIMBY homeowners and such, but let's talk numbers.

This project is supposed to cost over $6,000,000 for 1/2 mile of road. Anybody else think that's a bit ridiculous? Upper Arlington is justifying the project by saying it will help increase their tax revenue, etc, etc. But if the homes along Zollinger are going to be worth much less with their newfound freeway address, any logical homeowner is going to ask for a reassessment and have their property taxes reduced. It is difficult to give an exact number on the loses, but I can imagine that with hundreds of houses between North Star and Riverside, they stand to lose quite a bit.

That leaves us with income taxes for some mystical office development at Kingsdale that will magically happen when the road gets built (or so we're told). Assuming that you had 250 additional people paying income taxes (and I'm not sure if they even have enough space for that many), the city would stand to collect about $100,000 in taxes each year. That's also assuming the city doesn't give any abatements, which is pretty much impossible given today's ultra-competitive suburban Class-A office market. So the $6,000,000 cost MIGHT pay itself back in 60 years, assuming that the world is perfect and people come rushing in to setup an office at Kingsdale.

You know what they say when you assume....
Seems to me the numbers just don't justify this project at all.

As far as congestion goes, I've never seen this area truly congested except after OSU football games. If we're trying to solve traffic congestion by building more roads, that's a losing proposition as well.

In a further irony, an article from an OSU professor and grad student just demonstrated the importance of this particular small woodlot (as well as others) for birds. Now, OSU is perfectly OK with destroying it in the interest of development.

Posted 1 year ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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"newfound freeway address" really? Do you happen to know any traffic increase numbers or are you just making things up?

And on what basis are you saying these homes are going to be worth less on Zollinger? Because increase traffic on a already four lane road is going to destroy property value? Sure if becomes Henderson I wouldn't argue with you, but it would more then likely see less cars than lane ave, and man Lane Ave in UA is full of bargains.

Where's the outrage for people on Fishinger Rd who have had to endure the "freeway address"? I just don't get it, and probably won't until they release traffic numbers.

And I love the fact they quoted a professor at Michigan saying it would affect his commute :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Analogue Kid
5th by West-Northwest
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Zollinger is no more busy than North Star or any of the other neighborhood collectors in the area. Just because it is 4 lanes doesn't mean property values are low.

I am sure it isn't much fun to live on Fishinger. That being said, the market has already correctly priced those homes. When you add a neighborhood liability to an existing area, you're engaging in wealth destruction. Look at the KLD for a real world example of this. Obviously things won't go downhill that far, but I again ask, where is the benefit?

According to MORPC, AADT on Fishinger @ Kenny is 13,200 while AADT on Lane @ Beaumont is 15,000. By comparison, AADT on Henderson @ Gettysburg (a busy but not gridlocked area) is 30,000. So why do we need a whole new road @ Zollinger?

This really is an expensive solution in search of a problem.

Posted 1 year ago #
alexs
Limestone bluffs of the Scioto
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On the 1903 and 1914 topographic maps, Ackerman ends at a bend on Kenny, and Zollinger ends at Tremont. There's just an empty gap with one house between them.

I should check the manhole cover dates on Zollinger, and see when that dead end was laid out. It certainly looks like they expected it to connect but some deal fell through.

Posted 1 year ago #
pchristen01

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Upper Arlington said it would fit with OSU's Mater Plan. After reading about the plan it protects green borders like the Olentangy wetland. How would creating a 4 lane freeway that merges a commercial street with a residential neighborhood by demolishing an OSU's forest and agriculture property fit that plan?

Certainly OSU wouldn't allow that. Agriculture was probably one of the first and most coveted types of property they left which is why the street never has been built. The forest would be protected by the Master Plan.

Posted 1 year ago #
pchristen01

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Upper Arlington said it would fit with OSU's Mater Plan. After reading about the plan it protects green borders like the Olentangy wetland. How would creating a 4 lane freeway that merges a commercial street with a residential neighborhood by demolishing an OSU's forest and agriculture property fit that plan?

Certainly OSU wouldn't allow that. Agriculture was probably one of the first and most coveted types of property they left which is why the street never has been built. The forest would be protected by the Master Plan.

Posted 1 year ago #
futureman
Grandview Heights
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From the dispatch article -

"Ohio State University has supported, at least in principle, the proposed four-lane connector, which would run through a cornfield owned by the university. It would "restore the street grid and improve access to the university, Jeff Kaplan, OSU senior vice president for administration and planning, wrote to Upper Arlington officials this month"

Posted 1 year ago #
Analogue Kid
5th by West-Northwest
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It actually doesn't fit in with UA's master plan for the City itself or Kingsdale either. They specifically stated in their documents that Kingsdale will only be able to differentiate itself and win by focusing on the amenities of walkability and transit access (5 COTA routes currently serve the center). A "me too" development when there is so much vacancy just isn't going to do much.

This all just came out of left field a couple weeks ago. I'm actually a bit suspicious of it going from 0-need it yesterday in a matter of days. The city did not make any announcements that they were going to have a vote on this, they just decided it sounded like a great idea and are now talking like it is a done deal. I suspect that the developer of Kingsdale mentioned that the road connection would sure be nice to have with a wink and a nudge.

Posted 1 year ago #
Analogue Kid
5th by West-Northwest
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futureman wrote >>
From the dispatch article -
"Ohio State University has supported, at least in principle, the proposed four-lane connector, which would run through a cornfield owned by the university. It would "restore the street grid and improve access to the university, Jeff Kaplan, OSU senior vice president for administration and planning, wrote to Upper Arlington officials this month"

This would hardly be the first time one hand of OSU had no clue what the other was doing.

Posted 1 year ago #
drewtoothpaste
upper arlington
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There is now a website set up with more information, dates to attend city meetings (one is tonight), sample letters and points of contact to register your discontent.

http://stoptheroadatoz.org/

Scuttlebutt around the neighborhood is that UA will be putting in the road despite complaints because of financial entanglements with Kingsdale - they are building this connector specifically to route traffic to Kingsdale in exchange for allowing GE to build the Market District at Kingsdale. Again, that's hearsay - if anyone has any substantive information on this I'd like to see it.

UA refused to rezone Tree Of Life for income reasons - it would be largely tax-exempt and sap income the city needs from the office properties at 5000 Arlington Centre. There's got to be something going on if they're buying the old GE building for 5MM and dropping 6MM more on this connector.

Posted 1 year ago #
EcoTastic

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I am a business owner and an Arlington resident, I attended the city council meeting last night and listened to the Kingsdale Developer, Frank Kass, address the board. This guy has only 1 interest and that is his wallet! If the connector is built it will increase the cars that pass per day (CPD) so if he can increase the CPD by 25% he can raise the rent in Kingsdale by that %. Frank is a very smart and shrewd business man, he knows exactly what he is doing. As traffic increases, property values decrease, Frank then can swoop in and pick up those properties for a song. Thus trtnsferring the equity (wealth) by decreasing the property values, and buy them cheap, tearing them down, and putting in more valuable commercial space.

This connector does nothing to help anyone, it will increase traffic through nieghborhoods, lower quality of life for us, and increase the danger to our school children!

This is all about making Frank Kass wealthier, if he was so concerned about how the connector will help Arlington then why doesn't he move here from Bexely and support this!

Posted 1 year ago #