Mayor Message
Happy New Year!
Ringing in the New Year provides an opportunity to reflect on a few 2019 highlights.
Our community increased its employment opportunities by more than 5,000 jobs since 2014 – more than 2,000 of those were in 2019 thanks, in no small part, to the new medical facilities. Growth in a community’s employment rarely happens without making an impact on its population. We expect to learn from the 2020 U.S. Census that Grove City’s population has bloomed to 42,000-plus residents, an increase of more than 6,400 since 2010.
Anticipating continued population growth, we were thrilled to share in the groundbreaking of several new housing developments in 2019, including Beulah Park, which will host the 2020 BIA Parade of Homes. This development also provided us with a unique and unprecedented opportunity to join forces with the South-Western City School District (SWCSD) to provide it with prime property for the construction of a new school adjacent to the Beulah development.
The Population Reference Bureau reported in 2017 that “the number of Americans aged 65 and older is projected to more than double from 46 million to over 98 million by 2060.” In anticipation of this shift, we were proud to welcome the groundbreaking of multiple new living options for our vibrant senior community.
A growing population typically leads to growing demand for goods and services. In addition to new dining establishments, retail shops and various service providers, medical service providers continue to bolster their presence in Grove City. We celebrated the opening of OhioHealth Grove City and Mount Carmel Grove City hospitals, as well as a new VA outpatient clinic to serve area veterans.
Working together with our business community, we continue to be a leader in promoting the development of our employee population. In 2019, Grove City became the first in the nation to provide municipally funded financial assistance to qualified students in the skilled trade industry by adding the grant award to our current Higher Education Investment Program.
To further assist local industry with talent pool training, in 2019 we launched a partnership with SWCSD, Columbus State Community College, Grove City Area Chamber of Commerce and local businesses to create and implement the Workforce Development 2050 Program. Cultivating a supportive and uplifting business community is what makes Grove City’s commerce partnerships unique and admired.
2019 brought exciting improvements in our parks as well. Visitors to Gantz Park enjoy a new, all-inclusive playground and beautiful new garden areas; improvements were made to the play equipment at Fryer Park; two additional baseball fields at Windsor Park received artificial infields; and stadium lights were installed on the Mirolo Dream Field at Mount Carmel Stadium.
The new year promises to be filled with equally exciting highlights as we continue to manage our growth while consistently maintaining our small-town charm.
Development
The Role of Planning in Healthy Communities
It’s no secret Grove City has enjoyed tremendous growth in the health care industry – almost one million square feet of new medical development has been approved or built since 2015 including two hospitals. There are also a number of recently approved residential projects targeted for the aging population with specialized healthy living needs.
Although these facilities are a boost to our health-conscious community, ensuring the complete well-being of Grove City residents reaches beyond the provision of first-class medical facilities. It includes creating an environment that allows residents to embrace a healthy lifestyle, such as making a variety of mobility options available so residents can walk, run or bicycle safely throughout the City. It’s working together to reduce our dependence on motorized vehicles thus improving air quality, and making sure healthy food options are accessible to all.
Creating a healthy built environment (structures, roadways, etc.) takes careful planning. Demonstrating the City’s dedication to this effort, multiple objectives within the recently adopted GroveCity2050 Community Plan, take root in the idea of planning for a healthy community. These objectives include designing transportation corridors that balance accommodations for different users and modes of travel; ensuring new developments are connected to existing transportation and multi-use path networks, and linking Grove City’s sidewalks and bikeways to the central Ohio region.
The focused growth strategy of the Plan encourages denser, mixed-use areas in select locations of the community, giving residents the option to live within walking distance of work, dining, entertainment and shopping.
The City recognizes sustainable environmental practices are critical to protecting and enhancing the ecological and economic health of our community. The recently established Environmental Sustainability Committee helps to identify ways to preserve local natural resources, address environmental and energy issues, and ultimately contribute to the overall well-being of Grove City.
Ensuring future development supports healthy living – whether through structural growth, environmental efforts or on-going parks and recreation programming – together, we can continue promoting a healthier community.
Council Briefs
A New Year in the Neighborhood
The start of a new year always carries with it the feeling of a clean slate, a story yet to be told. The pages of this issue carry the theme of health and wellness. That’s not by accident. There’s no better time to showcase all our community has to offer in this arena than during these days when we are all crafting New Year’s resolutions.
Indeed, it seems the perfect time to discuss a contributor to wellness in which we all have a role – COMMUNITY.
Grab a dictionary and read that community can be defined as a feeling of fellowship with others, often as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests and goals. In Grove City, we do this in a big way. Even as our population has grown, we have managed to retain that feeling of connectivity. It is entirely a credit to the people who live here.
We talk to our neighbors. We crowd to local events. We register our kids for youth sports and parks and recreation programs. We have a club or organization to join for all interests. We are home to countless support and faith groups.
2020 brings a new opportunity to get out and make the most of your community. In the words of the beloved Mister Rogers, “If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
Happy New Year, Grove City! Hope to see you soon “in the neighborhood.”
Christine Houk
Council Member, Ward 3
Discovering Our Past
Dr. J.C. Sommer’s Community Impact
The impact Dr. James Charles “J.C.” Sommer had on the community and the education of its children was so significant and long-standing that in 1956 – nearly nine years after his passing – the Board of Education overwhelmingly voted to name its new elementary school after him.
Dr. Sommer’s passion for education began at an early age. After completing the equivalent of an eighth-grade education, he passed a teacher’s examination and spent the next two years educating youth near his home in Cottageville, West Virginia. He then attended and graduated from Valparaiso University (Indiana) in 1908 with dual degrees in art and science. In 1913, he received his medical doctorate from Starling-Ohio Medical College, now The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
For nine years following his graduation, Dr. Sommer practiced medicine and taught school in Somerset, Ohio before moving to Grove City. He was most comfortable making house calls; however, he would often see patients in a small office next to his home on the corner of Park and Front streets.
Dr. Sommer was a trusted physician, a tremendous public servant and a beloved member of the community. As president of the Jackson Township Board of Education (one of the school district boards that consolidated in 1956 to form the South-Western City School District), he was largely responsible for the sound structural adjustments of village and township schools; established state-funded educational opportunities for local underprivileged youth; facilitated extensive remodeling and construction of school buildings; and established commercial, industrial and musical arts curriculums. Dr. Sommer also served more than 16 years on the Franklin County Board of Education before passing unexpectedly in 1947.
The original J.C. Sommer Elementary School has since been replaced, yet Dr. Sommer’s educational impact remains strong as the new building was also dedicated in his honor in 2015.
Interestingly, Dr. Sommer never received a traditional high school diploma. During the 1940 Jackson Township graduation ceremony, he was presented with an honorary diploma, acknowledging his accomplishment achieved some 40 years prior.
