ASHVILLE – Ashville mayor Chuck Wise read a statement on the significant interest and growth in the village of Ashville and surrounding areas last night during the Monday Council meeting
“While there has been much talk about growth, you can’t stop it. You can only control it, slow it down and make it what you want, said the Mayor, “Growth with a vision of how it can enhance a village. Growth has positive and negative effects on the community. I try to remind staff regularly; they want to be part of the community so it should be a co-equal benefit.”
The mayor said that developers are moving south from the intermodel areas and residential developers have an interest in Ashville because of what they have done as a village.
“Unlike some communities we have not gone out seeking developers of homes. They have come to us. In the 1980s the village did a comprehensive land use plan. This included the area to the immediate west to US 23 north to Duvall Rd, West to Walnut Creek and South to Little Walnut. This plan was for residential and Commercial/industrial. We have closely followed that plan. Residential to the north and east, Commercial to the west considering we already had Reynolds Aluminum and Columbus Industries there. We have had public meetings several times to make a new or revise our long-term plan. Each time resembled the first. Because of this planning, a water tower was built to the west of the village to service growth in the area.”
The mayor explained with growth comes commercial interests and those companies can drive the costs down for residents when infrastructure expands.
“To have a healthy community you have to have a mix. Commercial helps provide income to the village that you don’t have to collect from the residents. Another community said we (Ashville) wanted a new development on the westside for financial reasons only. Well, they are darned right. Why else would they have tried to court the same business to locate in their village? Worried about truck traffic and diesel trucks idling in Ashville while building a truck stop in their village with seventy-five (75) parking places for trucks to park all night. I don’t buy it.
We have hired P3 as our development arm to lure commercial development for our community. Circleville has built a business park for shovel-ready developments. Most communities would give their right arm for what we have happening.
Ashville is a diverse and inclusive community; we have on the table an apartment complex that we are currently working out the details. This the same apartment developer who built in Bloomfield Hills. Hutchison Place Apartments is an apartment community that has one-two and three-bedroom units. Features a fitness center, pool, basketball court and playground. They are a pet-friendly community.
On a personal note, we would like to have the nicest parks, highest-paid staff, most community activities, biggest homes, and so forth. But the fact is we want the residents who live here be able to afford to continue to live here because they are what make this such a great community and great place to live.”
Over a dozen developers are currently in some sort of talks with the village, these projects include residential single-family housing, rental apartment buildings, Commerical companies, and infrastructure development. The mayor explained to me that some of the large farmland that is being, “bought up for development” was already purchased from farmers years ago and has only been on a land lease until development comes this way.
