| Programs |  |
Whether it’s by the hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of thousands, the seven-county Columbus Metropolitan Area will undergo significant and substantial change by the year 2030.
That’s the one definite that came from a panel discussion on the future of central Ohio October 12 at the Fawcett Center at the Ohio State University. This program is the first in a series of panel discussions aimed at giving members of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter a better understanding of things to come, and how best they as facility managers might prepare for them.
Participants were Bill Lafayette, vice president and economist for the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce and Kimberly Gibson, program manager for regional growth strategy, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC). Tom Logsdon, former chapter president, served as moderator.
At issue are projections published in a Brookings Institution study last December that the Columbus area will grow to 2.18 million people with 927,000 households by 2030. If this occurs, the area will “enjoy” a 36 percent increase in population (573,000).
While not disputing these estimates, Gibson said this growth will create numerous problems with regard to municipal responsibilities, employment, land use, transportation, infrastructure, education, and taxation.
MORPC officials, who had projected smaller but still significant gains for the area, are working to make sure officials in the 203 jurisdictions in these seven counties as well as those at the state level are well aware of the projections and the approaching impact, she said.
For those not familiar with the organization, MORPC is a voluntary association of governments serving Ohio. MORPC is a catalyst for regional change through planning, programming and brokerage services in the areas of housing, transportation, water, land use, zoning, environmental, and technology issues. MORPC assists 42 local governments by providing innovative solutions for the many challenges facing a growing region.
Gibson said by 2030, some 385,000 new jobs will be added to the area with about 125,000 of these being in Delaware County. This is three times the number there now. She also pointed out that two of every three newcomers to Ohio will settle in central Ohio, and immigration population will increase. Of the “top growth areas in Ohio” four are here. They are Hilliard (1), Dublin (4), Delaware (5), and Grove City (6).
She stated that growing more sustainable is critical in the midwest. “We haven’t done a good job of this. We don’t know what to do with real estate in this country as it ages. We don’t have programs to rehabilitate, but we do have programs to build new. The challenge is to keep your structures attractive and competitive, and it is up to governments to help you do so.”
Gibson agreed following the program that MORPC could and probably would join with IFMA in a “facility manager-specific” study “to get better numbers” with regard to current and new structures that will have an impact on the profession. Much of the projected additional commercial square footage deals with the distribution industry and needs to be removed from the equation, IFMA members contend.
Lafayette took exception to the Brookings study, saying it is skewed by the figures that were obtained. He said the study, undertaken by Arthur Nelson, professor and director of graduate studies at Virginia Tech, based central Ohio projections on regional and national averages and are “way, way off.”
While he maintains it is impossible to use these figures for projections, “The basic point is that the space we will be using in 2030 isn’t built now, and this (time) will give us the opportunity to do it right. This is why MORPC is so important to the area…to see that things are done right…to (help us) sustain our quality of life and the growth that we are counting on.”
Lafayette said decision makers must not allow the region to turn into a doughnut with urban sprawl continuing at the expense of maintaining and developing the Columbus downtown because the central city “binds our community and gives it meaning. As we search for our image, we have to recognize the downtown is a significant part of that image.”
Lafayette pointed to Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman’s efforts to help revitalize the downtown by bringing more people into the area to live. He said some 1,300 people have located there since the mayor’s initiative began. This has led to better shopping in the downtown or near downtown, fewer cars on the freeways, a reduction of urban sprawl, and improvement of the infrastructure.
Lafayette said central Ohio is an area where commute time and congestion is of great importance, and as these become greater problems, quality of life decreases. “We are a community with a focus on distribution. If I-270 ever turns into the LBJ Freeway in Dallas, we are in serious trouble,” Lafayette said.
Both cited the need for better public transportation, especially rapid transit. An entire system needs to be developed at one time and operational within the next 15 years, or it will be at least four times as expensive if delayed beyond that point. Not only will rapid transit ease highway congestion greatly, it is expected to reduce land consumption by 200 square miles.
The second program in this series will be presented at 7:30 a.m. April 12 at the Fawcett Center.
Two significant events are scheduled for the chapter in November. The first is another in the series of roundtable discussions—FMs First—designed to assist facility managers with problems they are experiencing in the workplace. The roundtable will be at 5:30 p.m. November 9 at the Grandview Café.
The second is the annual President’s Dinner. This year’s event will begin at 7 p.m. Nov 18 at the Hilton at Easton. This is also the night of the annual chapter raffle and auction with proceeds used by the Community Service Committee for the chapter’s Adopt-a-Family program.