First lady Frances Strickland tours Rocky Fork Lake as follow-up on economic development proposal
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
The first lady of Ohio, Frances Strickland, visited Highland County Thursday and toured Rocky Fork State Park, apart of a tour for proposed development of the land.
Local developer Jamie Brandenburg spoke to the first lady, along with other private and public officials about a proposed private dock development project near the Rocky Fork Lake Golf Course.
Brandenburg said one of the biggest struggles for the development are the docks, as his bank will ³shut it down,² without the docks in the proposed development. He also stated with no funding from the bank, there may be no project.
Strickland was told homes want to come in at the proposed location, as there is a convenience factor with the location with the area being within 90 minutes from metropolitan areas, such Columbus and Cincinnati.
Brandenburg said Kevin Walker, a former Cincinnati Bengal, is the Realtor interested in the project.
Strickland said in at the get-together she didn¹t understand why having the docks affected the sales, as Brandenburg said the location and convenience of having the docks by a home, rather than driving 10 minutes makes a big difference in whether or not families would want to move to the area.
Highland County Commissioner Gary Heaton told the first lady the main objective for the commissioners is purely economic to develop jobs in the community. He said the construction jobs would be a big help, as a lot of construction jobs have been lost due to the tough economic times. Heaton also told Strickland Highland County was No. 1 in unemployment in the state.
Heaton also pointed out that no county tax money was used in the event, as Heaton and Dinah Phillips sponsored the first lady's visit to Rocky Fork Lake.
Strickland primarily wanted to make sure the area kept its beauty. The first lady also stated it seems everyone could enjoy being out in the Rocky Fork area, and wondered if common ground could be found, as she said a balance of both the quality of life in the area with the economic development.
Deputy Director of Recreation and Resource Management Tony Celebrezze said his concern was if the Ohio Department of Natural Recourse moved forward on this project, how could they deny the same type of project to another group that could possibly offer lesser housing? He said: How do we say 'no' to them and 'yes' to you (Brandenburg)? He also spoke on the appeal of Rocky Fork with its isolation and wooded area.
Ralph Vanzant spoke of the history of the lake area, saying it was not a natural lake and had an unnatural dam. He said Rocky Fork has always been first a recreational lake.
Vanzant also stated when the lake was made a lot of the natural part of the land had been sacrificed. He said (we) need to give a lot of attention to what this was made for, which was for recreation.
Celebrezze to the group of officials they (ODNR) had to be stewards of the land. He said the cluster docks were thought to be a success, but they have become more of a headache for our manager.
Brandenburg said (we) "are developers and we are not wearing boxing gloves. We just want to do our jobs like (you) ODNR, like you want to do your jobs."
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