It's clear that a vocal branch of Athenians has objected to the proposed Stimson Avenue retirement center as long as the plan has been public. What also is clear, however, is that the pending lawsuit does not have a foundation strong enough to stop the construction.
The Post has opposed the retirement center plan since its inception and despite the city's somewhat successful attempts to disallow dissent, this will not go away. The frequenters of the proposed site, which is owned by Ohio University, feel they have every right to continue using it and feel slightly betrayed that the city and the university teamed up to lease it ' for only $1 a year. It's a place to walk dogs and throw Frisbees where residents have gained a sense of propriety little by little. The university is practically giving away this prime piece of land to a non-profit, National Church Residences, which ironically turns hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits each year.
The plaintiffs are alleging the facility will lower their property values because of increased risk for flooding ' a claim which the city has addressed and sufficiently refuted ' and more traffic, according to a May 7 Post article. Expert testimony undercut the lawsuit, poking holes in a case that had already seen 10 of the 12 plaintiffs dismissed because they did not have legal standing.
Although this seems like another case of the city and the university bending over backward for a private organization at the expense of the public, the construction is inevitable. With the lawsuit close to dismissal and the referendum wiped from the ballot, a favorite spot among locals will be cheaply leased to an out-of-town organization.
The ultimate test of the retirement center's viability is whether it will be used. If there were such a need for it, then OU wouldn't have had to practically give away the land, and the center likely would have already been built.
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Retirement center still contentious
