This Week in Boomtown: Big Tech energy use; focus on carbon footprint; new hospital tower
hi there Central Ohio is booming we all see it and we all can feel it whether it's traffic new homes or crowded schools leaders in this region will have to figure out how to embrace 1 million more people in the coming decades so here's what we uncovered this week in Boomtown Big Data Centers are using more energy than ever we'll tell you what the tech companies are doing to reduce their impact and show you the solutions they're offering plus experts across the state coming together to lower the Region's carbon footprint find out how their efforts are impacting the community and last but not least the new Ohio State inpatient Hospital Tower is set to open next year see how this state-of-the-art hospital is changing Health Care in central [Music] [Applause] [Music] Ohio hello again and thanks for watching this week in Boomtown I'm Angela Anne as we uncover how rapid growth in central Ohio impacts you this week 10TV is looking at a new trend they're called pocket Parks this is video of Edwards green a new pocket park in Upper Arlington that broke ground only two weeks ago UA leaders say as we grow green space is critical given the landlocked community and the hope is to give people a place to come together but not just in Upper Arlington TVV learned there are nearly 50 pock rocket parks in Columbus you can see most of them are in highly developed areas from this map from Franklinton to Clintonville to the near east side of Columbus Nora Gerber says this little green space grew out of a need actually the park that I used to go to would have been my elementary school which is now uh torn down in a bunch of condos on the corner of Iuka and walc in the University District and surrounded by off-campus housing and Os Greek life yeah is a new pocket park swinging into life benches that resemble nearby neighborhoods and a hammock Garden for people to rest relax and restore I saw kids playing on these uh from the gem school yesterday then they were like swinging on them I've also seen people just sit and read a book and relax and that's exactly what Gerber and the pastor from Indianola Presbyterian Church intended 2 years ago when the park was just an idea today it's 3 acres of Solitude surrounded by development when we have all of these apartments that um don't necessarily have maybe as many backyards or Community spaces within them you and we want people to come out of their house and meet their neighbors and Grow Port Council leaders say they want that too so the city bought a small plot of land and turned it into a pocket park right in the heart of historic downtown Groveport this was a gas station and a pizza place in a pizza in a piz Place yeah gas station two gas stations actually in a pizza place back to back and so forth like that council members say it's money well spent not only giving people a place to sit together but a message to Future developers green is Gro port's middle name after all it's been named Tree City USA for nearly 30 years we require a certain amount of bushes and trees um we also yes and green space so we do try to incorporate and mandate that there be trees and bushes with any new build pocket Parks small Solutions but big impact as City's boom now another Columbus Community is using art to bring people together take a look at this new mural in Westgate it's part of the hilltop rise community development project expanding economic opportun ities the artist says he wanted to stay true to the roots of Westgate while designing the new piece I wanted to do something that was kind of classic and Timeless um that kind of hearkened back to the old you know fading signs that you'll see downtown and old buildings um hopefully this one doesn't ever go out of style and I tried to keep uh you know the you know the uh Aesthetics of it in kind of a classic form so that uh you know it kind of remains relevant through the years and you can find that mural located at 3085 West Broad Street in West Columbus on the other end of town the Eastland Community is planning for its future and the Columbus area commission says the goal is to have community members guide that process now the shuttered Eastland Mall there is one of the biggest issues of concern while some community members say the absence of the mall has really left a big hole the commission says a new plan for Prosperity covers much more than that so everything from schools and transportation safety and Retail um and restaurants um Healthcare um everything you can think of um when it comes to just healthy more sustainable and stronger communities leaders say they want to create a space for new people who moved into that Community but also making sure they keep the history of Eastland alive we now to Big Tech giants like Google and Microsoft are building data centers in the Silicon Heartland and with that progress well it comes concerns about the power grid those data centers require a lot of power a says it doesn't want customers on the hook for that so instead those companies should pay for their power upfront but several data companies say they have a different solution Amazon Microsoft and Facebook want the Public Utilities Commission to accept their solution TV's Colin dorsy explains this week in Boomtown they're popping up all over massive data centers holding racks and racks of electronic equipment to store data earlier this year a asked the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to require data centers to make a 10-year commitment to pay for 90% of the power they request to use even if they don't use it it's something the Ohio consumers Council says is good for the average electricity user while business growth is a very good thing um our consumers the residential consumers already pay a lot of money and rates um and they shouldn't be subsidizing these uh multi-billion dollar companies more than a dozen parties including Amazon Facebook and Microsoft filed their version of a solution to A's proposal it takes out the language targeting data centers instead replacing it with language targeting all large electric consumers it also proposes options to pull out of the deal with a after a period of time the data center Coalition and Association of data center companies calls this a win IT addresses key concerns raised in AE Ohio's unprecedented application including it creates long-term contractual commitments for energy intensive customers and materially increases the minimum demand charge for energy intensive customers a Ohio's president and coo responded to that filing saying in part what has been proposed by the partial settlement fails to adequately address the main issues expressed in a Ohio's application it's unprecedented to present a settlement to the Pu that isn't supported by the Pu staff or the utility that initially raised the concern the consumer Council fears the propos solution from the data centers could mean the cost get passed along to Everyday users certainly favorable to the data centers and unfavorable to Consumers um some of the things they do will provide less protection for consumers and that was Colin dorsy reporting thank you Colin well the rule on whether the data companies will get their week extension or not right now as it stands but it will go to a hearing Monday so we will of course keep you posted and with that major use of energy this week we took a look at the effects of that growth on our environment experts across the state are coming together to reduce the Region's carbon footprint T Carol Lake caught up with the leader of the sustainable Columbus office to see what's being done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions time is ticking on climate a collective of Ohio's biggest cities including Columbus are trying to get to a 45% reduction in greenhouse gas by 2030 the Columbus Department of utilities deputy director says this puts us on track to being carbon neutral by 2050 she leads the sustainable Columbus office and so to do that these types of things like building performance standards are a critical element to that Journey for us so with more than $10 million in federal grants experts with Columbus the University of Cincinnati the city of Cincinnati Dayton and Cleveland are now working to establish a performance Hub with building standards put in place to help reduce the carbon footprint across the state we're all trying to attract um businesses to our community we're all trying to thrive as communities and we all know that making sure that our buildings perform well is going to be critical for us to um meet the climate crisis and address the climate crisis in our communities she says this allows them to discover what resources already exist to help the businesses already here in central Ohio to perform more efficiently and how do we put this all in one place so that someone who is looking as a building owner or an operator to improve their buildings performance knows I can go here to get funding and financing I can go here to hire a contractor so that I can improve my building I can go here to get advice or support another goal is to bring older and historic buildings to Modern energy codes by using less coal and more renewable energy right now this is a voluntary program because each city is coming from a different place has different requirements and growing at different speeds the Wild Thing is that with all of the growth that we've had we have actually seen overall a 6.5% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions in Columbus which means that we are reducing emissions while we're still growing which I think is just like a huge Testament to people are doing the right thing in central Ohio 1 million new people are expected to move here in the coming decades and I think we're really trying to embrace that and think about how do you do it equitably how do you do it sustainably how do you do things innovatively so that we end up in the best place possible for our our residents reporting in Columbus K Lake 10TV news Well housing continues to be a Boomtown topic the cost to rent a home in Columbus is going up and as Central Ohio grows leaders say our housing stock is not keeping up a recent report from the community shelter board found the Region's median rent is up 34% since 2017 but availability is down one developer is looking to fix that this is a look at Elevate 340 it's a complex slated to open in 2026 well it'll have 74 units with a majority going to people who make less than 60% of the area's median income so that means a single person making 43,000 would qualify while a family of four could make a little under $62,000 everyone um deserves a um safe and affordable place to live and the more that we offer different levels of housing then the more um diverse our communities become too which is also um a great Advantage um to our community the developer Jennifer Gorsuch Walters says it's pivotal to build housing across all income levels as we seek solutions to the affordability crisis Elevate 340 will be located at the corner of East Fon Street and South Grant Avenue that's right across from Nationwide Children's Hospital and Franklin County Commissioners this week voted to add another $2.879 never and your support of this particular program uh it it it fulfills dreams fulfill wishes we do have more information on how to get involved in that Community land trust you'll find it at 10tv.com featured links well as new buildings go up some must come down this week the Ohio Department of development awarded nearly $7 million to Franklin County for Demolition and revitalization projects now there are 12 projects in all including the Old Spaghetti Warehouse building in Franklinton a big talker for the development commission we spoke with a developer behind that project last month about why that building needs to come down they say two years ago the roof collapsed during renovation which then forced the restaurant to move to a new location it's not just one little section of the building it's the entire building now some ports portions of the building were not damaged but economically you can't just take a small portion of the building and build a new building around it other buildings include the Capri Lane's bowling alley that's in the Northland neighborhood of North Columbus and as Central Ohio grows schools are expanding to accommodate new students Dublin's newest Elementary School will bring new classrooms and a new schedule for kindergarteners that's set to open this fall as the 15th Elementary School in Dublin and with that comes full day kindergarten for the next group of Dublin students tend Colin dorsy is back and he went to Dublin to learn more on this change and the district's explosive growth we're growing about 375 students per year Dublin like many of the Suburban districts is seeing booming growth calling for new buildings and additions to current ones crews are currently working on the new Bishop Elementary it will welcome young students in the 2025 26 school year it's the product of the levy voted on last nov mber by Dublin City School's voters part of that other building was a promise to add all day to all of our buildings kindergarten students at Dublin like those at Hopewell Elementary either go to class in the morning or the afternoon but that's quickly becoming a thing of the past says superintendent John marshen we're one of the last districts in central Ohio to make the transition to all day kindergarten districts have been slowly making that transition in recent years Upper Arlington schools changed a full day kindergarten 3 years ago go Hillyard made the move before that when marshen was leading that District a study from the University of Pittsburgh shows there are benefits to f a kindergarten for the short term helping in first and second grade but fading off by third grade when we're full day we're able to provide art and music and PE and Library time we're also able to provide that science of reading Foundation that allows us to get students into those critical skills at an earlier age Marsh house says there's also a benefit for those not in school full day kindergarten helps cut down on child care costs at a time when Child Care can be hard to come by they have to find that halfday daycare if they are two working parents or a single parent so this also allows flexibility for our moms and dads when it comes to a child being on a regular school schedule a year earlier and that was Colin dorsy reporting for us now Dublin City Schools is also in the middle of a massive redistricting project for elementary and middle schoolers with the growth of the student population they have to reorganize to make sure class sizes are appropriate and the schools can accommodate future students so we'll certainly keep you posted there meantime Columbus City Schools is once again revisiting the potential of closing several buildings in the state's largest school district the board this week hired a professor from the University of Texas at Austin to lead them through that next process earlier this year CC has put together a task force to help recommend which schools to close that task force recommended nine schools and consolidating students board president Christina Vera says the CCS board wants to be intentional with their next steps it's a big big decision to be made and it's not something that just impacts one person or one group of individuals um so Dr Green is an essential part of the next phase of the reignment process Vera says the board will be visiting the recommended sites later this month and they have a special meeting in November to talk about what they [Music] see well we know more people moving in means the need for more Health Care this week Mount Carmel Health celebrated a new Emergency Department in New Albany now these are photos during a ribbon cutting ceremony earlier this week that ER is located right along Smith's Mill Road it has 60 patient rooms and 10 operating rooms Hospital officials say the New Albany population is projected to grow by 5% over the next 5 years so this new emergency department really allows Mount Carmel to anticipate the future needs of that area and there is another hospital system expanding upwards TV Tracy Townson takes us inside the new hospital tower for OSU Wexner Medical Center the new Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in patient Hospital spans 1.9 million
square ft and reaches 26 stories CEO John Warner says the institution will touch Central Ohio and Beyond view our hospital as a resource not only for Central Ohio but for the state of Ohio because we have people that come from all 88 counties we had people from all 50 states from 25 countries we first took you into the largest single facilities project ever undertaken at Ohio State back in 20122 the construction is a symbol of the Region's booming population as we've reported that the mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission morsy estimates that the population in central Ohio will exceed 3 million by the year 2050 we were invited back to this massive construction site where it's starting to look like a hospital you'll find the signature block O prominently displayed in the lobby we learn that the building itself is organized around team-based multidisiplinary care which is how the field of medicine is progressing ing the architecture supports that for patients as well as current practitioners along with those who are learning we have seven Health Sciences colleges we have opportunities for students to learn together in the way that medicine is being practiced now where it's teams of people Dr Warner says What's Happening Here could be considered a model for the nation and proving the appeal to corporations considering a move to a Boom Town like ours one thing I think is unique about Columbus and Central Ohio is we all do work together I mean there's a little competition which is healthy makes us all better but we get together regularly and and talk about the greater good which is really making healthc care a feature of the Columbus Community the entire project is slated for a 2025 finish after that there will be about four months of intense training and simulation including dress rehearsals of certain scenarios everyone who works or volunteers here will participate in preparation in the physical space that new tower opens to patients in 2026 Tracy ton 10TV news Tracy thank you and here at 10TV there is nothing more important than listening to our community and that's why we want to hear from you we are hosting our first 10 listens Community Town Hall that's on the west side of Columbus in the hilltop neighborhood we want to hear about your concerns the issues you face and the problems you need fixed then we'll work to get the answers you want from those in power and help you seek Solutions so join TV's Tracy Townsend at the hilltop Early Learning Center next Tuesday October 22nd it's a free event beginning at 600 p.m. now if you can't make it don't worry we will host more 10 listens town halls in communities across central Ohio in the months to come we also have our 10TV plus original welcome to Boomtown you'll see how our stories really look to find those solutions for everyone in central Ohio I'm Angela an thanks so much for watching this week in boom toown have a great day [Music] [Applause] [Music]
2024-10-21 14:58
