Program to highlight history of Granville Township's open space preservation initiative
The history of Granville Township’s open space preservation initiative will be presented in a program on Thursday, Oct. 5 hosted by the Granville Historical Society, featuring the first public showing of an 18-minute video helping to tell that story.
Titled "Granville’s Open Space Levy: A History," the program will take place at 7 p.m. at The Granville Inn in Denison Hall. The public is invited to attend.
The program will begin with the new video detailing the history the township’s greenspace program, made possible in 1998 with the passage of a 1-mill tax levy in November 1997. The purpose of the levy was to raise funds to acquire title and development rights for farmland and open space properties, helping to preserve areas of natural and scenic beauty, unusual geological significance, and open vistas.
Three years later, an additional 2.5-mill levy was passed for the same purpose. It was retired in 2015, after township trustees decided not to collect its revenues for one year, followed by the decision not to seek its renewal. The 1-mill levy continues to be in effect.
With proceeds from the two levies, the township has acquired nearly 1,600 acres of land in 24 properties, both in the village and township, spending approximately $10 million up through the latest acquisition in 2023.
The video will be followed by a panel discussion led by moderator Alan Miller, a Granville resident, Denison University journalism professor and retired executive editor of the Columbus Dispatch.
Panel members will be Jim Havens, a real estate attorney who was a Granville Township Trustee at the time the two levies were first passed; Keith Myers, a retired landscape architect who chaired the Open Space Committee recommending properties to be considered for acquisition; Bryn Bird, a current Granville Township Trustee; and Norm Kennedy, a former Granville Township and Granville School District clerk. Other panel members may be added by the time the program is presented.
The videographer on the project was Todd Yarrington, of Yarrington Studios, Westerville, and directed by former Granville residents Ray and Sherry Paprocki, of R.S. Rock, Inc.
Jim Havens Ltd. produced the retrospective to preserve Granville’s Open Space history and to provide information to others throughout Ohio regarding how to initiate an open space program.
Information submitted by Granville Historical Society
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Program to highlight history of Granville's open space initiative
