“We do a lot of work in weak-market cities like Springfield, Toledo and elsewhere, but are more interested in making sure our communities are vibrant, sustainable places that people want to stay in and places that people want to move to. So, we do research to understand what are the challenges and opportunities in the state.”

In the analysis, GOPC plans to examine all components of the county’s housing market, including existing market housing conditions, obstacles and opportunities for housing, and housing affordability. The group then will provide recommendations to strengthen the housing market’s competitiveness in a draft to the steering committee by October, then as a final report by the end of the year.

“What we are wanting to provide you with is a road map for how to move forward on the goals that you are setting for yourselves,” Goebel said.

Goebel said that the finished product would sync closely with the comprehensive plan now being finalized by the Logan Union Champaign (LUC) Regional Planning Commission.

A similar report GOPC is finalizing for the city of Springfield contains 16 recommendations divided into six categories, providing what Goebel said is a concrete set of to-do items after she leaves.

A preliminary finding is that most of the people who work in Champaign County also live here, but that more who work here would move here if there were more housing options.

While there is a statewide need for market-rate housing such as single family homes and rehabilitation projects, Champaign County also needs housing affordable to low- and moderate-income individuals, Goebel said.

Goebel said that the study would focus on the municipalities of Urbana, Mechanicsburg, North Lewisburg and St. Paris, which contain almost 50% of the county’s population.

GOPC researchers will spend the next several months gathering and analyzing data about Champaign County real estate as well as interviewing developers and other stakeholders. For more information, contact the GOPC at 614-224- 0187.

Christopher Selmek can be reached at 937-508-2304.

By Kathy Fox, Urbana Daily Citizen
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio is encouraging everyone within the 937 area code region to start using that area code even for local calls as of Aug. 10.

Starting Feb. 8, 2020, cell and landline callers will be unable to makelocal calls without the area code.

On March 8, 2020, new phone numbers assigned in the current 937 area will be assigned a new area code: 326.
“There are 7.9 million combinations of numbers available for any area code,” said

PUCO spokesperson Matt Schilling, and it is estimated that numbers for the 937 area code will be reached in 2021.

That includes 937 numbers assigned to cell phones, landlines, alarm devices, faxes, ATMs, etc.

“The number doesn’t care what the technology is,” Schilling said.

“What’s going to happen Feb. 8, 2020, is your phone will force you to dial the area code to make local calls,” he said, adding PUCO wants people to start using the area code Aug. 10 so it becomes second nature by Feb. 8, 2020.

Schilling encourages those with home security systems, medical alert devices or other such technology to contact providers to make sure equipment is programmed with the 10-digit phone numbers.

Saved contacts, speed dials, business cards and personal checks also may need updated.

Current 937 numbers will not change. Current local calls will continue to be local calls. Long distance numbers won’t change. And, 911 and 411 and other three-digit numbers won’t change.

PUCO advises people to start or continue to identify their phone numbers with the area code.

Responding to a Daily Citizen query, the Champaign County and city of Urbana governments as well as the Urbana, Mechanicsburg and Triad school districts indicate their internal phone systems have ample 937 numbers to assign and/ or are internet-based and expect to be able to continue using 937 numbers in the future.

Although 937 numbers available to be assigned are declining, numbers with that area code will become available over time and may be reassigned.

Numbers are de-activated, when people move or die for example, and become available for reassignment after a period of time.

Schilling said that period of time usually is 90 days for a personal phone number and a year for a business number. At one time, the practice was to divide an area code region geographically when an area code was due to be become exhausted.

Such was the case in the 1980s when the 513 area code region was divided and Champaign County became part of the new 937 area code region.

“Over the last 20 years or so, the practice has been to overlay,” Schilling said of assigning a new area code only to new numbers. He said businesses especially have found this system more convenient.

“About five years ago, there was a survey (in the 740 area code region) … the response was overwhelmingly for an overlay,” Schilling said. The 220 area code was added to the 740 region.

“There were minimal complications when they did this,” he said. “Very few complaints were brought to (PUCO’s) attention.”

For more information, contact PUCO at puco. ohio.gov or 800-686-7826.
Kathy Fox can be reached at (937) 508-2303 or 937-652-1331, ext. 1773.

The project, called Legacy Place, would create 51 housing units available to residents 55 and older.

“We are super excited, this was a big hurdle and achieving this credit is a really exciting achievement,” said Marica Bailey, Director of the Champaign Economic Partnership. “We are ready to move forward with this process.”

MORE: Plan might find new use for Douglas Hotel, longtime Urbana eyesore

While funding for the project has been secured, Bailey said, the project is still a work in progress.

“There is no start time,” Bailey said. “This project is still in the making, but this is a big step in the making.”

The Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit is administered in partnership with the Ohio History Connection’s State Historic Preservation office and the Ohio Development Services Agency. The credit is awarded to, “assist private developers in rehabilitating historic buildings in downtown and neighborhoods.”

“Partnering with communities and developers across Ohio, we’re preserving historic sites that make Ohio unique,” Lydia Mihalik, director of the Ohio Development Services Agency, said in a news release. “We’re creating new opportunities for small businesses and housing.”

The Legacy Place project is just one of 22 projects awarded the tax credit. In total, the Ohio Department of Services Agency awarded more than $28 million for the rehabilition of 49 historic buildings, according to the ODSA.

Under the Legacy Place project, the city of Urbana has agreed to take ownership of the two elementary school buildings and transfer them to the Champaign Economic Partnership. The CEP will then transfer the two buildings to Flaherty and Collins.

The next step in the Legacy Place project since receiving the credit, will be to work on transferring and finalizing property agreements, Bailey said.

“We are going to be meeting up and working through the fine details of the project and finalizing some of the purchasing agreements and stuff like that in the coming months,” Bailey said.

The former Douglas Hotel is privately owned by John Doss, who plans to work out a separate agreement with the company.
Doss said previously that he purchased the Douglas with plans to eventually restore it, although it’s been a slow process to track down funding and find a suitable project.

The former hotel has been vacant for more than a decade and city officials have said in the past they believe the building is an eyesore downtown. Turning the site into senior housing will encourage more residents to live downtown and create new opportunities for retailers, Bailey said.

“This is going to have a tremendous impact and the making of this has been an incredible effort,” Bailey said.