Planned development frustrates Licking County residents
HEBRON, Ohio (WCMH) - A quiet neighborhood in Licking County is preparing to lose their peace and quiet.
17 homes sit on at least two acres each in the small neighborhood off of Grand Pointe Drive. The road dead ends in front of a long expanse of farmland at the end of the neighborhood.
The county and developers are planning on extending that road east, as a gateway into a new 300 acre development of residential and commercial buildings. The city of Heath annexed the land earlier in 2023 with plans to build a village in the corner of the Granville school district.
"This neighborhood it's like a family. It's really quiet, it's safe streets. We know everybody here, all seventeen neighbors by name. It's the type of place that at Christmas you take them gifts, you do Christmas caroling. It has that type of feel to it," said Judd Templin, a six-year resident of the neighborhood.
Templin has four young kids and chose this part of Licking County specifically for its quiet, close-knit community.
"Right now they play in the front yard. They're able to go in the street, we're able to go on walks as families, all those things are going to disappear," said Templin. "All of the families here have sacrificed so much to live in a community that they thought was going to have a quiet street that wasn't going to be a major raceway. And now that's upended.”
Templin first heard about the massive development taking over the farmland nearby after the city of Heath annexed the land in 2023. He saw the plans to extend their road east into the development. That's where he saw an issue for his family and his neighbors.
"Find the roads for your city. Don't use an empty street that's dead ended for 20 years so that you can have a new access point, and saddle us with the cost," he said.
Templin said a solution for the issue would be to find another access point, but suggested this is the easiest route for developers to take, so that's why it's in the plan.
"Their idea is to take that traffic and to route it onto our quiet little street. So, you can imagine the changes that's going to have to our lives. Changes to our property value, changes to the safety of our family, changes to the feeling of community,” Templin said. “Think of our road. It's twenty feet wide right now and they're talking about making it sixty feet wide. Tripling the size of that road. Just that alone on our street is going to be a lot of disruption.”
The county denied a petition to close Grand Pointe Drive, according to the minutes from the Licking County Commissioners meeting Jan. 4. Templin was at the meeting Thursday morning when they decided to keep the road open for development. He said they didn't give a reason for it.
"To have that news delivered to you, but also to have really no formal reasoning provided is doubly disappointing," he said.
NBC4 reached out to County Board President Timothy Bubb for comment but has not yet heard back.
Now, Templin is faced with very real questions about his family's future.
"Do we move?” Templin said. “Do we go somewhere else in Licking County? Do we ride it out for years and years of construction? These are questions we're talking about every single day.”