Residents push to save Clintonville schools old annex

Your schools | / Columbus View Larger Helpful Links Headlines from ThisWeekNews.com The City Blog By Mark Ferenchik The Columbus Dispatch Saturday April 12, 2014 9:28 PM

Efforts to stop the demolition of the 110-year-old Clinton School annex in Clintonville arent dead.

The Clintonville Area Commission will hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Clinton Heights Lutheran Church, 15 Clinton Heights Ave., to discuss asking Columbus schools and the Columbus City Council to halt the demolition until the needs of the school and community can be further analyzed.

That comes after the area commission voted 6-1 on Thursday against the demolition permit that city officials had approved. That vote delays the demolition until April 29.

Commissioner Nancy Kuhel said commissioners want to delay the demolition of what she called a perfectly usable building before we do something that cant be undone.

Some parents fear that Clinton Elementary School students will be forced to attend other schools if the annex is demolished and there isnt enough room to handle enrollment growth. The schools enrollment has grown from 352 to 425 since the 2011-12 school year.

People live in that neighborhood because of that school, Kuhel said. As the school goes, that neighborhoods going to go.

Other parents want the annex torn down to make room for more playground space.

Columbus school officials have said they do not plan to delay or stop the demolition. The cost to demolish the building and remove any contaminants from the site is $70,000, schools spokesman Jeff Warner said.

A Clintonville Area Commission committee concluded that renovating the 9,422-square-foot building would cost $300,000 to $400,000. Columbus schools said it would cost $1 million to bring it up to modern standards. The annex was built as a township school in 1904.

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Residents push to save Clintonville schools old annex