News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area
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![[VIDEO] Kim Lukens on Grailville Annexation](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/kim-lunken.jpg)
by David Miller
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland resident and candidate for Loveland City Council, Kim Lukens went to the open forum podium this past Tuesday to express her views about the City annexing the Grailville property.
The Grailville annexation involves 95 acres on O’Bannon Road just outside of Loveland.
by Lesley Hodge
Kevin Dougherty, Loveland Board of Education Vice-President, posted a short video on his campaign website entitled “Thinking Through How To Choose – A Different Approach”. In it, he identifies the qualities that matter for Board membership as leadership, preparedness, motivation, commitment, and the ability to listen and learn. I agree with all of that – although I question how prepared anyone can be, or ever has been, for stepping into a Board role for the first time.
He goes on to say that “what a candidate supports or doesn’t support doesn’t matter unless he or she can get results.” I half agree with that. It doesn’t much matter what a person is for or against if he doesn’t get results. On the other hand, if a person gets results, what he is for or against is of central importance because that will determine what results he will attempt to achieve. However well the Board members in recent years might have scored with respect to Mr. Dougherty’s list of qualities, they certainly got results. To take only the most salient recent example, in 2019 they succeeded in getting onto the ballot a levy of historic proportions – which was voted down by the community 78% to 22%. Whatever the Board was for or against in 2019, it was clearly misaligned with what the community was for or against. It is hard to argue, then, as Mr. Dougherty suggests, that it doesn’t matter what “it” is as long as “it” gets accomplished. Of course, we want to elect Board members who can get results. For that very reason, it matters very much what those members support or don’t support.
I would actually expand Mr. Dougherty’s list. He mentioned being humble but it didn’t make his top five. Humility is an essential characteristic for being a successful Board member. Independent thinker is also imperative. I would rather see a Board grapple with issues in front of the public rather than come out and uniformly vote on things without much discussion.
Finally, it is essential to me, a voter and taxpayer, that Board members respect parental rights, support strong academics and a challenging curriculum, and respect taxpayers. It’s a tall order, but I think some of the candidates possess these qualities in abundance. Moreover, we have candidates who genuinely care about putting students first without alienating the residential district that foots the bill.
I have seen several candidates dismissed as being “inexperienced”. Obviously, anyone who hasn’t sat on a Board does not have the experience related to being on a Board, and every Board member in history was once in that position. If inexperience were a bar, there would be no Boards.
At the end of the day, an inexperienced Board seeking the right results is incomparably to be preferred to an experienced Board seeking the wrong results. Inexperience tends to correct itself; a bad result does not.
Lesley Hodge is a resident of Symmes Township and the Loveland City School District
The House of Joy at Grailville – file photos by David Miller
by David Miller
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland resident Deirdre Dyson expressed a vision for the Grailville property at Tuesday’s council meeting during the open forum. “I question the idea that residential development of the property is inevitable, said Dyson. Then she talked about her vision.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Our apology for the sound quality of this video. It was hard to overcome the HVAC noise just overhead, a soft-spoken person, and a podium mic that wasn’t producing much volume.
A transcript has now been added. Read it below.
Good Evening, Everybody,
My name is Deirdre Dyson. I live at 430 W. Loveland Ave. I’ve lived in Loveland – I discovered to my horror today – for 53 years. I knew it had been a while, but it’s been a pleasure, all those 53 years.
I wish to talk to you this evening about Grailville, not about legislation and annexation, but just about Grailville itself. I’ve questioned the idea that residential development of the property is inevitable. Grailville is a classic gem of Victorian residential architecture. Many of the unique buildings on the property include: a dining hall designed by William Schickel; a venue for recitals, weddings, and events; trails; and much more.
I understand and respect that Grailville wants and needs to sell the property, but I suggest their needs could tie in and satisfy one of Loveland’s greatest needs at the moment. In spite of the recent and the terrific, great growth and revitalization, there is one area, one item that is sadly missing in Loveland. It needs accommodations. I imagine many of you have tried to find a place for out-of-town guests within the ambience of the town. Not easy. There is an opportunity here, I believe, to transform the buildings into an absolute gem for the city, community, and area: a boutique hotel Bed & Breakfast Plus.
Could the city actively seek a different kind of developer or group to purchase and restore the property with integrity and vision to honor its historic value? Other towns of Loveland’s sizer have renovated hotels; ornately painted mansions; emphasized architectural detail. Grailville offers all those possibilities and more, with attractive landscaping and walking trails. Just imagine how delightful it would be to stay in Grailville’s renovated, plush Bed & Breakfast rooms or hotel, go for a walk on the woodland property, then explore downtown area for communal bike trail and restaurants, etc. It would not generate traffic congestion like putting 250 or so homes in that area would generate. Road and sewer demands would be a fraction of the proposed development costs.
If you have never set foot on the property, let me say that I’m not the only person to feel that there’s something very special there. You can feel it immediately you get on the property. It exudes an aura of calm and tranquility, what so many of us are seeking these days. Surely there must be some entrepreneur or company out there looking for just such an investment opportunity, to purchase to renovate as business opportunity that would serve us all.
Please don’t let Grailville be just another discarded jewel in the history of what used to be a quaint and unique town.
Thank you.
by David Miller
Loveland, Ohio – Lauren Enda went to the Loveland City Council meeting Tuesday evening to talk about the proposed parking garage in Historic Downtown. Some of the concerns she expressed were about the negative impact she envisions for Loveland’s heritage and quaintness, and the environment.
She proposes that Loveland residents should be allowed to vote at the ballot box on what she describes as a “big city solution” that will take from the town things it will never get back.
She also suggestsed that an environmental impact study should be done to protect the “natural environment we love”.
by David Miller
Loveland, Ohio, At Tuesday’s City Council meeting resident Tom Scovanner went to the podium and laid out his reasoning and research into State and Federal law as to why he declares that Loveland residents are being, “played for fools” over the request by the Drees Company to annex Grailville into the City. The Grailville annexation involves 95 acres on O’Bannon Road and Scovanner cited a Drees’ press release that said they intend to build over 200 homes on the site.
He discussed the zoning the Drees Company expects to receive and the cost to the Loveland taxpayers of providing police, water, sanitary and stormwater sewers, fire and EMS services, street lighting, inspection services, and planning and zoning services. He said that Drees is expecting that City Council will re-zone the property and allow more than double the number of home sites than the land is currently zoned to handle.
He requested that Council rescind their request of approval to the Clermont County Commissioners until more is known about the impact to the City of the annexation is known.
Scovanner, a lawyer, said while holding up a large set of printed files, that although he has done the legal research, more is needed.
At press time, it is unknown if the Commissioners signed the paperwork on Wednesday as Scovanner anticipated they might.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Clermont County Commission approved the Annexation by unanimous vote on Wednesday, October 27.
Loveland, Ohio – Sharon Scovanner went through the legal channels to be permitted to speak for 10-minutes at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. Even though she followed the rules, Mayor Kathy Bailey refused Scovanner’s request to be “Placed on the Agenda”.
She wanted to speak about the annexation into the City of the Graville property.
Not being deterred, Scovanner went to the meeting and signed up for “open forum” which would allow her 5-minutes to speak.
As soon as the 5-minutes was over, Scovanner was interrupted mid-sentence by Bailey and told that her speaking time was over. Scovanner immediately left the podium.
You can watch Scovanner speaking last night in the LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV video below and also read her entire statement to see what she was not allowed to say.
Also below is a post-meeting LOVELAND MAGAZINE TV interview with Scovanner being asked how she felt the meeting went and Mayor Bailey’s response to the accusation of suppressing free speech.
City council I’ve spoken with numerous members of council recently including Mr. Oury, Mr. Bateman, (at my house) Mr. Blair, and Mr. Butler (at the committee appreciation dinner) about some really important issues recently. There has been debate and at times we have agreed to disagree. Disagreement is not a negative, but a way to understand each other’s point of view. I have also had productive meetings and discussions with Dave Kennedy, Tom Smith and Mark Medlar. The best results are always when there is dialogue, each person defending their positions. That’s how democracy works, when it is working well. Governing bodies succeed when there is open sharing of facts, discussion, deliberation and at times, compromise. A couple of weeks ago all the city council candidates were invited to attend a meet the Candidate forum after our neighborhood’s annual HOA meeting. Mr. Butler, Hart, Phelps and Ms. Lukens attended. At our meeting there was spirited debate about the development of Blossom Hill, annexation of the Grail property, the proposed parking garage, all of which significantly impact TRAFFIC congestion in DT Loveland. Mr. Phelps and Hart took a lot of tough questions, as the residents were concerned about the disproportionate detrimental effect each of these developments would have on the residents of Warren County. Hopefully they heard the collective and heartfelt voices of the residents. Mr. Phelps stayed after the meeting and talked further about these issues which was most appreciated. He suggested that I add my name to the agenda of the next city council meeting for further discussion. I attempted to do so. Rule 19 of the Loveland City Council rules (five-day rule) states “Any person, group or delegation wishing to be placed on the agenda to appear before council shall direct a letter to the clerk of council so it is received by the clerk no later than 12 noon on the Thursday preceding the regularly scheduled Tuesday council meeting,…. Rule 19 was followed, despite this, On Friday, I received an email from Misty, the clerk of council. It read, “Sharon, Mayor Bailey has DECLINED your request to be placed on the October 26 agenda and suggested that you speak during open forum.” WOW! If Mayor Bailey doesn’t want to hear from the citizens of Loveland maybe being mayor of Loveland is not for her. According to rule 19, the mayor has no authority what so ever to deny a request to appear on the agenda. Just because the mayor does not like what a citizen has to say, does not give her the right to try to silence them. If you look at the organizational chart of the city, one and only one group is at the top, it isn’t the mayor, the city council, businesses or developers. It’s the citizens. Allowing active participation of the citizenry should be the goal of any functioning democracy and should be insisted upon by all who are in positions of power. In 2017, a group known as Loveland Community Heartbeat, lead by Neal Oury (our community advocate, as per his political sign) initiated a recall of Mayor Mark Fitzgerald. The grounds for removal were as follows. 1. Conducting city operations and meetings in a manner which prohibits full participations by all council members, resident involvement and transparency and 2. Willfully and flagrantly exercising authority and power without the consent of the resident electorate or city council 2017 was a dark time for the city of Loveland and Mayor Bailey is returning us to those same dark days. Over the past few months Mayor Bailey has prohibited full participation by all council members and resident involvement by 1. denying my request to be on the agenda to limit my time for speaking, after I was invited by Mr. Phelps to be placed on the agenda. 2. telling another Resident he could not speak (Dave Stanton), only to be admonished by the Law Director because she overreached her authority. 3. voting in favor of taking a sitting Council Member off the agenda to limit his speech. 4. denying a sitting Council member’s request to be on the agenda to limit his speech. 5. trying to limit members of the press from access to meetings and taking pictures. 6. showing favoritism to one member of council by allowing him more times to speak, while denying that same right to others council members. 7. Earlier this year, she voted to change council rules to limit the time any one topic could be spoken about by residents in one meeting to 20 minutes. So, if an issue comes up that brings 100 people to open forum only 4 people can speak? Council has an obligation to listen to all the residents who take the time to prepare and come to speak to council, regardless how long it takes; its what you were elected to do. These are only the things that I know of, who knows who else has been denied the right to speak? This is all very alarming and needs to stop. Suppression of speech undermines the very core of any democracy. The recent actions of Mayor Bailey serve as a wakeup call for the citizens of Loveland, members of council and to those who spoke so loudly against Mark Fitzgerald 4 years ago. We can and must do better. I welcome your questions and comments
by Cassie Mattia
Loveland, Ohio – “Making these cards makes me feel both fulfilled and safe. This Arts and Crafts show has been my home for 4 years and now I want to be an entrepreneur!”
Loveland High School (LHS) Senior Annelise Dartnall expressed how excited she was on Tuesday about The Loveland Arts and Crafts Fair being back in action after not having it 2 years in a row due to COVID-19. Dartnall along with several other LHS special needs students have participated in creating handmade cards to sell at the Loveland Arts and Crafts Fair in order to raise funds for the LHS Special Needs Program and gain valuable work experience. Dartnall has also worked at the Loveland Farmers Market, several Loveland Arts and Crafts Fairs where she showcased the special needs students carefully crafted cards, and the Loveland High School News Network.
Retired Teacher Molly Swaine came up with the idea of LHS’s special needs students designing, creating, packaging, and selling these handmade cards to the community and staff members of Loveland right in her very own room just a few years ago.
“The past couple of years the students were unable to attend our biggest sales event, The Loveland Arts and Crafts Fair, due to the pandemic so the fact that our students have the opportunity to once again practice social and life skills out in the community is great,” LHS Intervention Specialist Emily Hicks said.
Caitlin Haury, LHS Intervention Specialist, and Payton Lafonda also aided Hicks with the handmade cards project in hopes that the special needs students at LHS would gain valuable work experience and raise enough sales to buy supplies for the classroom, activities, and celebrations.
Over the past few weeks, the excitement for Loveland’s Arts and Crafts Fair has been building, as the event is set for November 6th at LHS from 9:30 AM to 3 PM. We decided to take a trip down Tiger Trail to LHS to talk to Annelise about the handmade cards project and why it’s so important that everyone gets involved.
Buying the cards during the Craft Expo requires cash. The students can not accept credit cards, Apple Pay, Venmo, etc.
Without further ado, we bring to you LHS Senior Annelise Dartnall as she explains to YOU the Loveland Magazine readers why you should support the LHS Special Needs Handmade Cards Project!
Interview and video by David Miller
If you are unable to attend Loveland’s Arts and Crafts Expo the Special Needs Program created a contactless google link in which you can select your cards and have them sent to you through the mail. Cards are $2 for a pack of 4. You will also need to send your form of payment through the mail to LHS’s Caitlin Haury. Click here to order your handmade cards today!
If you missed our previous article on the LHS Special Needs Handmade Cards Project click below!
For more inspirational Loveland stories stay tuned to the Loveland Salad With ME, Cassie Mattia!
Loveland, Ohio – At the beginning of each week, the Loveland City School District releases their latest Covid 19 Dashboard.
Note the correction to the 10/3/ report and that community cases increased from 51 to 62.
Expect the largest increase in retail natural gas prices to occur in the Midwest, where prices rise to $11.28/Mcf, a 45% increase compared with last winter
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Winter Fuels Outlook
In their latest Winter Fuels Outlook, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast that U.S. households that primarily use natural gas for space heating will spend an average of $746 on heating this winter (October–March), which is $172, or 30%, more than last year.
Natural gas is the primary heating fuel for 48% of U.S. homes, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey. Residential spending on winter natural gas bills is largely determined by the retail price of natural gas and the amount of natural gas consumed.
Higher retail natural gas prices are the primary driver for the expected increase in natural gas heating expenditures this winter, according to the Agency. On average, retail natural gas prices in the United States are expected to rise from $10.17 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf) last winter to $12.93/Mcf this winter, the highest price since the 2005–06 winter average. They say they expect the largest increase in retail natural gas prices to occur in the Midwest, where prices rise to $11.28/Mcf, a 45% increase compared with last winter.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Winter Fuels Outlook
The increase in retail prices reflects rising natural gas spot prices over the past year. Changes in natural gas spot prices typically get passed along to retail rates over a period of months because of regulatory rate structures. Utilities generally cannot profit or lose money from natural gas commodity sales, whose costs are passed along directly to the consumer.
In addition to the steady rise in natural gas spot prices over the past year, many utilities had to raise prices for consumers following the February 2021 cold snap that affected most of the country, but particularly Texas and the Midwest, according to the report. During the cold snap, many utilities had to purchase natural gas at spot prices that were higher than anticipated. However, because retail rates were already set for the month, utilities did not collect enough to cover the cost of the natural gas. To make up for this undercollection, many utilities opted to raise prices in subsequent months to spread out the costs to consumers over several months.
Higher-than-expected natural gas expenditures this winter also result from slightly higher-than-expected consumption compared with last year. For households that use natural gas as their primary space heating fuel, we expect average consumption this winter to be 57.7 Mcf, a 2.4% increase from last winter. The higher consumption is driven by a 2.6% forecast increase in the number of heating degree days (a measure of heating demand) compared with last winter. In our October Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), They estimate that U.S. natural gas inventories ended September at 3,304 Bcf, which is 5.5% below the five-year average for this time of year.
Principal contributors: Corrina Ricker, Stephen York
by David Miller
Loveland, Ohio – These are some photos of the full moon resident Claudia Bow took in May and October. She told Loveland Magazine, “Astronomy is something I became interested in during this past year. I have developed a great love of space and the universe, and have become fascinated with observing.”
This has become a hobby that means a lot to Claudia. She said, “I find comfort in the wonder of the cosmos.”
These photos were taken using a Polaris reflector telescope, a non-digital manual telescope that uses mirrors and lenses only, and an iPhone 12 held up against the optical lens. Claudia said that she edited the color and clarity using the iPhone to get the effects you see here.
“I hope to continue observing and taking more photos of space and all of its wonders,” Claudia said.
She is a graduate of Loveland High School and is a senior at Northern Kentucky University, studying music education. She plays five musical instruments.
