Notes from my Knapsack 7-30-2026
Jeff Gill
Monetizing culture, eroding value, building houses
___
There is so much that’s wrong with the proposed housing subdivision in Union Township south of the Village of Granville.
Whoops, getting my facts straight is going to be a challenge. I mean, in the City of Heath, since they’ve annexed over far to their west. Once annexed by a municipality like Heath, it’s not “in the township” in the same way. Consult a lawyer for details.
South of the Village of Granville, but within what was established decades ago as within the Granville Exempted Village School District (GEVSD), which is a different legal entity entirely. Lots of the wrong things that get said in online discussion and even in person trace back to the understandable confusion about how “Granville” is both a village and a school district, but they are not the same thing. Not for taxation purposes, not for zoning, not for any number of things. Hold that thought, but hold it as two different entities.
Many useful critiques have been made, though, and there’s a website in opposition to the development which has smart people saying all the right things, along with some excellent media coverage, at least of the meetings that are open to the public, a debate I’m not getting into.
What I’d like to point out, and this will continue in my next column, are some things I don’t see or hear touched on as much, but bother me.
Top of the list: this “gift” of land for a school in the middle of the development. I will continue to call it a “gift” because gift it ain’t. You know the phrase “heads I win, tails you lose”? The developers are offering the gift of acreage right smack in the middle of the proposed 500-some house project. Handy, eh?
But mark well: the Granville school district is under a high calibre gun with that tract. They have to start the process of building this school fairly quickly, or once the developers have sold about 60% of the potential total of homes, a clock starts, and GEVSD has a year to launch building or the land goes back to the developer AND they can build out another 20% or so on that very land.
Think it through. The “gift” says GEVSD either builds a school to help the developer sell the back half of the development, which it most certainly would do, or else they get to hold the potential of even more students piled onto their headcount. If the school board and voters say “hey, let’s be prudent and see how this goes” they could either be pushed into a rushed deal, or get a harder hit in student count steepness. If they go ahead and build the school as the development starts, they’re literally helping fill it by doing so.
Heads they win, tails we lose.
So it’s not a “gift,” it’s a co-optation of school demographics to get Granville schools to help them sell houses by constructing a southern elementary school. Neat trick, huh?
My next column will involve numbers and percentages. And through them, a glimpse of something about “culture.” How do we look at our schools, and why? But as a down payment, let me note this: GEVSD last year had 2,454 students, while Heath City Schools had 1,527, and Lakewood Local just to the south 1,598. Granville’s student count is increasing, but the latter two neighbor districts have been shrinking. Why the rush to put students into the district already stretched thin?
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he’s not normally big on math, but it tells a story. Share your views with him at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack on X.
Jeff Gill
Monetizing culture, eroding value, building houses
___
There is so much that’s wrong with the proposed housing subdivision in Union Township south of the Village of Granville.
Whoops, getting my facts straight is going to be a challenge. I mean, in the City of Heath, since they’ve annexed over far to their west. Once annexed by a municipality like Heath, it’s not “in the township” in the same way. Consult a lawyer for details.
South of the Village of Granville, but within what was established decades ago as within the Granville Exempted Village School District (GEVSD), which is a different legal entity entirely. Lots of the wrong things that get said in online discussion and even in person trace back to the understandable confusion about how “Granville” is both a village and a school district, but they are not the same thing. Not for taxation purposes, not for zoning, not for any number of things. Hold that thought, but hold it as two different entities.
Many useful critiques have been made, though, and there’s a website in opposition to the development which has smart people saying all the right things, along with some excellent media coverage, at least of the meetings that are open to the public, a debate I’m not getting into.
What I’d like to point out, and this will continue in my next column, are some things I don’t see or hear touched on as much, but bother me.
Top of the list: this “gift” of land for a school in the middle of the development. I will continue to call it a “gift” because gift it ain’t. You know the phrase “heads I win, tails you lose”? The developers are offering the gift of acreage right smack in the middle of the proposed 500-some house project. Handy, eh?
But mark well: the Granville school district is under a high calibre gun with that tract. They have to start the process of building this school fairly quickly, or once the developers have sold about 60% of the potential total of homes, a clock starts, and GEVSD has a year to launch building or the land goes back to the developer AND they can build out another 20% or so on that very land.
Think it through. The “gift” says GEVSD either builds a school to help the developer sell the back half of the development, which it most certainly would do, or else they get to hold the potential of even more students piled onto their headcount. If the school board and voters say “hey, let’s be prudent and see how this goes” they could either be pushed into a rushed deal, or get a harder hit in student count steepness. If they go ahead and build the school as the development starts, they’re literally helping fill it by doing so.
Heads they win, tails we lose.
So it’s not a “gift,” it’s a co-optation of school demographics to get Granville schools to help them sell houses by constructing a southern elementary school. Neat trick, huh?
My next column will involve numbers and percentages. And through them, a glimpse of something about “culture.” How do we look at our schools, and why? But as a down payment, let me note this: GEVSD last year had 2,454 students, while Heath City Schools had 1,527, and Lakewood Local just to the south 1,598. Granville’s student count is increasing, but the latter two neighbor districts have been shrinking. Why the rush to put students into the district already stretched thin?
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he’s not normally big on math, but it tells a story. Share your views with him at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack on X.
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