Sawmill Wetlands deal should have had public input

Folks who value the Sawmill Wetlands have won a round in a years-long fight over whether the 17.5-acre tract will be developed or preserved as a small pocket of nature amid a sea of big-box stores, strip centers and parking lots.

The 10th District Court of Appeals in Columbus has overruled an earlier Franklin County Common Pleas Court ruling that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which owns the property, had to give it to the developer, JDS So Cal Ltd., because the state breached a contract with the developer.

The case turns on a fine point of contract language that will be argued further if JDS appeals the March 29 ruling to the Ohio Supreme Court.

But the messy and expensive fight never would have happened had ODNR not made a bad deal in 2012, when it told developer James Schrim he could have the wetlands property and develop it in exchange for buying and giving to the state some other ecologically valuable land next to Highbanks Metro Park along the Olentangy River.

Supporters of the wetlands were outraged at the deal, made without public input and made worse because the Sawmill land originally was given to the state with a deed restriction saying it had to remain accessible to the public. As part of the deal, the state was willing to help Schrim overturn that deed restriction.

Swapping the Sawmill land for the Olentangy land might have been a reasonable course of action, given that the Olentangy acreage is larger and not hemmed in by development. But it was done clumsily, and when the state tried to back out in the face of public backlash, Schrim sued.

This fight may not be over. We hope the state isn’t forced to give away a taxpayer-owned ecological treasure. If it is, we hope it will serve as an enduring reminder that bureaucrats shouldn’t deal away public land without thinking it through — perhaps even consulting the public.

Operation Walk USA is an inspiring example of Americans helping other Americans, and central Ohio can be proud that it started here.

The charity marshals volunteer surgeons and other needed health-care providers to donate their services for knee and hip replacements for people without insurance. It grew out of the international program Operation Walk when New Albany orthopedic surgeon Dr. Adolph Lombardi, a volunteer with the global group, thought in 2010, “Why shouldn’t we do this in our own backyard?”

Why not indeed. Because of an often-dysfunctional health-care system, even relatively prosperous Americans such as Linda Wells of Pickerington can find themselves suffering from debilitating conditions with no way to pay for a fix.

Wells was uninsured and too young for Medicare in 2011 when the arthritis in her left hip was so painful she had to crawl up the stairs to go to bed at night. As a married homeowner with some savings, she figured she wouldn’t qualify for Operation Walk USA’s help.

She cried in relief when she discovered she did. The program paid for all the expenses before, during and after the surgery.

It’s an annual process; applications are accepted now and surgeries take place in December.

To learn more, go to www.opwalkusa.org. To apply, visit facebook.com/ OperationWalkUSA.