Visionary leaders’ big plans use others’ land

Ihave decided that it is in the best interest of everyone that I take control of a portion of my neighbor’s yard, on which I will construct a greenhouse for my collection of orchids.

My neighbor doesn’t know the details of my plan yet, because it was essential that I put this plan together quickly. The days grow shorter. Winter is coming.

Besides, once my neighbor is apprised of the project’s importance and urgency, I am sure he will be on board with it.

Here is the gist of my proposal:

I will annex about a third of my neighbor’s backyard. Definitely not more than half.

I will take down a few of his trees and remove his deck to make room for my greenhouse on his property. Or maybe it will become my property because he will give it to me. These things are not yet finalized, but I am moving forward regardless, out of necessity. It

would be a shame to see his yard and deck remain mostly vacant, except for his barbecues, which are infrequent and don’t benefit me or anyone I care about.

I am modeling my approach in part on the winning strategy being used to develop a new Crew SC practice facility and community sports park on the land surrounding Mapfre Stadium.

The engineers of the soccer project have taught me that what I need to succeed is a Bold Vision.

Bold Visions require Quick Action, such as when Columbus officials began removing a Route 315 exit ramp to make way for Ohiohealth’s new $89 million headquarters before the city

had persuaded the state to hand over the right of way.

That worked out fine in the end, and so will this plan at Mapfre Stadium. City and county officials and the Columbus Partnership were so sure of this that when they announced their plans in December, they did not even bother to mention that none of them owned the property.

“We are on the verge of doing the impossible — saving the Crew in a very creative way and helping so many areas of Columbus through public-private partnerships,” said Alex Fischer, CEO of the Columbus Partnership. “It is the Columbus Way, and it will be a model for

professional sports and communities for years to come.”

When you are on the verge of doing the impossible, matters of lesser importance must not slow you down. That is why no one involved in the soccer project blinked when Virgil Strickler, general manager of the Ohio Expo Center, whose Ohio Expositions Commission owns the land under Mapfre Stadium, pointed out a full three months after the grand announcement that maybe the state should have some say in what happens there.

“It’s our property,” he said, noting that the state needs all the land it has for parking for the Expo Center and state fair. “I

wasn’t contacted at all.”

My neighbor might harbor similar concerns. He might wonder whether my greenhouse is the best use of his property, or even in keeping with our subdivision’s deed restrictions or city code.

Those hurdles will be cleared. If he succeeds in his call for a task force to review the matter, I have no doubt that a compromise can be found in which he is permitted to keep his grill on a small patio beside my greenhouse.

His concerns are but speed bumps in the path of progress. I am driving a bright yellow Hummer right over them.

He will not push too hard or grumble too loudly, for fear that

he will be branded an obstructionist. A simpleton incapable of having Bold Visions.

He doesn’t want a greenhouse? What kind of a man hates flowers? He will yield.

He will see that I am so certain of my bearings that consulting him in advance would have been a waste of precious time.

He will see in my wide smile and feel in my firm handshake that my Bold Vision is inevitable, endorsed as it is by those permitted to possess Bold Visions. We have decided it is for the best.

This, he will come to understand, is the Columbus Way.

tdecker@dispatch.com @Theodore_decker