Business View Magazine | February 2019

160 AT A GLANCE REYNOLDSBURG, OHIO WHAT: “The City of Respect”, population approx. 38,000 WHERE: Suburb in Columbus, Ohio Metro area WEBSITE: www.ci.reynoldsburg.oh.us a hub of activity with four lighted tennis courts, ten baseball diamonds, playgrounds, a skate park, and a bicycle path,while neighboring Huber Park boasts footballs fields, soccer fields, and a recreation path that runs alongside Blacklick Creek.The city cur- rently has six elementary schools, two middle schools, two junior high schools, and one high school (Livingston Campus and Summit Campus), and along with the Ohio Department of Agriculture and the Ohio Fire Academy and State Fire Marshal’s office, they provide hundreds of career jobs for the local workforce. Since its founding in 1839, the city has grown without a master plan-basically, just being allowed to sprawl. So, by the time AndrewBowsher came on board in January 2018 as Reynoldsburg’s new Development Director, it was obvious to everyone that they needed a plan–and fast.“We spent the majority of 2018 focused on that alone, and came up with a brand newComprehensive Plan,” says Bowsher.“We’d done some other smaller plans and studies, but we never looked holistically through- out the city at our problems and opportunities, and what we have going forward.The Comprehensive Plan was recently approved, and implementation will begin in 2019.” Bowsher, a dedicated community champion, be- lieves that every challenge the city faces is an op- portunity.And so, after much deliberation, consulta-