Loehrke says Ottawa stable during 2008

OTTAWA - Stable was the word Ottawa Community Development Director Jeff Loehrke used to describe the state of Ottawa during 2008. Loehrke gave the state of the village address during Tuesday's Ottawa-area Chamber of Commerce meeting.

At the end of 2009 Ottawa will have a net loss of 30 housing units Loehrke said. "This represents about a 2 percent loss of our total housing units of 1,900. Many people point out we're losing a lot of housing, but the numbers show it is only 2 percent."

This includes 11 trailers that were removed in 2008 and 19 homes that will be demolished in 2009 through the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

"When I talked to industry they said it wasn't a great year, but it wasn't a bad year," Loehrke said.

He said it wasn't until the end of 2008 that W.C. Wood Corp. announced layoffs, which they intend to callback in the second quarter of 2009.

Two major projects completed by the village in 2008 included the Bluffton Regional Water line and the widening of road L-9 from Woodland Drive to Road M.

"This $580,000 project was funded primarily through federal and state grants due to W.C. Wood Corp.'s expansion in 2007," Loehrke said.

He said because of this expansion Ottawa made the final top two sites of a new food processing plant that eventually located in Lima.

"Although you may not see any physical changes yet, there are major strides in dealing with our efforts to bring flood mitigation to our area," Loehrke said.

He said he attended 115 meetings in 2008 regarding flood mitigation. "This does not count the numerous meetings attended by the mayor, council members and Jason Philips."

Loehrke said they are pushing to get the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flood mitigation study completed as soon as possible.

"You will also be hearing more discussion about creating our own conservancy district and why this is important," Loehrke said. "We will also be discussing how we are going to pay for flood mitigation. It's not going to be cheap."

Loehrke said during 2008 the community proved it is made up of people with a strong, durable and tough character.

"Over the past few years we've experienced major plant closings, natural disasters and economic downturns. But, because we are firmly established, fixed, and steadfast and stable, we are able to survive and place ourselves in a position for growth."