Last week’s City Council meetings touched a lot of bases, but the most intriguing was the potential partnership with Small Nation, a commercial property renovation business that has worked miracles over the past ten years in Bellefontaine.
Mayor Michelle Blanton first met the Small Nation team in 2019 when she was working at Ohio Christian University and attended a conference in Mount Vernon to study colleges in small towns.
“I met Jason Duff, the founder and CEO of Small Nation, and heard what they did in Bellefontaine,” said Blanton. In 2023, Blanton later visited the city and saw first-hand how Small Nation had transformed their Main Street.
Blanton played a short promotional video about Small Nation Ltd, a for-profit LLC. She stated that Small Nation has been featured in many national publications, including Fortune, Forbes, Inc., Wall Street Journal and Time.
Blanton asked the Strategic Planning Committee to approve an expenditure of $18,500 to enter into a contract with Small Nation. The contract calls for a tour of Bellefontaine’s downtown by City officials and a tour of Circleville’s downtown by the Small Nation team. Additionally, they will meet with downtown property owners, Pickaway Progress Partnership (P3), the Uptown Circleville team, planning and zoning officials, and entrepreneurs.
Small Nation will then deliver a 90-100 page report — their vision of what Downtown Circleville could and should be. Additionally, the report will identify the two downtown buildings that have the most promise for renovation, identify the businesses that would work in that space, and create interior designs.
Sheri Theis, Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, asked, “Do they actually bring in new businesses, or just work with the businesses and the property owners we already have in town?”
Blanton explained that Small Nation’s approach includes buying and restoring historic buildings, actively recruiting new tenants, becoming equity partners and/or offering financing.
Chair Theis recalled the previous plans that the city has purchased: a plan from Heritage Ohio, the Montrose Strategic Plan, and a Blue Zone Project report, saying, “We have a lot of plans.”
The Ohio Main Street Program, administered by Heritage Ohio, works with Ohio communities to preserve their historic architecture. Their focus is the outside appearance. Circleville joined Heritage Ohio as an affiliate member and created Uptown Circleville in 2018, which promotes downtown. They are very active and bring popular events downtown, such as the Uptown Classic, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
The Montrose Strategic Plan, delivered in 2023, covered the entire city, not just the downtown. It provided a valuable plan for zoning which will direct future housing and industrial development. In their report, they discussed the impact of the Intel facility being built in Johnstown and recommended that Circleville pursue industries that supply Intel.
However, Montrose never mentioned what kind of businesses those would be. The Montrose Plan did not deal with the school system or homelessness in the report, so it was more of an industrial economic development report than a strategic planning report.
The Blue Zone Project was based on a walking tour of downtown in March 2018. Their report observed that Circleville has a low overall Walk Score of 38 out of 100 (making it a car-dependent city), there is no bicycle plan in place, and recommended bump outs (curb extensions), and angled parking.
Blanton explained that Small Nations would actually be doing something and not planning to do something. They will name specific types of businesses for each renovated building, and then help those businesses get started, by setting up their website, social media, etc.
Over the past 10 years, Small Nation has been involved in the restoration of the following businesses in Bellefontaine:
Six Hundred Pizza — pizza cooked at 600Brewfontaine – brew pubThe Syndicate Restaurant and Event SpaceMain Street Marketplace — Business incubatorThe Loft Above — luxury AirbnbLofts 110 — Downtown LivingAnytime Fitness — 24-hour fitness centerLoCo Depot — fitness centerHickory Medical — direct primary health careCity Sweets & Creamery — candy storeBuild Cowork & Space — workspaceThe Flying Pepper Restaurant — top-rated dining
The story behind these renovations can be seen on their website, “smallnationstrong.com.”
Theis explained that she would like to see how this new report from Small Nation would fit in with the previous reports that have been commissioned. “We don’t want to miss an opportunity, but we don’t want to duplicate things that have already been done.”
None of the previous plans ever resulted in any physical renovation or new construction. But Chair Theis’ desire to study all of the previous plans makes sense. If the city moves forward with Small Nation, these previous reports will provide direction, such as CIrcleville’s desire to maintain its historic architecture downtown.
Council member Katie Logan Hedges inquired about the role of Council in the process. Blanton replied, “The money will come out of my budget, so I won’t be asking for any additional funds. I just need your permission to be able to sign the contract.” City Council must approve all expenditures that exceed $10,000.
Chair Theis then moved to delay the approval saying “I’d like to table this until everybody gets a chance to look at the reports that have been done.”
The motion was seconded and approved by a vote of 2 to 1. One benefit of the delay is that it will give the City time to send copies of those previous reports to Small Nation, thus ensuring the elimination of redundancy.
It can be noted that on October 11, 2023, at the Heritage Ohio Annual Conference, Small Nation Ltd was given an honorable mention award for Best Downtown Historic Walking Tour. So, at least these two organizations have a history of working together.
In other Council business last week, the Committee of the Whole passed a resolution to provide local matching funds for the Railroad Crossing Elimination Grant Program. The City will use local funds for $2.5 million to support the efforts of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC), and the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) to see the overpass project completed. There has still been no mention of where the overpass will be located.
The Council repealed the requirement that the Director of Public Service live in Pickaway County, as has already been done for the Director of Public Safety position. Circleville had been more strict than the requirements of the Ohio Revised Code, and with this repeal, the requirements match.
City Auditor Mark Bidwell reported that the audit of the City of Circleville has been completed by the State of Ohio and that copies are available.
A Youth Prevention Advisor to the Pickaway Addiction Action Coalition (PAAC), Isabella Watkins, invited the public to attend a free screening of the movie, Screenagers Under the Influence, on Wednesday, September 18 at 6:30 p.m. at Ohio Christian University. Parents and guardians are welcome to bring their children to the event. The film runs 50 minutes with a Question & Answer session immediately following. To RSVP for this free event, visit: screenagerspaac.eventbrite.com .
Isabella is a Senior at Circleville High School who works with PAAC to end substance use disorders in Pickaway County. She provided a few interesting statistics from a 2024 confidential information survey of Pickaway County high school students:
87.7% of students did not use alcohol in the past 30 days96.6% did not use tobacco products in the past 30 days — but that does not include nicotine/vaping
There was no information presented concerning marijuana usage, which would be interesting to track as Ohio implements legalization.
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