Gahanna roundabout project presents struggle for local business

GAHANNA, Ohio (WCMH) - A roundabout project in Gahanna will begin on Monday. The intersection of Claycraft Road and Taylor Station Road will be closed for the duration of the project, which Mayor Laurie Jadwin said will be less than 90 days.

Several businesses operate out of the industrial park area near the intersection. That includes 'Wood Werks,' a longtime Gahanna business focused on selling woodworking tools , equipment, and products. 

"You're not going to find it anywhere in central Ohio. So if something happens to this business, if we can't provide that, a lot of people are going to be hurting," said owner Charlie Vangas of the unique retail shop. They carry equipment and one of a kind wood features for professional woodworkers like carpenters and contractors, but also for the hobbyist.

The business, however, has slowed down since utility work began in February. he roads remained open during that time, but Vangas said he noticed a significant drop off. "We used to get tons of calls, people asking about, you know, do we have this product and how much is it, you know, can you hold one for me or something like that? Now they call and ask, is construction still going on there? And one guy flat out said, I'm not coming," he said.

Vangas said his sales have plummeted by more than fifty percent since February. "This road construction is going to be a killer. Hopefully it won't be, but we'll see. We have no control over this. You know, we can't survive without customers. And if customers decide they don't want to hassle with, you know, the traffic and detours and stuff like that, they just won't come," he said.

He thinks people don't want to deal with traffic and construction, so they avoid the area. But he also thinks people talk to each other and rumors have spread that 'Wood Werks' isn't open during construction.

"There's rumors going out that we're going out of business and, you know, and we're going to shut down this store for three months while they're doing this project. But I don't know who started those rumors, but those rumors really hurt. We had a contractor in here last week who, you know, pulls in with a trailer and he has to park out there because he can't pull the trailer in here. And he comes in here and he says, Oh, yeah, the word is out that don't go to woodworks. And these contractors talk among themselves. You know, I said, don't go to woodworks, man. They got construction going out there. It's horror. So we haven't seen many contractors lately," he explained.

The Taylor Station Road project is years in the making for the city of Gahanna. Mayor Laurie Jadwin explained they received $1 million from Ohio Public Works Commission for the new roundabout. 

"Taylor Station Road is the the main corridor through our industrial zone. And for years we were hearing from businesses about their frustrations at that intersection. It's extremely congested. Traffic studies have shown that when you sit at a red light, you will sit there almost 5 minutes. We started communicating with businesses back in 2022 with written communications, public open houses, talked about it in our State of the City address last year and this year, just trying to get the word out as to why we needed to make this improvement," explained Jadwin.

She recognizes the importance of getting the road back open quickly for local businesses. 

"Small businesses especially, are the heartbeat of our economy. Here in Gahanna, and we want to do everything that we can to be supportive, recognizing this is a major change to that intersection. Unfortunately, it's not one that you can do overnight. Our economic development team talked at length with the owners of Wood Werks about how they communicate with their customer base. We pulled up their website and suggested they might, you know, some language they could put on their website," she explained.

Part of the struggle for Wood Werks specifically is that construction will completely block their customer parking lot in the front of their building. Customers will be forced to park in the back, near the loading dock where deliveries are made by semi-trucks frequently.

Not only that, but the back entrance leads into the warehouse, not typically a customer friendly area. "For the handicapped, there's no railing. For one thing, you know, not good. And you can see the concrete there. That's not good," said Vangas.

The city of Gahanna met with Vangas on Wednesday and agreed to help with ADA compliance issues and signage. Mayor Jadwin said they are working to come up with other ways they can help direct traffic and notify residents about the businesses that will remain open during construction.

"We are looking internally. Can we put signage up at some of the Detour locations that reminds folks that the businesses are still open as well and things that we can put up on our website throughout as we update about the construction project as well," she said.

Now Vargas is worried his business won't survive three more months of less than stellar sales. "We've already cut operating costs down as far as we can cut it. But it's hard to say, you know, because I have to put myself in the mind of my customers. You know, if it was me, would I, you know, fight the detours and construction traffic and everything would come here and then walk up a warehouse? I don't know. We have six people. Okay. And that's down from nine people, you know, so we've made some cuts," he explained. 

They made it through the Recession in 2008 by switching up their business model to sell more of the smaller items that were selling more. They made it through COVID with help from the Federal Paycheck Protection Program. Now, Vargas hopes to make it through the roundabout construction with help from his loyal customers and a GoFundMe page he set up to help keep staff employed and pay the bills.

"While it will be a temporary impact, will have long term benefits to everybody in that area for their operations," added Mayor Jadwin.