Officials at Ohio State’s College of Food and Environmental Sciences are currently deciding the future of its research and instructional site near Sawmill Road at Don Scott Airport.
College officials will be sifting through options with professional consultants trying to decide whether or not the facilities have a future in Columbus.
Melissa Krygier, assistant vice president for agricultural administration, said, “Current pressures at that site bring us to question whether this is a site we want to remain on.”
The conditions of the facilities are one of the main reasons for the planning process. “The truth is that our buildings out there are in very poor shape,” Krygier said. The airport land has been the location of the laboratories since the early 1970s.
The fact that the land at the site is part of the university’s endowment plan, not just the college’s alone, may also play a part in the final decision. Because of this, university officials have to decide if there are other land-use options that would provide financial returns to the university.
OSU Airport officials are also examining the possibility of expansion.
According to Krygier, this poses a problem for the laboratories and their ability to coexist with the airport. If the airport’s northernmost runway were to expand, the possibility of dangerous sound levels for students, operators and animals could be a problem.
The location’s proximity to Route 161 and the increased congestion in that area also are a cause for concern. “We don’t want our staff driving tractors down Sawmill Road,” Krygier said.
The biggest question on the mind of college officials is how to keep the animals accessible to the students. “If we have to move the herds elsewhere, what do we do about our academic programs?” Krygier said.
Kyle Brown, a senior animal science major, is asking the same question. “I don’t know how it would work,” he said. “For example, one of the main focuses in our production class is to observe the reproductive cycles of animals. I don’t think they could provide the same experience if they had to transport the animals back and forth. I think the value of the education would decrease if that was the case.”
The process of actually moving the facilities would be lengthy. Herd managers have been told that that it would be nearly 10 years before everything was complete. According to swine barn manager Ken Mayes, all this wouldn’t be an easy task to accomplish.
“It will be a challenge keeping the buildings maintained for 10 years,” Mayes said. He pointed out that the buildings haven’t been on the college’s priority list since 1987, when talks of moving the facility first began. However, now that it is known that the facilities will have to last another decade, maintenance requests for structural and electrical repairs are being made. Krygier said that there are plans this spring to rewire the swine facilities.
A plan of this magnitude cannot develop overnight, especially with all that it will affect, Krygier said. The options have to be carefully examined and criticized from every angle.
“You can’t just tear down buildings without replacing them,” he said. “You’ve got to have a plan.”
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