Stimulus Headache for Newark Resident

Recently, the City of Newark was awarded stimulus money for a road project on Waterworks Road. But, at least on resident is wishing that stimulus funding wasn’t awarded.

The view from Pastor Greg Sheets home is an orange fence and a unpaved roadway. The $1.8 million project on Waterworks is meant to realign the roadway, but the construction is a little too close for comfort.

"I thought they needed to do something," said Sheets. "The traffic was backing all the way to my house."

What Pastor Sheets didn’t bargain for was the problems he found when he started researching the city’s plans for the project and the more he learned, the more suspicious he became.

"When the representative come to talk to me, something didn’t sound right," said Sheets. "Things that they had told me previously wasn’t matching up right with what he was telling me."

So he got a lawyer, who brought in an engineer and that led to a major discovery. The Engineer told Sheets if work came within 10ft of his home, it could cause damage to a root cellar under the home, which could then cave in the porch, which could then collapse a room on the home’s 2nd story. And there was this…

"Even after the project is over with if we were to agree with what they were doing," explained Sheets. "The utility right a way gave any utility company the right to come at anytime and dig up around my house and in my house."

Sheets said the city agreed to not come within 10ft of the home, which he said they violated, leaving the home exposed to more damage.

"We have documented proof to show that there’s additional cracks taken place," said Sheets. "We took pictures before the construction and now during. The neighbor across the road from me saw that the trackhoe backed up into my porch."

The city has relocated Sheets and is paying the hotel bill at the place he now calls home. The relocation has 30 days left. The home has been in Sheet’s family for three generations. While leaving isn’t ideal, he feels it’s the only option left and wants to stop receiving the run around from the government and a fair offer for the property.

"Sometimes you feel like you have a Goliath. You got a city government, you got ODOT. It’s gone all the way to the National Government. But, I have to believe as a Pastor that even a David defeats a Goliath."

Sheets lawyer said the case could go to a trial if a settlement isn’t reached. A call to the City of Newark’s Law Director went unreturned from Newark. Scott Varner the Deputy Director for ODOT said that this project did what it was intended to do and if not for this project, Trucco, which is doing the construction would not have been able to hire back workers from the winter.