Why did southern Delaware County grow so fast?
A local newspaper reporter called me this morning to discuss the housing growth that has occurred in southern Delaware County this decade. I’m usually nervous about talking with the media for fear of being mis-quoted. I hope he doesn’t do that. After our conversation was over, I thought more about why the growth has occurred into southern Delaware County. I think there are several events that occurred that set the stage for it. • I-270 made it easy to go from one suburb to another. Businesses (jobs) built up around the various interchanges. Suburbs located inside 270 were land-locked with limited room to expand further housing. • Suburbs, like Dublin or Powell close to the freeway, had room to expand their borders. They also had easy access to the freeway with major roads such as Rt 315, Sawmill Rd and Rt 33 already in place. • Lewis Center’s growth was impacted when Banc One (now Chase) built the huge employment center and the nearby Polaris Mall was added, both outside of I-270. Old
