'We need more space': Oberlin nonprofit wants to use Depot Park land for addition

OBERLIN — Elbow space was at a premium Thursday as workers sorted through stacked boxes of black-eyed peas, corn and other Thanksgiving staples at Oberlin Community Services on South Main Street. "We just don't have the room we need," Director Margie Flood said, navigating walkways crammed with emergency food supplies. The nonprofit's refrigerator and walk-in freezer are full. Its shelves are crowded. There aren't enough offices to go around, and tables are overflowing with holiday gifts that will go to families in need. And there's no sign that poverty and hunger in southern Lorain County are going away, Flood said. OCS is working with Ron Coco of Clark and Post Architects in Lorain to design a $3 million to $4 million addition to its headquarters. It asked City Council on Monday to start negotiations for expanding into Depot Park, which would make way for another 10,000 square feet — a huge bump from its current 5,600 square feet. The agency has been around more than 60 years. Its current space was built in 1999 and was meant to meet the needs of the next two decades. A yearlong strategic planning process revealed what the Oberlin Community Services board already knew: That for the foreseeable future, a lot of people are going to continue to rely on OCS as a safety net. "The needs of those times were a small fraction of what we do now, and in the next 20 years, there may be needs we cannot even imagine yet due to climate change, change in government policies, heaven forbid the next pandemic," Flood told Council. When she started working for OCS in 2010, serving 25 families was considered a busy day. Now even a "light day" sees twice that volume or more, she said. The largest need is to not only store more food on site, but also have a dock for unloading shipments, Flood said. Getting deliveries into the current warehouse is time-consuming and labor-intensive — about 200,000 pounds of produce, meat and other food are unloaded by hand into OCS' cooler and freezer. The doors simply aren't large enough for a pallet jack. "Guests," as staff call them, have swamped OCS during the pandemic. Cars often are lined up in no-parking areas to get food, stacked bumper-to-bumper along South and Professor streets or flow over into the commercial lot across the street, Flood said. The situation is unsafe, and it also makes it difficult for some people with physical challenges to access the nonprofit's distributions, she said. In her pitch to City Council, Flood envisioned new parking and a drive-thru in Depot Park, as well as the addition's footprint. Councilwoman Elizabeth Meadows was among those who threw her support behind OCS' efforts on Monday. "I see people from Wellington and everywhere else coming there," she said. "I know you need the space. Often there's clothes in the lobby." Councilwoman Mary Price agreed, saying she's been inside OCS many times and knows how small the facility is. "I can't imagine a better use for the land," she told Flood. No elected officials said they are against the project. Yet there were some reservations, especially when it came to losing space at Depot Park. Losing the well-used playground there "would be tragic," Councilwoman Heather Adelman said. Flood said OCS has every intention of keeping or moving the playground if given the green light to expand: "My vision is that the playground and gardens are all sort of interwoven, so that the garden also becomes a place of play and growth and education," she said. Others on Council asked whether the nonprofit would be open to relocating instead, pitching the city's industrial park on Artino Street and the former Prospect Elementary School as alternatives. On Thursday, Flood said neither location would be ideal, and that OCS needs to stay in a visible location that's accessible to as much of the public as possible. OCS board member Gary Kornblith also told Council the facility should not be on the edge of town, but central to the community. He was involved in fundraising to build the current headquarters in the 1990s, when OCS was "homeless" for a number of years. "This is the right time economically or financially to try to go out and get the money to do this," he said. "We are doing something, I think, for the community at large, that serves the whole community, not just our clients, so I would encourage you to look kindly on what we're trying to achieve." Several organizations sent letters to the city in support of OCS' vision. The Oberlin Weekday Community Meals program at Christ Episcopal Church has relied on OCS as a partner to feed anyone in need five days a week, 50 weeks a year for the past four decades, wrote the Rev. Sarah Shofstall, interim rector. "With the expansion of the OCS building and collaboration with (the meals program), we could continue what we are now doing and add additional programs to teach nutrition and cooking classes," she said. Neighborhood Alliance also has worked side-by-side with OCS for many years, and gave its support to the building project. CEO Alicia Foss wrote that she knows "that at this time of great need it is critical for OCS to have the resources necessary to strengthen and expand its capacity, and to continue operating as the hub of collaborative activity throughout the county." Second Harvest Food Bank President and CEO Julie Chase-Morefield said OCS has made a lasting and positive impact on the community. "As we move forward from the pandemic, we believe it will be critical to have key partners throughout our region who have the capacity and resources available to respond during crises like the pandemic or natural disasters, and believe OCS is well-positioned to take on this critical role," she wrote. City Council voted unanimously to allow the agency to start talking with City Manager Rob Hillard and Law Director Jon Clark. Clark cautioned, however, that it's far from the time to start drawing up any contracts. First, he said the city needs to look at whether there are deed restrictions that would prevent Oberlin Community Services from using the city-owned park land. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.