Columbiana Fair building OK’d

By D.A. Wilkinson

The fair board will have a year to install a heat and alarm system.

LISBON — The Columbiana County Fair will not have to build a firewall through the center of its new steer barn.

The decision comes just over a week before the fair begins.

Don Humphrey Jr., a lawyer and a fair board member, said Thursday the Ohio Board of Building Appeals granted a variance to the requirement, which included reversing its order that the block wall be built.

State law requires the wall, said Matt Mullins, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Commerce.

But the Ohio attorney general’s office, which represented the state, had no opposition to the variance, he said.

“Everything went well,” Humphrey said.

Humphrey, Joseph King, an attorney for the fair board, and Owen Unkefer, the fair board president, went to the hearing Wednesday in Columbus.

The metal building is the largest construction project at the fairgrounds this year at what is estimated to be a total cost of about $250,000.

The building replaced steer, sheep and dairy barns that were held together by cables. Those barns were demolished about seven months ago.

Fair officials call the building an open pavilion. The 80-by-320-foot steel structure has a roof, walls in some places to protect electrical wires for lighting, and a dirt floor.

The fair board planned to have animal judging at the building during the fair and hopes to have other activities throughout the year, such as livestock or other auctions.

Humphrey said that the state ordered the fair to install a fire sensor system within one year. That would include strobe horns as well as two “pull” switches to activate the alarm that are found in most buildings.

The state ruling would also require a “24/7” watch when the building is in use.

However, that doesn’t mean the fire department has to have vehicles parked beside the facility, according to Tresa Hall, the fair manager.

Humphrey said Lisbon Fire Department Chief Dave Lewton and Lisbon Fire Inspector Kurt Gresh supported the settlement.

The estimated cost of the new warning system is about $10,000, but Unkefer said the fair may be able to get a system for less money.

wilkinson@vindy.com