The buzz about Intel coming to rural Licking County: Even the bees are affected
As the bee flies, the Latshaw Apiaries are 4 miles from where Intel plans to build one of the largest computer chip factories in the world on 3,000-plus acres of Jersey Township in Licking County.
The Latshaws — Joe, Leah and son Jacob — are not landowners or homeowners within the possible footprint of the proposed Intel campus. Yet they represent the ripple effect of such a massive development on local families, farming, schools, roads and the environment.
In the springtime, the Latshaws’ bees will buzz with life as they race against the sun to make their honey and pollinate blossoms. But on a recent frosty February day, thousands of the bees hid inside their nucleus colonies, or miniature hives, unseen and protected, safe from the winter chill.
The Latshaws have colonies in the woods behind their house, and they have thousands more bees on nearby farms. The Latshaws typically make handshake agreements with area farmers to place hives on their land in exchange for some of the honey.
Latshaw Apiaries is a family owned and operated business, with the goal of raising bees and producing great local honey. They sell their pure, raw and creamed honey at Granville and New Albany farmers markets. Their honey also is on the shelves of a few area shops, such as Comfrey Corner of Heath and at Black Radish Creamery at the North Market in Columbus.
Joe and Leah Latshaw recently learned from a customer that they would have to relocate their Jersey Township bees. “A realtor at the farmers market told us that this is coming,” Joe said.
More:'Your community is in a panic': Johnstown working to calm Intel concerns
The Latshaws typically are on the lookout for places to house their colonies.
“We always have our ears open, because we’ve had situations in the past where a landowner sells, and we don’t have the ability to keep those bees there anymore. So we’re always kind of on alert for more space,” Leah said. “But this was kind of like, ‘Oh, dear!’”
The couple took to Facebook soon after the Intel announcement in hopes of finding a home for their bees.
Since then, they have had a few people offer to meet with them about possible new locations. Joe and Leah aim for grazing lands, woodlands and natural areas for their bees.
“Bees forage over such a large area,” Joe said, and they need a variety of plants blooming around them.
The asphalt parking lots and new residential spaces that the Intel development will bring make it more difficult to find nearby natural spaces.
In late January, Ohio secured a deal with Intel that is expected to bring upward of 3,000 Intel jobs and “tens of thousands” of long-term jobs in nearby communities, such as Johnstown and Newark, according to Intel’s news release. The Columbus suburb of New Albany is annexing more than 3,000 acres of Jersey Township for the “mega-site” that is set to be one of the largest semiconductor manufacturing sites in the world.
The ripple effect being felt by the Latshaws is one of many that will emerge in this corner of Licking County, which will become part of the New Albany International Business Park after annexation by the city.
A drive along Jug Street, as well as Beech, Mink, Miller, Clover Valley and Green Chapel roads, shows that the land between those rural roads just north of Ohio 161 is not empty: It’s cropland and farmsteads, and it has been that way since Jersey Township was established in 1820 by settlers from New Jersey.
The country roads are lined with dream homes, some new and some old. And life there is about to change in dramatic ways.
“It’s just going to explode, and you’re seeing it already with things coming out the 161 corridor,” Joe Latshaw said. “This is going to be a big jump in a hurry.”
Emily Walker, Jen Clancey, Pol Le and Faith Boirard are part of The Reporting Project in Denison University's Journalism Program, which is supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
thereportingproject@denison.edu