New Albany families waiting on the long-planned athletic campus at the former Discover site will get their next public look at the project Tuesday evening, when City Manager Joseph Stefanov briefs City Council on the New Albany Athletic Campus and Kitzmiller Wetland Park.
Council meets at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 4, at Village Hall, 99 W. Main St., according to the council agenda. The meeting is live-streamed at newalbanyohio.org/streaming-meetings/.
The briefing marks the first city-council-level update since the New Albany-Plain Local School District Board of Education approved a ground lease for the campus on July 9, formally launching the school-city partnership project. City Council had already voted 7-0 on July 7 to authorize Stefanov to execute the lease, according to council minutes.
What the campus means for student-athletes
The athletic campus is planned for roughly 19 of the 49 acres at 6500 New Albany Road East, a site the city purchased for up to $15 million in August 2025, with 70–75% of the cost funded from business park tax revenue.
Deputy City Manager Adrienne Joly presented concept drawings at a Feb. 17 council meeting showing baseball and softball fields as the first phase. The campus is not designed to replace New Albany High School's roughly 5,000-seat stadium. Instead, it will host JV games, middle school games, and tournaments, Joly said at that meeting.
Then-school board member John McClelland told council in February that the project "wouldn't have happened without school board and city collaboration." He said the board wanted to upgrade the middle school stadium, which was a grass field, and that moving athletic facilities off the one-campus site would preserve academic space for the future.
McClelland resigned from the school board June 29 and was sworn in to City Council June 30, after more than 12 years on the NAPLS board. He now sits on the council receiving the update he once championed from the school side.
What's still unknown
No cost estimate or construction timeline has been publicly released. As of February, the city had budgeted a small amount in its capital budget but had not begun cost estimating or design work. Parking remains a question: the campus has one way in and one way out, and the district was exploring overflow agreements with neighboring office buildings.
The vote was 7-0.
Stefanov noted in February that the city was exploring the SR 605 corridor for pedestrian connectivity, including leisure trail extensions and lane changes, to support access.
Other items on the Aug. 4 agenda
Council will also consider Resolution R-30-2026, declaring intent to appropriate property and easements for Beech Road improvements, and Resolution R-31-2026, authorizing an application to the Ohio Public Works Commission for state capital or local transportation improvement funding. Resolution R-32-2026 would authorize a memorandum of understanding with the City of Pataskala for a Morse Road, Clark State Road, and Beech Road roundabout project.
New school board leadership
The NAPLS board elected Jennifer Fuller as president and Mark Wilson as vice president at a July 24 special meeting. The board also appointed Jeremy Nicholas on July 20 to fill McClelland's vacancy; Nicholas will be sworn in at the board's next regular meeting Aug. 10.
The next NAPLS Board of Education regular meeting is Aug. 10, at the NAPLS Annex.
