COLUMBUS, Ohio — An arrest has been ordered for the owner of a shuttered water park on Columbus’ east side, Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein announced Thursday.
The Environmental Court ordered the arrest of Jeff Kern, who is a defendant in a nuisance property case involving the former Fort Rapids Indoor Waterpark, located at Hilton Corporate Drive. Klein said Kern failed to attend a mandatory compliance hearing Thursday that was ordered by the court.
In June, a judge held Kern in contempt for repeatedly failing to bring the property into compliance with safety codes. Kern was required to submit a rehabilitation timeline and proof of funding by Aug. 1 or face jail time.
The judge also agreed to set a date for a receivership hearing. The hearing would be the first step toward a takeover of the property to bring it back into compliance and prepare it to be sold to a new ownership group, Klein said.
Owners were also ordered to post cash or bond for 125% of the costs of the full rehabilitation plan. Failure to comply with these sections resulted in the judge ordering jail time.
“Letting this property fall into disrepair and walking away from the responsibility to fix this mess is not an option. We’re committed to the future of this site, and we will continue to use every available tool to hold these owners accountable, bring the property up to code, and reignite this site’s economic potential,” said Klein. “We’re moving forward with a plan to hopefully get a group in here to take over the property, bring it up to code, and prepare it for sale to an ownership that sees the value in this site.”
Klein said the city doesn’t seek to put landlords in jail but Kern has failed to comply with court orders.
“We are at the end of our ability to do anything other than ask for jail time to get this guy’s attention,” said Klein. “He’s so non-responsive and doesn’t care about the property or the city, he’s an out-of-state guy, which we see far too often of folks that swoop in, buy these parcels and don’t want to put the money back in."
Klein reiterated that he’s not against out-of-state landlords, he’s against landlords that don’t care.
The former hotel and indoor water park in east Columbus was shut down in 2016 due to health, safety and fire code violations.
When it was open, Fort Rapids had a history of violations and issues that caused many health problems among guests. From 2015 and early 2016, guests at the water park complained about getting sick with complaints ranging from asthma attacks and bronchitis to vomiting.
The current owners bought the property in 2017 after the water park was shuttered, but never reopened the business.
The city took legal action against the property owners to get them to bring it back into compliance. Owners have been incurring fines since August 2022.
The judge set a $2.5 million bond upon Kern’s arrest. A receivership hearing is set for October.