COLUMBUS, Ohio — The City of Columbus and the owners of a market in the Hilltop neighborhood reached a preliminary agreement to clean up the property after a lawsuit was filed against the business last week.
City Attorney Zach Klein announced on Thursday that his property action team reached the agreement with Rosco's Market after instances of reported drug activity, prostitution, violence and code violations at the business in recent years.
Klein said the agreement will help curb nuisance and criminal activity and improve safety at the property. If the owners do not comply with the agreement, he said the closure of the business remains on the table.
"We want businesses to succeed, but not at the expense of public safety. This agreement allows the market to remain open, but with significant measures in place to improve safety and clean up what’s been a nuisance in the Hilltop for far too long,” said Klein. “We will remain in contact with owners and the Division of Police to monitor this property, and all options remain on the table should owners fail to adhere to the agreement and nuisance activity continues—including closure.”
According to the agreement, property owners must:
- Maintain regular and daily trash pickup
- Maintain a list of all individuals who trespassed from the premises on the premises and allow Columbus police access to that list upon request
- Ban known individuals who have conducted sex work on the premises
- Cease selling any drug paraphernalia or marijuana products on-site
The city filed its lawsuit against Rosco's on Oct. 29, asking that the market be declared a public nuisance and be shut down.
Klein’s office said the Columbus Division of Police conducted several investigations into prostitution and made drug arrests over the past two years. Additionally, city officials received complaints from community members about loitering by apparent sex workers in the store’s parking lot.
Officers witnessed or responded to reports of robberies, drug and sexual activity, solicitation and violence over the past two years, according to Klein’s office.
Rosco’s Market also had several violations related to Ohio liquor laws, fire prevention and other state and local codes.
The market was inspected in August and cited for three fire code violations. The building was inspected again and the same violations were not fixed, according to Klein’s office.
