Open House on Street Revisions in and Around Yoctangee Park Today
Chillicothe — The latest draft of the plans for new buildings in Yoctangee Park received more criticism than acceptance in a recent Ross County Commissioners meeting.
And, the public has the opportunity to view and comment on the proposed road revisions this afternoon with Chillicothe City Council.
In a presentation to the Ross County Commissioners on February 24th, Dan McCloskey, Project Manager with American Structurepoint, showed draft renderings of new buildings beside the old Armory funded by the Appalachian Community Grant Program. (Read one of my stories on the topic, “Chillicothe’s Yoctangee Park Renovation Plans Previewed in Open House” – 12/17/2024).
These are federal and state grant-funded new buildings and street alterations that are on a rapid 2 1/2 year timeline. The core focus is a new visitors center for the World Heritage Hopewell Culture.
This part of plans in a multi-county region are in the City of Chillicothe, but its funds will pass through the county commissioners, so they have hosted workshops on it. However, the city must give permission for changes to city streets, so council is hosting the open house in council chambers before tonight’s concil session, at 5:30pm Monday, March 19th.
Since the presentation to the commissioners was a “workshop,” it was not broadcast or recorded by the commissioners’ office. I videorecorded maybe half of the presentation, viewable in the below video.
Then, I “switched hats” from reporter to architectural historian, and added to the discussion by pointing out that the architecture of Chillicothe tends to be conservative – and so the modernistic styling of the proposed new buildings doesn’t fit very well.
Commissioner David Glass had shown a rendering of “Preservation Hall,” a renovation of the canal warehouse at Main and Mulberry streets. I pointed out that a new building that resembled that would fit better, especially with a gable roof.
The planners admitted that they still had more revisions to do, as deadlines approach, and would return to the commissioners very soon.
I interviewed the presenter, Project Manager McCloskey, afterward. He said this workshop focused on the architectural part of project.
“I think we’ve got still a bit of work to on meshing and blending that new architecture with the historic – with the historic downtown of Chillicothe, the park atmosphere, and those key components,” he said
McCloskey said maybe they needed more conversation than they have had. He said they would be back to the commissioners within a week or so, since their main planner was out of the country.
McCloskey said the grant money is set, but there is some flexibility within it. He said it could probably deal with a possible higher cost to change the main roof from shed to gable, as I had suggested.
McCloskey said summer has been the internal deadline for them for the visitors center, which is primarily state-funded – but the overall project, using federal funds, is more like fall.
He admitted that, yes…they are stressing out about the design. Hear him in his own words the the below interview video.
