Formal Acceptance of Plans Should Start Tonight
Chillicothe — Council held a review session and committee meeting on the plans for Yoctangee Park Thursday, to get public input – and make a recommendation on action for council tonight.
Aside from the agitation over the proposed legislation regarding homeless camps, the proposed changes in and around Yoctangee Park funded by the Appalachian Community Grant Program (ACGP) has attracted much attention in Chillicothe Council recently.
On April 10th, council’s Safety Service chairman Jeff Creed coordinated ‘part two’ of his review session begun on March 10th in council chambers. Creed had to end that crowded and unfinished gathering after an hour-and-a-half, but promised to continue it soon. (A major point made in the event were complaints against the proposed traffic circles in Water Street, which have since been dropped.)
That continuation ended up being in larger quarters in the Ross County Service Center on Thursday. It finished with a committee meeting that made a formal recommendation of a proposed ordinance to start its three-read process in council.
The two-hour process started with a roundtable-style open house where various city employees and officials spent 10 minutes to explain each of five stations with displays on various parts of the project being designed by consultants American Structurepoint.
Then Creed emceed a discussion with the audience, taking written and verbal comments, to refine a proposed ordinance that council should give first reading tonight. It describes six modifications to city streets and Yoctangee Park roads that the city has authority over (see below).
Though much of the previous discussion on the plans since May 1st have been with the Ross County Commissioners – because they are the funding pass-through agency – that has shifted recently with the now entirely state-funded Welcome Center separated from the Pavilion building, and recommended to be at a different location instead of near the old Armory.
In the below video interviews, hear committee chair Creed in his own words, as well as Tony Lenhart of American Structurepoint, on the result of the meeting.
Also see one sample of the five discussions, on the main road that connects Mill Street and Paint Street, often referred to as the “interior road” and Tritscheller Road.
See the side story with snapshots of the draft plans that explain many details.
