Ross County & Scioto Township — The first of seven open houses for the startup of the new Ross County Comprehensive Plan asked attendees about their concerns, needs, and experiences in the county and township, Thursday evening.
The Christopher Conference Center off Bridge Street in Chillicothe was filled with about 23 poster-sized panels on January 30th, almost all of them asking for sticker votes and written comments.
Matthew O’Rourke of the planning company American Structurepoint, and Ross County Planner Devon Shoemaker, give me a tour – and I ended up with more than half an hour of footage, divided up among my four videos below.
In the tour, the two explained the questions being asked and the issues they know need to be addressed in the plan. (O’Rourke was also a focus of an October 2024 article by American Structurepoint.)
Coincidentally, American Structurepoint is also revising the zoning code for the City of Chillicothe, and another division is designing the Yoctangee Park alterations funded by the Appalachian Community Grant.
O’Rourke and Shoemaker said there is already a questionnaire online, and American Structurepoint will post a virtual version of this open house.
The Ross County Park District was a guest, with one panel on planning the park system.
The end result of the plan will be 50 to 70 strategies that the county will want to look at in the next five to 10 years, said O’Rourke – and that they will go one step further to create 10 to 15 “blueprint” strategies for very important immediate issues.
Shoemaker said the plan will be strategic, actionable, and measurable – more grounded than the previous plans. (Also, hear Ross County Commissioner Jack Everson describe the new plan in the December annual celebratory breakfast of Ross County economic development.)
O’Rourke said he expects this to be an 18-month process, returning to the public with their conclusions, and finishing in mid-2026. A printed book as well as online PDF will be made available – and be updated.
Open houses have been planned across Ross County, covering all the townships. From the schedule on the Ross County Planning Department website:
- Scioto Township was January 30th
- Frankfort – Monday February 24th from 4:00pm to 7:00pm (location TBD)
- Green Township and Kingston – Wednesday February 26th from 4:00pm to 7:00pm (location TBD)
- Bainbridge – Thursday February 27th 4:00pm to 7:00pm (location TBD)
- Union Township – Tuesday March 11th 4:00pm to 7:00pm located in the Multi-Purpose Room at the Ross County Fairgrounds
- Clarksburg – Wednesday March 12th from 4:00pm to 7:00pm (location TBD)
- Adelphi – Thursday March 13th from 4:00pm to 7:00pm (location TBD)
Watching my videos will tell you a lot more than I can here:
Video 1
- Introduction: current schedule, past plans
- County’s strengths?
- County’s challenges?
- Kind of housing needed?
- Tourism sites visited?
- Barriers to small business and job development?
Video 2
- Barriers to housing development?
- Where to spend money?
- What kind of additional amenities?
- How important is open space and farmland?
- What planning tools should be used? (codes, regulations, nuisance laws, zoning, incentives…or none)
- Comments (with checkmarks added if agree with previous comments)
Video 3
- Same questions for Scioto Township
- Planning for Ross County Park District
Video 4
- Scioto Township & Ross County maps: congestion / need road improvements, focus of residential development
- Overviews and closing
