KENT COUNCIL SOUR ON PLAN TO VACATE STREET By Dan Pompili | Staff Writer Published: November 6, 2014 4:00AM Kent City Councils community development committee closed down a plan to vacate Willow Street for a Kent State University development project. The decision still remains at the discretion of the full council, who were not all present Wednesday evening. Councilmen Roger Sidoti and John Kuhar, and Mayor Jerry Fiala were all absent. In their absence, the committee debated a plan proposed in 2012 by the university to develop the areas around their proposed Institutional Advancement Building and the $40 million College of Architecture and Environmental Design. Council members listened to a proposal from Kent City Engineer James Bowling that was supported by City Manager Dave Ruller. But the motion required five votes to win a recommendation for full council approval, and fell just shy on the shortened panel. We dont have enough time left in this meeting for me to explain all the reasons I think this is a bad idea, said Councilman Wayne Wilson, when the vote stood at 4-2. Councilwomen Melissa Long and Tracy Wallach also voted against the measure. Both university buildings will be constructed between South Willow and South Lincoln streets, south of Main Street and north of Summit Street. The architecture college will go above College Avenue, with the Institutional Advancement building south of it. Officials said the reason for closing off the northern section of Willow, between Main Street and College Avenue, would be to increase safety for pedestrians along the intersecting Lester A. Lefton Esplanade. According to the plan, all Kent would have to do is vacate the street, while maintaining a utility easement, and Kent State would pay for all other improvements or changes. Bowling conceded the plan would increase traffic congestion on Lincoln Street by diverting the existing Willow traffic there, but said a study shows that increase is within an acceptable range. He said it also relieves the city of solving part of the safety issues associated with the Willow and Main intersection, which is listed on the Akron Metropolitan Area Traffic Study as a problem, with a high rate of crashes. When we go forward in the future to try to solve this safety problem, we would have half of the road solved for us already, he said. Long and Wallach werent swayed and said the road is too much to give up with too little return, and that it is frequently used by drivers trying to avoid congested traffic along main roads. Wilson also brought up the money that was spent to resurface the road 15 years ago and lamented that the city and homeowners -- who paid 20 percent of that project -- would not recoup those costs. The committee recommendation is that council not approve the plan. The full council meets Nov. 19 and can choose to uphold that recommendation or overturn it and accept the proposal.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 13:32:37 +0000
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