Start of Highland Square project getting closer
By Stephanie Kist
DOWNTOWN AKRON — At the July 17 meeting, Akron City Council authorized Phase II of the Highland Square Redevelopment Project.
Phase II will include full improvements to Conger Avenue, minor widening of North Portage Path and Edgerton Road and resurfacing of West Market Street west of Casterton Avenue.
Scheduled to begin construction in September and finish in November, Phase II is expected to cost a total of $442,637. The Highland Square Redevelopment Project will be completed in four phases. Phase I is scheduled to begin in August.
Council unanimously authorized
going out for bids for Phase
II, with Councilman Michael Williams (D-at large) abstaining
from the vote. Williams is employed by FirstMerit Bank,
and the Highland Square branch of FirstMerit Bank is
involved in the project.
In other business, council read
into the record a substitute ordinance to place a charter
amendment on the November General Election ballot that
would change the classification of the council clerk’s
position. Council took time on the ordinance and will
vote on it on a future date. The deadline
to place the item on the November General Election ballot
would be Sept. 8.
The Rules Committee will meet
July 24 at 2:45 p.m. to continue discussion of the proposed
charter amendment.
During council’s Public
Service Committee meeting earlier in the afternoon,
the committee discussed possible improvements to a parking
lot on Copley Road between Hawkins and Nome avenues.
The total estimated cost for the project is $106,272.
Parking would be reconfigured
to ease congestion and confusion and increase the number
of spaces in the lot.
However, because the lot is privately
owned by several nearby business operators, committee
members had questions and some concerns.
Councilman Dan Horrigan (D-Ward
1) said it might set a precedent if the city is willing
to improve a privately owned lot.
Chuck Heimbaugh, the city’s
capital planning manager, said the city is responsible
for the original configuration and should be
responsible to rectify it.
“The precedent, I guess,
has been set, and we’re trying to correct it,”
he said.
Councilman John Conti (D-at large),
who also balked at spending city funds to improve a
private lot, suggested committee members take time to
look at the lot for themselves.
Council referred the item to
next week’s agenda and plans to vote on it then.
Williams added his name in support of the ordinance.
Also during the Public Service
Committee meeting, Public Works Bureau Manager Paul
Barnett said the first
of the city’s new trash receptacles will be distributed
Aug. 1, likely beginning in Ellet. He said contracted
customers in the northwest quadrant of the city will
receive their trash carts last.
He advised to begin using the
carts as soon as they are received.
In other business, council:
• authorized applying for
a $47,580 grant from the Ohio Governor’s Highway
Safety Office to cover approximately 1,100 hours of
overtime to continue the traffic enforcement
program targeting speed, DUI and
seat belt violations in high fatality and serious injury
accident areas;
• authorized the $62,750
purchase of a gas identification system for the city
and Summit County that rules out chemical hazards and
helps determine proper response to emergencies in which
toxic gas has been dispersed;
• approved an ordinance
determining to proceed with improvements to Thayer Street.
Construction is starting this month on the $577,661
project, 28 percent of which will be assessed from homeowners;
and
• approved an ordinance
providing for the issuance and sale of no more than
$1.54 million in bonds to pay the property owners’
portions of street improvement projects, in anticipation
of collection of previously levied assessments.
The next council meeting is set
for July 24 at 7 p.m. in city council chambers on the
third floor of the municipal building, 166 S. High St.
in downtown Akron. Committee meetings will begin at
2 p.m. that afternoon, also in council chambers.
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