If you think that the choice of words can actually mean something when you’re trying to communicate then you’ll appreciate the semantic difference between a road and a street.  If not, then go back to texting and tweeting where the meaning of words is almost irrelevant.  There’s a movement afoot in city planning circles that advocates great streets and tries to get us to shift the focus from considerations of automobile roadway needs only to include all the other infrastructure amenities that make up a street right of way, including sidewalks, street benches, lighting, grass and landscaped strips, etc.  Their point is a great street is more than just a fresh coat of asphalt on the road – a great street is the sum of all it’s parts.  I think this is the wind beneath the wings of the sidewalk shoveling discussion so I thought I’d share some of the points of the great streets folks to set the context.

The following is an article from Charlotte NC where development pressures have been enormous and suburbs have reigned supreme.  I’d speculate that despite their great development success there are those in Charlotte that long for something more than the highways and byways that connect one suburb community to the next.  There are people looking for that sense of old city neighborhoods in a new city environment.  That old city stuff is exactly what we have in Kent and why Council is so interested in sidewalks, biking and transit.  I found that reading about Charlotte’s challenges helped me appreciate just how good we’ve got it here in Kent.   

[if you're interested, here's a link to the Great Streets web site.]

‘Roads’ talk won’t get us anywhere

As I mentioned in my blog post yesterday, the City has been looking long and hard at options to improve the walkability of City sidewalks in the winter after mother nature has been a bit mean spirited and deposited piles of the white stuff on our front walk.  So far much of the discussion has been about a sense of moral obligation to be a good neighbor and shovel the sidewalks with as much vigor as we shovel our driveways.  That message appeals to some but others want to know what’s in it for me so when I happened to come across an article that had real data showing that the more walkable a home is the more it’s worth — I figured I should share it.

Here’s the thing, Kent is more city living than it is suburban living.  And one of the things that makes city living so great is that cities tend to be much more walkable than the suburbs.  Better yet, Kent is more small city than big city, which means everything is just about within walking distance and usually it’s a pleasant walk.  

But here’s the rub — Kent is in northeast Ohio where winter happens.  And when it does, that pleasant walk can turn a bit treacherous and in some instances even dangerous as sidewalk walkers are forced to go head to head with cars in the street because the streets are the only area clear enough to walk.  Cars and walkers in bad weather conditions don’t mix well which gets us back to why the City has been masticating over this topic since the last snowstorm we had in February.

I thought the following article offered a slightly different perspective on the whole issue of sidewalk walking.  The article seems to suggest that you don’t have to have a conscience – you just have to own property – to see the value of keeping sidewalks walkable.    

[If you're a source document sort of person, here's the full report]

City Council has spent about 6 months working with staff, citizens and the Council members to come up with ways to inspire property owners and renters to crawl out of bed the morning after a late night lake effect snow storm to shovel off their sidewalks — all in the name of civic pride. That doesn’t sound so challenging in these 70 degree, happy to be alive, bright sunny days but try 10 degrees, dark skies and blustery on for size and see how quicky your neighbors bound out of bed to do their civic duty. That’s human nature but the trouble is clear sidewalks matter in our City — they matter to folks that don’t have transportation and those folks tend to be the very folks that our social conscience says we need to look out for — the elderly, the disabled, and school kids. Here’s the latest proposal prepared by a couple of Council members that will be discussed in Council’s Committee session this evening.

The following proposal represents the latest evolution of ideas that came out of the volunteer citizens committee on sidewalk snow clearing.  It’s worth stating that this is a compromise proposal that 2 Council members plan to propose to the full Council as good first steps.  Like many things in the political arena, it’s tough to get 100% consensus and it is the art of compromise that actually gets things done. 

SIDEWALK POLICY PROPOSAL

To: Mayor Fender and Kent City Council

From: Council Members Shaffer and Hawksley

Date: September 10.2009

Background: Per recent committee discussions, and including a meeting with City Manager Ruller, Community Development Director Locke and Service Director Roberts, we would propose the following policy changes. These changes all work towards an approach to improve the safety and welfare for pedestrians after significant snow events. While they are intended to provide a comprehensive approach, they can be discussed and voted on separately.

1. Change current code section 521.16(b) from a misdemeanor to a civil infraction. This will remove enforcement of the section from the police department and place it under discretion of city manager. This will allow city staff, primarily in service and community development or other appropriate person to issue a citation to ticket those who by their actions obstruct the right of way. It may be necessary to include language including sidewalks.
2. Authorize administration to flesh out details for a license program for snow plow operators.. Mr Roberts indicated that he still believes this could be a soft touch approach that would gain the most improvement for least resources. This motion would authorize Mr. Roberts to provide a specific proposal for consideration at the earliest possible time. (This is different than a previous motion to adopt an unspecified license program)
   
3. Authorize administration to flesh out details for subscription service for sidewalk clearing. Mr. Roberts and Mr. Locke believe this would be a way to provide citizens with the information they need to hire someone to plow their walks/drives. This motion would authorize the administration to provide a specific proposal for consideration at the earliest possible time.
   
4. Authorize the administration to develop a good neighbor educational campaign. There have been various things discussed, including door hangers, encouraging volunteers, working with Service learning at KSU, providing readily available de-icer, shovels for rent, etc.
   
5. Authorize the administration to include $50,000 in the snow removal budget to hire private contractors to help move snow that city plows have piled in various critical locations. This allows discretion and application of resources in most effective way without additional hiring or over-time. Critical locations would be the large mounds at intersections that turn to icebergs.

The folks on the West side of town — especially in the Lakes of Franklin Mills subdivision — have been anxiously awaiting the extension of Admore Drive/Stonewater through from Fairchild to SR 59 next to Don Joseph Toyota.  That project hit a bunch of snags on the engineering drawing board and then in the field but it appears that the City’s traffic engineer has got the project back on track.  Recently he sent a Lakes of Franklin Mills homeowner a short description of the project that I thought others might want to know.

Project Update: 

The construction activity so far includes the extension of the existing 8″ water main from The Lakes of Franklin Mills Phase 4 to West Main Street where it will be tied into an existing 10″ main. Once the watermain is completed, there won’t be any more construction near the existing homes on Phase 4. The rest of the project is concentrated on rebuilding Stonewater Drive between West Main Street and the bridge over Fish Creek.

A 10′ wide asphalt multi-use path will be constructed on the west side of Stonewater Drive from West Main Street to just south of the bridge. New concrete sidewalks will be constructed at the intersection along with curb ramps to cross the west leg of West Main and the north leg of Stonewater Drive.

The road will look similar to that constructed north of the bridge, there will be concrete curb/gutter, 22′ of asphalt pavement, concrete driveway aprons for Klaben and Don Joseph, grass lawn strips and street trees along both sides of the road. The guardrail ends on all four corners of the bridge will be replaced.

A low stone retaining wall will be built on the NE corner of W. Main/Stonewater (in front of Klaben Ford).

Ohio Edison, ATT & Warner Cable will be relocating their overhead lines underground for the first 500 feet of the project and then will remain overhead to the bridge. All of their lines will be on the east side of the road.

A traffic signal will be installed at West Main Street and will include pedestrian signals and pushbuttons to cross West Main and Stonewater.

The plans do not include any additional traffic control through the Lakes of Franklin Mills. The existing layout of Stonewater Drive through Franklin Mills includes traffic calming with the roundabout (and stop signs) at Admore, curved streets and the median at Fairchild.

Project Background  (from City Capital Projects Web Site)

Project Location:  Admore Drive (Stonewater Drive)

Project Budget:   $1,060,000   ($353,000 from OPWC)

  Project Schedule:

                Design Start Date               November 2007

                Construction Start Date     July 2009

The Admore Drive Extension project will connect West Main Street with the Lakes at Franklin Mills Development and provide a 1000’ long all purpose trail from West Main Street. The construction of a 10’ wide asphalt multi-use path will end at the existing bridge over Fish Creek. The trail will end south of Al Lease Park due to an insufficient bridge width to safely carry both vehicles and bikes.The project involves the construction of new curbs, pavement, sidewalks, storm sewer and waterline to update Admore Drive (Stonewater Drive) to the current standards for an improved street. Existing utilities will also be relocated underground.

This project also incorporates the installation of a traffic signal at the intersection of Admore Drive (Stonewater Drive) and West Main Street to accommodate the increase in traffic using this street for access.

The total project length is 1,400 feet (beginning at the West Main Street intersection and heading north).

                      Project Finish                   April 2010

Admore Drive (Stonewater Drive)

I think most people would agree that how things look matters.  It’s in the application of this concept where people start to disagree.  On the one end of the spectrum are those folks that say nobody, including their government, should be able to tell them what to do with the look of their house or building.  It’s their property and the constitution assigns them property rights, end of story.  On the other hand, folks will also argue that they have a right to not have your bad looking property diminish the value of their property so the government needs to protect their property rights too, which usually takes the form of some level of architectural design standards.  This is a great example of choosing between 2 rights — which is what makes setting public policy so difficult.  There is no right or wrong answer, just the best expression of what the Kent community believes is best for Kent — which is what the Planning Department will be reviewing next Tuesday night, August 18 at 7:45 pm in the Council Chambers. 

Here’s an email update from the Planning Director:

Good Morning:

After a brief hiatus in July, we are due to continue our review of the Kent Zoning Code. The next session will be Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 7:45 PM. Please note the changed starting time which is due to the fact that the Planning Commission has two cases (both zoning text amendments) on its agenda and their meeting begins at 7 PM.

The next topic for discussion relates to Architectural Review Standards (ARS). For those who may not know this, the City currently has no specific architectural review standards in its zoning code. It does have an architectural advisory board which serves at the pleasure of the Planning Commission and does have input on some projects. Since this is a rather complex subject, I have broken the topic down into two parts. We will deal with the first of the two parts at the coming meeting. Our focus will be on determining how ARS would potentially fit into the current development review process. It seems prudent to have this discussion first and to get some direction on this before actually trying to define the standards themselves, since the manner in which the standards are applied may actually have some bearing on the content of the standards.

Attached you will find the agenda for the meeting, along with a copy of what had been drafted (the draft is not complete) for the Unified Development Code undertaking about 5 years ago, and also our staff report on this matter. I hope to see you all there. If there are any questions, please feel free to contact me.

To see the agenda and review the handouts prepared for the meeting, click here.

If you’re interested in reading more, the following information came off of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) web site.

The Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) was established for the purpose of stabilizing communities that have suffered from foreclosures and abandonment. Through the purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed and abandoned homes and residential properties, the goal of the program is being realized.

Nature of Program

NSP is a component of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). The CDBG regulatory structure is the platform used to implement NSP and the HOME program provides a safe harbor for NSP affordability requirements.

NSP grantees develop their own programs and funding priorities. However, NSP grantees must use at least 25 percent of the funds appropriated for the purchase and redevelopment of abandoned or foreclosed homes or residential properties that will be used to house individuals or families whose incomes do not exceed 50 percent of the area median income. In addition, all activities funded by NSP must benefit low- and moderate-income persons whose income does not exceed 120 percent of area median income. Activities may not qualify under NSP using the “prevent or eliminate slums and blight” or “address urgent community development needs” objectives.

Eligible Uses

NSP funds may be used for activities which include, but are not limited to:

• Establish financing mechanisms for purchase and redevelopment of foreclosed homes and residential properties;
• Purchase and rehabilitate homes and residential properties abandoned or foreclosed;
• Establish land banks for foreclosed homes;
• Demolish blighted structures;
• Redevelop demolished or vacant properties

Homebuyer Assistance

Homebuyers cannot receive assistance directly from HUD. NSP funds can be used to help homebuyers purchase homes, but they must contact an NSP grantee for application details. NSP operates on a national scale, but participation requirements may differ from one state or city to another.

The Kent State University Area Citizens Advisory Committee. How’s that for a mouthful — and it’s acronym KSUACAC, isn’t any better. But don’t judge a book by its cover, this has been a productive bunch that have tackled some challenging transportation issues from a mutually inclusive town/gown point of view. How can we improve Summit Street traffic but preserve the sense of neighborhood? Ask the KSUACAC. Want to talk multi-modal? Ask the KSUACAC. So now that the City staff wants to update folks on these projects and get some feedback on transportation issues, including downtown/campus connectivity and redevelopment — guess who we’re going to call? You got it — KSUACAC to the rescue. And the best part is the KSUACAC meetings are all open to the public so if you’re interested to participate in a little dialogue with your neighbors pull up a chair on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 6:30p.m. in the basement of the Kent Fire Department building located at 320 South DePeyster Street.

The meeting will be held Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 6:30p.m. The location of the meeting will be the Kent Fire Department, Basement Training Room, at 320 South DePeyster Street, Kent, Ohio 44240. The public is invited to attend this meeting.

Parking is available on the Day Street side of the Fire Station or the back parking lot behind the Fire Station.

Questions regarding the meeting should be directed to the City of Kent, Department of Public Service, 330-678-8105, Mr. Eugene K. Roberts, Service Director.

The City of Kent and Kent State University have expressed the desire to enhance physical connections between downtown Kent and the University. Establishing a high-density multimodal facility can both capture traffic at primary roads and arterial system (Haymaker Parkway) and transfer vehicle occupants to pedestrian, bicycle and transit systems connecting downtown Kent, the University and Northeast Ohio. The western area of campus is seeing renewed academic activities, cultural activities and special events.

Consideration should be given throughout the design and construction of this project to move people seamlessly through the system between the campus and the community. We visualize this facility to be a transfer station, encouraging people to change from personal vehicles to another form of transportation. The facility should act as both an arrival point for and a portal to the City and University. We see the possibility of such a facility encouraging people to patronize nearby private businesses, encouraging more business development around campus and into downtown Kent. We see that this facility could serve as a meeting place or destination in itself for classrooms, art events, and a welcome center for both the campus and the city. The facility can be a connector for both community and university. As such, it must be designed as a vital civic space.

Consideration should be given throughout the design and construction of this project to minimize the possible negative impacts and accentuate the positive impacts the project may have on surrounding neighborhoods and business interests. It must build upon the transportation planning and other principles used in the Crain Avenue Bridge Project Purpose and Needs Statement, the Terrace Area Parking Purpose and Needs Statement, the Bicentennial Comprehensive Plan and other City/Campus Projects as they evolve. Further, the development of the multimodal facility needs to be integrated with improvements to Summit Street, and other City Transportation Projects.

The project activity consists of:

A. Locating the facility to optimize University, City, Business, PARTA and user needs.

B. Encouraging economic development opportunities (e.g. welcome center, hotel, conference center, etc.) and enhancing Main Street as a connection between Kent State University and downtown Kent.

C. Designing a facility and associated components to meet the purposes and variety of the objectives listed below.

Project Objectives:

1. Design a facility where all modes of transportation connect (transit, bicycle, pedestrian systems), thereby encouraging pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

2. The facility should be designed to assure safety and security.

3. The facility should integrate with the City’s intelligent traffic planning

4. The facility should take advantage of the topography.

5. The facility should be an attractive, unique facility integrating development opportunities (e.g. housing, office, etc.) along its frontage. It should be in tune with its surroundings, scaled accordingly and represent Kent’s historical architecture.

6. The facility should be designed to create/enhance multiple convenient connections between downtown Kent and Kent State University.

7. The facility should be designed to accommodate future modification for alternate transportation needs (e.g. commuter rail, airport limousine, shared cars, electric cars, segways, intercity buses, taxis, car rental, bike parking, bike racks and lockers, bike rental, motorcycle parking, pedestrian access to the campus, Esplanade, downtown Kent, The Portage Hike & Bike Trail, etc.)

8. The facility should utilize green building strategies and employ eco-friendly operational strategies.

9. The facility shall be designed and operated so as to minimize the environmental impact on neighboring properties (i.e. noise and light pollution, water runoff, litter, etc.)

This Purpose and Needs Statement explicitly does not address the location of the multimodal facility or its overall size or its parking capacity. Neither is the cost nor the scope of its amenities delineated.

Summit Street is a vital transportation corridor that connects various neighborhoods and institutions in the southeast quadrant of the City of Kent. (From S. Water Street (SR 43) at the Northwest and KSU stadium on the Southeast). This corridor is heavily used by automobiles, trucks, pedestrians, transit and bicyclists and at certain periods during week days and evenings suffers from congestion and dangerous conflicts between users including service vehicles and emergency personnel. Congestion on Summit Street peaks during those times the University is fully operational.

Consideration should be given throughout the design and construction of this project to minimize the possible negative impacts and accentuate the positive impacts the project may have on surrounding residential neighborhoods. Summit Street must not be widened. It must build upon the transportation planning and other principles used in the Crain Avenue Bridge Project Purpose and Needs Statement, the Terrace Area Parking Purpose and Needs Statement, the Bicentennial Comprehensive Plan and other City/Campus Projects as they evolve, including the framework for the Campus Link and/or multi-modal facility. Further, improvements to Summit Street are not stand alone solutions. In particular, these recommendations need to be integrated with the development of the multi-modal facility.

The proposed project activity consists of:

A. Reducing congestion

B. Improving safety

C. Allowing transit systems to move more smoothly

TRAFFIC IMPACT CONSIDERATIONS

• Preserve the assets of attractive surrounding residential neighborhoods. This should be done through traffic management, access management and traffic calming. (e.g. roundabouts)

• Design signal control systems that respond to the traffic “pulse” and make use of intelligent traffic signal systems.

• Consideration should be given to feeder intersections such as the Willow-Main intersection.

• Shift the balance between private and public transportation on Summit Street in favor of public transportation.

• Improve signage to direct traffic away from Summit Street, and direct traffic onto SR 43, SR 59, SR 261, and towards I-480, and the Ohio Turnpike.

• Make walking and bicycling the preferred and easiest modes of travel to campus and on campus by providing state of the art pedestrian facilities including smart crossings, boulevards/ medians, landscaping, barriers, shade trees, sheltered arcades and amenities that enhance the pedestrian experience, coordinating and connecting with the esplanade system.

• Provide dedicated bicycle lanes and/or paths, bicycle amenities and ready access to transit for bicycles.

• Place parking at each of the four (4) primary entrances to KSU and encourage public transit.

• Phase out parking spaces in lots adjacent to Summit Street and create incentives to park elsewhere.

• Study the relationship of University throughways to the perimeter roads.

• Encourage access to parking lots along Summit Street by directing vehicles to enter campus from the north or from the south as appropriate, rather than from Summit Street.

• Consideration should be given to the development of policies that will reduce traffic demands.

· Utilize traffic control systems to assure primacy of emergency vehicles.

PUBLIC TRANSIT

§ Place bus shelters on and off campus.

§ Study segregating automobile traffic from bus traffic during peak traffic times.

§ Address bus re-entry into traffic from bus stops.