Published July 23, 2008 06:48 pm - Dozens of people put their two cents into Geneva’s comprehensive plan, and tonight the city is planning on counting those pennies.
Geneva to hold 2nd public open house for comprehensive plan tonight
By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon
GENEVA — Dozens of people put their two cents into Geneva’s comprehensive plan, and tonight the city is planning on counting those pennies.
The comprehensive plan steering committee will hold a second open house 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. today at Geneva City Hall, 44 N. Forest St. The meeting will reflect and review suggestions and comments made by city residents, business owners and employees at the first “visioning session” and open house.
The committee will give a presentation to council at the Sept. 8 council meeting. The planning comes with the updating the city’s 17-year-old comprehensive plan.
“We were very pleased with the turnout of the first open house from the surveys and the interviews,” assistant city manager Jennifer Brown said. “(Tonight’s) meeting will incorporate all those comments and ideas onto new maps and panels.”
The city’s comprehensive plan steering committee put together plans outlining the city’s highlights and downfalls, with clear, though flexible, goals. The goals include enhancing the quality of life in the city and strengthening high-value employment, making the city a “walkable community,” becoming a “connection hub” to capitalize on the Route 534 corridor and to develop green space, recreation and the downtown business district, Brown said.
Brown said the meetings are open to residents of all areas, including Geneva-on-the-Lake, Geneva Township, and Austinburg, Harpersfield and Saybrook townships, and anyone who works or travels through Geneva.
“Everyone has a different interest and investment in the city,” Brown said. “Even the person who just drives through town to get to someplace else has a view or an opinion about the city.”
Citizens of the Geneva area and beyond can access the city’s current plans on a virtual drawing board at the city’s Web site (www.genevaohio.com). There, people can review the city’s plans and comment on issues and problems, strengths and weaknesses and offer ideas for Geneva’s future. Notes from the first visioning session are also there, Brown said.
The comprehensive plan, directed by the 12-person steering committee, comes at a cost of $42,500, half of which is funded by a grant through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Coastal Management Assistance Program. The plan includes the Geneva-area Recreation, Education, Athletic Trust indoor sports center to be constructed at the Interstate 90-Route 534 interchange in Harpersfield Township, and the city’s revitalization plan, which includes new street lighting and the construction of the nation’s shortest covered bridge on Liberty Street.