Urban Design Center offers $60K proposal

Community input will be a part of the township planning process.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
BOARDMAN -- The Urban Design Center of Northeast Ohio can complete a nine-month process to develop a comprehensive plan for the township for $60,000.
Trustees received the proposal last week from the center, which is affiliated with Kent State University's architecture school. The proposal follows a meeting last month with representatives of the center, which is located in Cleveland.
The panel hasn't discussed the issue since receiving the proposal.
"This is the most important thing we should be doing for our township," said Trustee Kathy Miller. "If you don't have a plan, you don't know where you're going."
She said that options would have to be reviewed by the board.
Professional staff
The proposal is for work to be done by the center's professional staff. The center also offers work by KSU graduate students at no charge, though those plans must fit within the academic year, and many other communities have lined up for those sessions.
The professional proposal says a comprehensive planning process will help "to improve aesthetics and perceptions of the community, enhance pedestrian and vehicular access to local destinations, establish an integrated network of parks and green spaces, and identify opportunities for new development."
A plan would encompass the entire community with special emphasis on key intersections, potential development sites and the Market Street and U.S. Route 224 corridors, the proposal says.
The center participated in Youngstown 2010, Youngstown State University's centennial master plan and Warren Redevelopment and Planning's framework for that city's downtown.
The proposal calls for three groups of people -- a working group, steering committee and community input. The working group is the technical team charged with compiling and analyzing information.
The steering committee is a larger group of community leaders and stakeholders, and community input is sought through open public forums.
Forums
Work involves a multistep process including community forums and a session called Boardman Futures Charrette, likely to be scheduled over a weekend, where the public, community leaders and other groups can gather to talk about problems and development options.
The outcome of the charrette would be used by center staff to develop a draft comprehensive plan which eventually will be developed into final comprehensive plan documents.
The project, if approved, would begin in early May and run through the end of March 2007.