By Matt Fredmonsky
Record-Courier staff writer
About two dozen people heard a presentation Thursday night at the Kent Free Library on methods for connecting downtown Kent with Kent State University through redevelopment and transportation projects.
The discussion briefly touched on broader redevelopment proposals throughout the downtown. But representatives from the city, KSU and the Portage Area Regional Transportation Authority kept the presentation focused on plans to build a multi-modal transit facility downtown and extend The Esplanade — the on-campus leg of The Portage Hike and Bike Trail — from KSU to Franklin Avenue.
A second public meeting to present the same proposals is scheduled at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Kent City Council chambers.
Kent City Engineer Jim Bowling led much of the discussion along with Bryan Smith, the planning director for PARTA, and Tom Euclide, who is the director of architecture and engineering in the office of the university architect.
Euclide said, from the university’s perspective, the key physical element in connecting to downtown Kent is The Esplanade.
“As soon as we opened up a section, people started flowing down it,” Euclide said. “We know it would be a great thing to extend downtown ... To make it very easy for students, faculty and staff to go downtown and to make it easy for community members to go up on the hill for the big shows (and) sports.”
One plan for extending the pedestrian pathway west from campus sends it down Erie Street, where as many as 10 properties could be purchased to make way for construction, Euclide said. After the path met Haymaker Parkway, it would continue along S.R. 59 to Franklin Avenue.
Bowling said all the planning parties involved have agreed Erie Street is the logical connection between downtown and campus. PARTA’s plans for a bus transit center with attached vehicle parking on approximately 2 acres show the facility spanning Haymaker Parkway and South DePeyster Street while fronting Erie Street.
Bowling said, since 1993, seven different studies — including the Bicentennial Plan — have analyzed methods of connecting campus to downtown in order to approve the city’s curb appeal, attract students and generate development. But now community leaders are hopeful this latest planning effort will come to fruition.
“It may seem a little confusing,” Bowling said. “It’s been out in the public, that I’ve seen, since 1990. You may ask, why are we still talking about the same thing. It’s a process.”
Previous Articles:
The future of downtown Kent? Meeting Thursday to discuss redevelopment proposal
July 8, 2009
http://www.recordpub.com/news/article/4623890