Communiqué
Athens Mayor Patterson on New Pool and Farmer’s Market
By: Tom Hodson
Posted on:
Athens Mayor Steve Patterson gives WOUB listeners updates on several major projects confronting the City of Athens. He also gives a progress report on this summer’s Ohio summit of city executives and university personnel from cities with a university presence across the state.
Mayor Patterson talked about building a permanent home for the Athens Farmer’s Market on the 7.5 acres currently occupied by a dog park on the city’s Community Center Campus on E. State St. He said to do so would require an additional access roadway to the site in addition to E. State St. That access road would follow the old CSX Railroad bed connected to either Home St. or Lincoln Ave. It will be a topic of discussion by Athens City Council.
Mayor Patterson also said limiting the lane size on E. State St. to 10 feet each lane is being considered. Additional traffic lanes are not being considered. Instead, this would allow enough room for a 4 foot bike lane traveling both east and west along E. State St.
The location of the new city swimming pool to be constructed also is up for discussion. One possibility is on the southeast corner of the Community Center Campus – behind the solar panels instead of the pool’s current location. Building it in this new spot would allow the current pool to operate until the new one is completed.
Plans are moving forward to make the current abandoned Armory at the end of Court St. into a useable space. The upstairs is planned to be used for a mixed-use cultural center for small conferences and events. The lower area has the potential to be used for a commercial kitchen for catering or for restaurant use. Firm plans for the building’s final use have not been finalized.
Finally, Mayor Patterson reported that the July Ohio summit of college and university cities was a huge success. Over 115 people attended from across Ohio. One of the outcomes is for an Ohio College Town Assessment to take place to get a sense from citizens what might be needed to improve town/gown relations. This is a survey to be completed by residents of college towns.
People in this region are urged by Mayor Patterson to complete the survey at the following links:
https://www.collegetownassessment.com/survey/ou-athens
https://www.collegetownassessment.com/survey/ou-chillicothe
https://www.collegetownassessment.com/survey/ou-eastern
https://www.collegetownassessment.com/survey/ou-lancaster
https://www.collegetownassessment.com/survey/ou-southern
https://www.collegetownassessment.com/survey/ou-zanesville