Athens officials have succeeded in improving the city’s infrastructure, but have work to do to ensure the city meets the goals it painted in its blueprint by promoting the arts, changing the residential environment and becoming more green.
City officials created the plan in 2003 with a targeted completion of 2020.
Now, after more than halfway to the deadline, some city officials are reflecting on how the plan is being carried out, as well as where the city needs to go in the future.
“We’ve been working on it for a while now,” Athens City Planner Paul Logue said. “A lot has been implemented and many of the goals are being met. However, a lot is still to be done.”
The city has already succeeded in adding sidewalks, expanding the bike path, improving city intersections and bicycle conditions and promoting handicap access, Logue said.
“We are doing a lot,” Logue said. “We also are in the process of creating a master plan for arts, parks and recreation. It would be an offshoot of our Comprehensive Plan, where we take a deep dive into things that need improvement.”
Logue acknowledges, however, that not all of the goals in the plan have been met.
“We haven’t been able to implement everything in the plan, and not everything will be,” Logue said. “That’s pretty much a given with any plan.”
One of the goals is to increase the number of full-time Athens homeowners in “Nearside” neighborhoods — those that are close to campus and populated by students — and Logue said he has not seen the increases the plan calls for.
“That is a very hard problem to solve,” Logue said. “We just haven’t seen the improvements we are looking for.”
Athens County Treasurer-elect Bill Bias mentioned another goal that is in danger of not being met.
“A big part of what we wanted to do was protect our water supply,” Bias said. “And given the fact that fracking may be right on our borders — maybe within our city limits — we haven’t met that goal.”
Another area of concern is creating a better plan for how to control litter in the city, Bias said.
“I hope someone comes up with a better answer than I’ve seen any of us do over the years,” Bias said.
Since 2003, city officials have been able to increase city parking and ensure that landlords prevent their property from “turning into slums,” Bias said.
“This is a good thing. I think that the people who have chosen this as their community are not going to allow it to be denigrated by landlords that don’t share this as the vision for Athens,” Bias said.
City officials are taking steps to complete the unfinished goals, including recently creating an environmental sustainability commission to work on implementing the environmental issues in the plan, Logue said.
Athens City Councilwoman Christine Fahl, D-4th Ward, said the Comprehensive Plan will be updated within the coming years, though there are no concrete plans yet.
“The current plan was adopted with a target date of 2020; that’s only years from now,” Logue said. “Lets take a look at what is our long-range planning for 2030 and 2040. That’s where we will be in a few years.”
Logue sees Athens remaining similar as it moves into the future and has potential for growth in the ever-changing world.
“I think it will always be primarily a college town, I think that is pretty obvious,” Logue said. “We are seeing the arts arising as an economic generator. Athens is recognizing itself as being an arts-based community. I also think we are also seeing things happen in the high tech and research sectors, so I see that becoming a part of Athens in the future.”
as299810@ohiou.edu
