e
all right we are going to go ahead and
get
started my name is Michael price I'm the
recreation parks director on behalf of
the city of beex I want to welcome
everyone uh to this public Workshop to
talk about uh Commonwealth and what the
future might hold for Commonwealth so I
want to thank you all for being here
it's really important to us uh to hear
from the community as we talk through
some options uh for Commonwealth um I
want to apologize my understanding is
the uh US Postal Service didn't do a
great job with letters I know some
people got it some people didn't uh so
we we went ahead and took the extra step
of hand delivering uh Monday I guess it
was so it's great to see a good turnout
which at least means word got around at
some level so thank you all again for
being here um we're going to focus today
talking about uh really the the future
of Commonwealth specifically as it
relates to unifying uh east and west and
and you know kind of what the appetite
is from a community perspective on that
uh and some of the challenges some of
the things we've been discussing as it
relates to uh Colombia and that that cut
through at Commonwealth we will also get
into later in the in the uh presentation
we'll get into some conceptual designs
of what that might look like but but
coming out of this meeting we really
want as a city want to gauge and
understand uh feedback from the
community about the concept of uh
unifying the two commonwealths
Commonwealth East and West um with that
I want to a couple quick introductions
um of of those that we'll be presenting
mayor Kessler will be talking uh today
mayor kesser why don't you give everyone
a wave if anyone doesn't know this is
Mayor Kessler right here uh Ellena
Andrews is our uh in-house landscape uh
designer for the city and uh has been
heavily involved so thank you Ela and
Brian Jones with Brian Kent Jones will
be uh talking a little bit about design
with that I'm going to hand it off to
Elena to come up and talk a little bit
about the
history thank
you
I'm tech support here guys in theory
which is scary let's see if
it there we go oh excellent I am
technologically challenged so I'm happy
that Ben is here so welcome everyone
thank you so much for coming today again
I'm Elena Andrews I'm the landscape
design uh staff consultant for the city
of Bexley and I just wanted to give a
brief overview of um the planning that
has gone on with Commonwealth um it
actually probably started in the 1800s
when this plat plan was actually
designed in terms of what it should look
like and we're going to get into the
details of that a little bit later but
in 2017 we started a master planning
effort for Commonwealth it was an
eight-month project that um went over um
different options it had two Community
workshops we had multiple committee U
meetings and everything and it was
actually Brian Kent Jones and the Jones
Studio helped us develop that
plan and um so this is an overview of
what Commonwealth park looks like or
looked like in 2017 and just to orient
you with most of the plans you're going
to be looking at North is up to the left
of the image that you see that's Jeffrey
Park and then we obviously have Parkview
Columbia Drexel and then Commonwealth
kind of North and South looking at the
plans this is the plan that we finally
arrived at after multiple iterations and
a couple of the things that I think are
important to to share because they have
been referred to in all future projects
or what was really kind of the goals and
the principles that we set out during
that Master planning process so the
first of them was to define a long-term
Vision obviously the second was to
preserve and enhance the Timeless and
Historic Park atmosphere we also wanted
to develop the park as the centerpiece
in bexley's Arboretum to create a
clearly defined Park that incorporates
the aesthetic guidelines of Bexley Civic
spaces while pre preserving programmed
athletic uses right this park has a lot
of different kind of components that use
it right there's a lot of passive use
and there's a lot of active use and we
wanted to be able to maintain that and
allow all of those uses to happen
simultaneously and also respect the
desires and of the individual residences
surrounding the park while balancing the
uses of the entire community so that was
really those were kind of the main
missions that um that we were looking at
and there were 10 components that were
identified during that Master Plan
process and the little circles that you
see I'm just going to kind of go through
and describe those and a lot of those
have actually started to be realized
today and then I'll hand that over to
Mike in a moment um and he can kind of
go over the projects that we have
started to undertake number one that you
see on your lower left corner that was
an arboretum feature that really was
going to talk about the arrival into the
park and the connections to Jeffrey
Mansion number two we identified that we
wanted to have some kind of Woodland
Garden that would have naturalized and
passive Garden spaces three were the
sports fields that we could basically
improve the turf and the drainage and
provide irrigation improvements number
four which is kind of cut off right at
the edge I apologize this is taken from
a book um that was the entry along
Colombia where there would be columns
and walls equipment storage and
restrooms provided number five is what
we had been referring to as the
boulevard so that was going to be a
pedestrian Crossing Zone and provide
areas of traffic
calming number six we wanted to have the
opportunity to have structures of some
sort and the structures would be open
air Pavilions that could be used as
Gathering
spaces seven was the streetcape and
seven is basically kind of around the
perimeter of having a street tree
consistency that really defined an edge
typology that really allowed people to
say hey this is now a park it's not just
necessarily any street that you're
walking down Beckle eight were uh
Fitness and these were um identified to
have about four updated um Fitness
stations that were nicely hidden and
located off the paths for those of you
who might remember seven years ago or
eight years ago there were some really
decrepit Fitness stations that I don't
think I ever saw anyone used and if they
did they were like you know CrossFit
people right um number nine was paths we
wanted to be able to have some actual um
stone or decomposed um kind of gravel
paths and walkways and seating areas
throughout the park basically a lot of
people just would only walk around the
perimeter of the park and just to be
able to have some identified paths that
would allow you to kind of be inside of
the park but not necessarily on top of
the athletic fields and finally 10 was a
formal Garden where we could have
landscape art installations and various
types of water elements so those were
all of the the kind of the components
that were identified at the master
planning process and then since 2018 the
city and various people have been
working to sort of saying okay well what
are some of the projects that you know
we can actually move forward and we have
undertaken quite a few so with that I'm
going to turn it back over to Mike and
he can explain what those are thank
you yeah it has been it has been a very
exciting couple years over at
Commonwealth obviously um the starting
in
2022 uh we began the installation of new
athletic fields and for anyone who has
uh used those fields either for
themselves or their kids or otherwise
prior to that project you you uh
probably saw uh the poor shape that
those athletic fields were in and um it
was to the point where we would get
calls from the schools that use it for
field hockey we can't even use that
field it's no longer safe um so those
improvements uh took place uh over a
course of two years uh this is
Commonwealth West uh the installation
happening at Commonwealth West um and
this
is that's East I believe no that's West
as well um so those fields went in uh
yeah new drainage new irrigation new
Turf and if you've had a chance to get
over there you will see the absolute uh
transformation of that experience for
our community in terms of the the fields
um the feedback that we have gotten has
been absolutely tremendous for the user
groups that use that space uh
aesthetically it's much more appealing
than what was there before which was was
Weeds and a lot of missing uh material
um and so that has been one of the
projects that has been obviously a huge
success um and we are we are St staying
very focused on maintaining that at a
very high level and I've received great
support from city council and
administration to make sure we did do so
um uh the uh Foles at the uh South
entrance um on Columbia are uh under
contract to be built by axis um
construction and those they've sort of
started they're going to be you'll
probably see a lot more work over the
next uh couple months uh in preparation
for that uh those will be housing um uh
they'll have two functions one is the
aesthetic of it but they also house uh
the the pump equipment for the
irrigation system that that supports
both Fields as well as a uh restroom uh
a restroom on the east side so the west
side will have the irrigation system uh
pumps which you can see there now which
are not exactly uh appealing to to look
at these will be an improvement for that
and moving the um very exciting Porton
that is at Commonwealth East into a uh a
formal structure so that is that is also
underway uh here's some renderings of
what those uh Follies will look like uh
the other piece is the obviously the
pond and the Arboretum feature on
Commonwealth East has has gone in um and
is is pretty much complete it has been
uh frankly I've been over there a lot we
did a Polar Plunge in there uh after
Christmas to just really test it out um
but there the the a number of people
that we've seen visiting has been really
it's been really fun to watch uh it's a
great Improvement on the east side of of
Commonwealth it's an arboretum feature
as well paths a lot of plantings as well
as as well as the pond so this is
something that we are really excited to
see Pop come this spring as well um but
we are uh you know over the last handful
of years this this plan was put together
as Ellena said in 20 uh 2018 and uh the
city has really been focused on on
implementing the plan along the
way with that I'm going to uh hand it
off to Mayor Kessler to talk about uh
where we're at right
now thank you Mike um I want to take a
quick pause to recognize we have a
couple council members in our midst we
have council member Jessica sad over
here and Monique lampy any other council
members I see some wreck board members
raise your hand if you're on the wck
board I see some tree commission members
raise your hand if you're on the tree
commission thanks for coming out here
tonight and everyone this is an
excellent turnout and we're really glad
to have you guys here um so
as we worked on the next phase of the of
the park um our attention turned as part
of our year of the parks project which
the pond is the fields were Arbor and
walk and by the way those plantings
aren't all yet in um you'll see those
continue to get in the Spring plantings
will be coming in and you'll get start
to get a real feel for it in the spring
there's also a tree that's destined for
that island in the center of the pond
that's just not that's not just an
esoteric Island it's going to be an
esoteric island with a beautiful
esoteric Bloodgood Japanese Maple in the
center of it so um we started to turn
our attention to arguably the most
challenging and infrastructure intensive
piece of this project and today uh this
is what Columbia Avenue looks like uh
between both sides of the park complete
with curb cuts to Nowhere there that you
see um this is actually I think looking
South um
and Brian Kent Jones and his and his
Studio
uh came up with this beautiful vision
for what could happen to stitch the two
sides of the park together um and we're
uh we are and we're very excited about
this concept one of the major concepts
of the Commonwealth Park master plan was
to find a way to unite the East and West
to create a really safe uh connection in
the center of it that would almost make
it feel like the two sides were one park
and so we set about uh the challenge um
early last last year maybe even before
that of starting to bring this beautiful
watercolor painting into uh construction
drawing reality uh we engaged Brian Kent
Jones and the firm mksk to help us do
that and this is a less beautiful
looking version of what happens uh when
we go through the design process and
we're quite close to construction
drawings at this point on the project um
and in the process of taking the
inspiration imagery into reality we've
learned a couple things um and they're
they're not allog together incredibly
surprising but they did cause us to to
take a moment to pause and result in a
workshop such as the one that we are
here at this evening um so uh one one of
the many things that we found as we
explored this concept is that um there
were a lot of compromises that took
place um in order to slow down traffic
we were changing the material of the
street so we're going to Brick from
asphalt there's going to be some brick
and some Granite proposed um before that
change happens our Traffic Engineers
tell us we need to put stop signs at
Commonwealth Park South and North so
we're adding stop signs in order to make
this occur then traffic comes through
and there's a plaza the plaza unites the
two pieces together it's it's a
signature piece of the design it's a
beautiful idea but in order for that to
really be most effective they're also
need to be stop signs right before you
get to that kind of granite raised
portion as you get into the park and
what we found as we thought more and
more about it is yes this is going to be
a beautiful interface it will feel like
the best parts of Grand View yard are
perhaps neighborhood launch a gay Street
downtown um but maybe bit better than
that actually um but uh it will also be
sort of a a roadway of Last Resort it's
not going to be a street that you're
going to want to drive on that's kind of
the purpose right your throttling
traffic you're slowing it down you're
uniting both sides of the park and so we
started to think okay and by the way and
this is not this is a motivation uh that
I need to talk about it's not the
necessarily primary motivation it was
much more expensive than we thought it
would be I mean we're talking about I
think we're in the realm of $2 million
for this for this project right here um
so it's it exceeded the budget that we
had come into it with because of for a
lot of reasons that I could delve into
um and we started to question is this
really the right approach or is it Mak
sense to put this much in infrastructure
to unite the park let's reopen the
question go back to our designers and
say what's possible if we truly unite
the park and what would be some of the
pros and the cons of that approach um we
asked Brian and his and his team to sort
of dust off that 2018 plan and then
re-explore with a couple Concepts and
the purpose of this evening isn't to
nitpick the concepts there are three
very different very interesting Concepts
but it's more to open up our eyes to
what could happen if we had a unified
Commonwealth Park
what we hope to get from the workshop is
your feedback and I've heard from a lot
of you so I already know that we have a
room with very diverse opinions about
this um so what is your feedback on this
idea um and our next step would then be
to as staff and designers go back
consider the feedback that was received
and go to city council with a
recommendation um this is the sort of
decision that uh we don't want to make
in a vacuum we want to make it as a part
of a collaborative process
um if you got the second letter which
was hand delivered you'll know that we
will be sending you a third letter uh
with the city council date we haven't
said it yet it's probably maybe going to
be the probably maybe I haven't spoken
with council president lampy yet about
this might be the second meeting in
February maybe it'll be in March so
we'll advertise that and let you guys
know what it is so I'm getting ahead of
myself here because what we're going to
do next is have Brian Kent Jones come up
talk about the art of the possible and
then give you guys a chance to provide
some feedback some of that will be
conversational and then we're going to
break out with our designers we have
some boards here we have posted notes we
have pens we have little stickers where
you can upvote some ideas and we'll take
more feedback on on smaller setting so
with that Brian Kent Jones the legend
the
myth yeah I want to say one more thing
before you come up I'm sorry I talked
too much
but I probably should have said this
after you already spoke but I'm say it
now Larry Helman I don't know if you
guys know Larry Helman he's a long-term
serving public servant here with the
city of Bexley former designer with nbbj
he's been on he's on the tree commission
he's been on board of zoning he's been
on Architectural Review he is a great
planning mind he's one of those people
that you always turn to when you need
some wisdom in depth and planning and I
as we started to really think about this
and with trepidation say do we need to
re ask the question about Commonwealth
Park I called Larry and I said Larry
what do you think about this and he said
well of course you should ask that
question he saidif Commonwealth were one
Park can you imagine the Torches and the
pitchforks that would show up at City
Hall if you proposed cut it in half with
a road it's like well that's a pretty
interesting perspective I know that we
have many people in the room who live
very close to the park and are heavily
invested in it so what you have to say
about that matters a lot but that was
just a frame of reference that I thought
was interesting with that
Brian
it's that easy I think left and right or
whatever it's like getting it got it
okay awesome awesome thank you thank you
um thank you mayor and Elena um and uh
and thank you for gosh great great
turnout appreciate everybody's uh
availability to particip IP at in this
tonight it really is really just a
privilege to kind of come come come back
to the table as you know as a as a
counselor of sorts in this in this
exercise and just Kudos really a step
back I think you know when we're looking
at
um you know the the improvements that
already been made um it's sort of almost
invisible infrastructure what's happened
with with the playfields but that just
that was such a such a big move and I
think such an incredible thing C you
know kudos to the team and and the
execution sometimes you know when you're
doing that kind of
infrastructure in in a in a park setting
it doesn't always come off as well as as
it does in the fact that it just feels
like you know Turf and uh it's just
simple La it's this is perfect so great
great job on that I think um you know
the the mayor said it um already but I
think you know what I'm really
encouraged by in this whole process he
used the word collaboration and it
really it really has been that and even
even in the studies as we've sort of
looked at you know the works that mksk
has tackled with uh you know developing
sort of that Central you know kind of
the Central Central spine um you know
there there's really sort of been a you
know just a internal self-critique about
every decision that gets made you know
from Curb details to making sure these
really feel beckly like and that they're
not imported from other locations so a
lot of work that's occurred with the
studies for kind of the you know the
Improvement of that Central Central
space has been has been really really
productive but so we find ourselves here
this evening you know looking at this
was a very early early scheme you know
from gosh
2017 where and and probably a little too
bold and a little bit too figural with
regard to for a formal Park in the
middle of in the middle of uh of
Commonwealth but it did sort of set some
really early kind of
inspiration with regard to that and I'm
I'm gonna go ahead and just kind of kind
of move move forward into some of the
sketches and then land in the land in
the in the in the presentation uh
renderings a little bit more
deliberately these were early sketches
that s sorted through the process just
investigating you know what could happen
east to west and again you know top of
the page is North bottom of the page is
South um in this in this scheme really
kind we'll call this sort of scheme one
this is really sort of the notion you
see on the on the west side of
Commonwealth sort of the the pond that
you'll you know that you'll see that's
sort of been under that's under
construction and being realized you know
currently and and certainly more this
spring but this was really a study of
looking at a central space that could be
kind of almost in an event kind of uh
lawn here we sort of took the approach
on this idea that as you as you're
Northbound on on uh Columbia that
perhaps you reach um an organization
element where it could be open open
Pavilion that could be set up for you
know for events or even this scheme
starts to suggest a little bit of an
Amphitheater kind of quality that might
be an ex a little too extensive in terms
of the kind of characteristics of of of
that form and grade change but really
sort of the notion that the central
space you know retains existing Street
trees within that space and then
develops secondary spaces that are sort
of ancillary to that one kind of Central
Central move uh I'm go ahead and kind of
move through um these quickly and we
certainly kind of come back to them this
next one is really taking this into a
more figural location where one would
really sort of see this expression sort
of establishing the identity of
Commonwealth Park um as the place right
I mean sort of the notion that you would
enter enter on the south or enter on the
North and within this space you would
sort of find your way into the fields
but this starts to set up a central
location pedestrian circulation north to
south that then brings circulation in um
to the east and west
playfields this uh sort of
diagrammatically again just this this
third and last scheme you know was is
really sort of adopting the existing
Street tree pattern largely as kind of
the aesthetic organiz or Organization
for the entire move this is you know
sort of looking at that Central spine
perhaps uh the sidewalks that are kind
of currently in play start to make this
Al a very sort of soft Maul context in
the middle and we've maybe probably been
a little over overzealous with some of
our paths and the way they've sort of
been rendered in this idea but really
the really the notion that this Central
spine makes a pedestrian link north to
south and then in and then brings into
play some of these Woodland garden and
um and then even sort of you know this
scheme also sort of brings in this
notion at Commonwealth Park South where
the Terminus of of
uh of of the Northbound Road could occur
into a space that kind of captures those
two Pavilions that are soon under
construction as well as as well as a
domesticated kind of piece of landscape
architecture to bring entrance into the
into that space on the North side uh you
know as as Colombia is heading Southward
one would reach this sort of Plaza space
and one could see Stone peers and sort
of Entry Gates um you know sort of
paying n you know nod to sort of the
characteristics of entry into in into
um uh Shiller Park or other you know
kind of contextual local examples where
you sort of have that real Civic
celebration upon Road systems meeting
Park spaces that's a quick quick review
of the three and I think with that um
you know we'll just kind of turn it over
to to dialogue and and questions and
comments so um I'll set I'll set the
framework for this because we want to
make sure that we have some good
workshopping
time let's spend maybe if it's okay with
everybody 10 or 10 to 20 minutes um
questions answers
perspectives um if uh if we want to make
sure we're hearing a balance of
perspectives as well so I want to make
sure that you know we're not getting uh
only people who are upset about it only
people are happy about it I want to make
sure that we're kind of diversifying the
perspective so that we have a variety of
voices here so if it's possible um this
isn't really intended to be like a a
vote or like a Democrat like a a
popularity contest because that's not
really what we're looking for we're
looking for a variety of perspectives
and feedback on it so if if a point has
already been made and you just want to
kind of reiterate it feel free to be
like you know what somebody said this I
love it that's great I'm just adding my
voice to that so that we we hear from as
many people as possible so um I'm also
going to ask Mike or Ellen to pass
around a microphone because we are
should say this we are live streaming
this so that we have this record of of
what we hear tonight so
um Miss beer I I see your hand
raised so I know the meeting really
isn't about what I'm going to ask but I
don't know because I what it you the
original plan that you showed us you
said it was too much money for us where
is the money coming from to pay for
these that's a great question and as I
sat down I thought you know I know that
somebody's gonna ask that so um the the
plaza itself has a variety of funding
sources uh or what was conceived of as
the plaza a big chunk of it is for the
Bexley Community Foundation beex Comm
Foundation was a big donor to the year
of the parks program um what you see
today right now the road is closed it is
closed not because of this it's closed
because we're replacing the water line
on Colombia that is an Ohio Public Works
commission program that will fund the
water line that's happening right now
but also fund the substrate to the
street so the structural work of the
street are coming through a grant
through the state of Ohio um and then we
have some city capital funds that are
going into this uh in addition so it's a
it's a mixture of funding between two
different Grant sources and city capital
dollars yes why you just choose who
you're gonna around
to we I didn't see I just have a cool
question so you've already decided that
you're closing the street so there will
be no traffic that's not correct so I'm
sorry if I made that I'm just catching
up this is the first meeting I've been
into so no the the street is currently
closed because of
the all the proposed plans look like the
the next three that U Mr Jones showed
look like it's going to be a closed
street so this is is the current plan
with an open Street the purpose of this
Workshop is to discuss the possible
closure of the street okay so that noten
decided it's not been predetermined that
we goes in the street thank you um Bryce
you mentioned about safety once that it
wasn't safe for them to play in the
field before you redid it and I wonder
what was the safety risk that you were
worried about and then you also
mentioned safety what are your safety
concerns
Mike if you want to answer about the
athletic field safety
risk oh the the safety risk on the
athletic fields is we had athletic
fields that were not level they had
large bumps there wasn't grass in lots
of places so from a field hockey
perspective you don't have a Level
Playing Field the ball pops up hit
somebody in the face it's a concern that
that they were they were were were
worried about also you fall you know
when you fall down on on hard ground
that is doesn't have any Turf uh bumps
and scrapes and cuts and that sort of
thing was the safety concern from a
field
perspective and then um a constant
conversation whenever we've talked about
this park really any park has been
parking on the street kids coming out
from the cars crossing the street maybe
crossing the street mid block where
they're not supposed to cross those
those concerns come up anytime we talk
about kids traffic cars and and parks
and just to just to follow up on that
one one of the also concerns is that if
the the plaza that connects the two
actually is raised to be at the sidewalk
level right so there would be a ramp up
to that sidewalk into that Plaza you
would go across visually people who are
potentially not familiar with the parks
and or our younger children that Plaza
that looks like a big fat crosswalk
right and so they might not know that
they need to stop and kind of look both
ways right so the fact that we're trying
to create this beautiful Plaza that
connects the two sides there were
concerns as that whether or not that
might be you know someone's watching
their kid play soccer and they have a
little toddler who just runs across the
street and it it looks like it's just a
regular Plaza but they don't know that
is it is in fact an active Street even
and that's why we had to add all of
those stop signs so it was just a
concern that visually making it
beautiful was also M visually making it
like oh I can cross here no
problem there been any incidents of
unsafe for a child got hurt or a child's
crossed the street and got hit by a car
I know it's an idea but in actuality is
this just an idea or is it an actual
known problem that's ever occurred so I
don't know of any and I don't think
Mikey you know of any I mean and I will
say that doesn't stop us from caring
right so it's a conversation we have
around the cassingham school complex any
school complex where thank God you know
we're not having safety issues have
occurred we just have a lot of people
saying man I almost saw something happen
and then we always have to be conscious
of the infrastructure we're creating and
how safe is it it is I think I think
it's fairly self-evident that having a
Road between two sides of a park where
you know one side has this amenity the
other side has that amenity which that's
been the case for a very long time um
does sort of encourage that cross AIS of
pedestrians whether or not we do the
project as we are proposing it I know
Judy's got up a couple
times
thank you first of all I want to thank
the mayor and Mike and the city council
for being so open and allowing an
encouraging this meeting and since we
got two letters it's it's quite a a
commendation on what you all have done I
I do have a question about the traffic
um I'm not quite clear and perhaps um
someone can explain what the the active
traffic pattern is or whatever you all
are calling it so if it is going to
remain a street at at or is it going to
be partially closed or what's going to
happen and and I'm curious also then
what the impact you anticipate will be
on Drexel and Park
View uh you may certainly add to her
question I was just gonna add in the I
was gonna ask about the flow of traffic
and what it was like
like what it's envisioned like with this
versus closing it and I'm more just
thinking like on when you get closer to
Jeffrey if the streets parked up like
only one car can go at a time so if
there's something on Jeffrey and at the
governor's mansion and a game at this
park it is really hard to drive around
and navigate and to park if you need to
go to any of those three things
so I don't know if that like really
changes if you close this middle part or
not so I'd love to hear more about that
sure we're going to try to answer the
questions as best as we can
um but some of it we'll never know for
sure until something occurs for example
this this plan there's no way to test
the traffic pattern of a of a slow to
Street until you put it in place so this
is the current adopted master plan that
Council has ratified that we're working
towards um we don't know how to model it
super accurately to tell you how the
traffic shifts so what we did is we
waited to have this Workshop until we
were working on the water line on
Columbia and we could have a month of
experience of what does it feel like to
have the Street closed um and we we did
traffic studies beforehand and we did
traffic studies afterwards we took we
took traffic counts on Drexel Parkview
and Columbia and then we also took a
traffic count sorry in Columbia both
north and south of the park to
understand what was the difference so
we've sort of modeled in theory what
happens if you close the park entirely
which is not this plan that's the one
we're talking about maybe what is I'm
laughing because after doing all this
work we had a very strange result which
was that the October condition which was
the before condition when was open
showed more traffic on all streets than
our January condition and
um frankly it could be that you know
we're looking at two or three day period
and there was an anomaly and an event
that was occurring or something but it
certainly did not show that there was
literally there was a reduction in
traffic every there was a huge reduction
in traffic south of uh Commonwealth and
north of Commonwealth on Columbia which
is to be expected obviously because it's
closed but then there was just a minor
reduction on Drexel and park viw so it I
don't think those numbers yet are
showing us the full picture we're going
to do another study um I am interested
to hear that if in the past 30 days you
guys have noticed changes in traffic
patterns incidentally around your houses
if you live around there I think that
would be interesting to find out I can
and I'm happy to share those numbers
with you there we have the synopsis and
then we have a a big chart that shows
you granular information on what car was
driving not what car but cars that were
driving when and how fast no we don't
track your license plate number so long
story short to answer your question um
we know that of course there will be
some diversion of traffic if we close uh
Colombia right now the data that we have
just showed it was actually reduction
which of course that doesn't make sense
because you have people traveling around
and so we think maybe it's very they
both they were weekday times we were
pulling 48 Hours both times but
something must have been happening a
little bit different during those times
so uh we need more study one one thing
we do know is that pretty consistently
Parkview and Colombia are sort of um a
little bit like on the lower end of our
normal secondary streets in the city in
terms of the amount of volume that's
traveling through them Drexel's pretty
average to maybe Drexel and fair are
kind of similar um north of Broad Street
um and so the change in volume from
Columbia isn't going to dramatically
impact we're talking like an a volume of
around somewhere between a dozen and 20
cars per hour total on any of these
streets and so it would be a minor a
minor change I think with with the
change in this traffic
pattern if you depending on what the
governor is doing but he has a lot of
receptions during the day and in the
evening and if Jeffrey and they do the
events like Halloween and Valentine's
and everything else that's going on over
there I've noticed that the parking is
all full down by the meadow so people
are then compelled to park along Park
View and then you have the new president
of Ohio State who's where his people
going to park and then you know just the
general traffic of people coming to
watch their kids play on the fields it
you know know I started to think that
maybe we were subsidizing your parking
in front of all of our houses I I I
think that that's an inconvenience for
many it's a perfectly valid point
um the plan uh that's presented here
shows that we can park about 12 cars
total on Colombia um we would recapture
Commonwealth Park parking when you close
the street um probably in the realm of
uh four cars South four cars North so it
would be a net loss of maybe before
parking spaces um between the two
options of a closure versus um the
current
plan right I
understand they're too good
yeah
going forward you need to think about
all of
it big little Universe
there great point Thank
you hi um I'm sorry other people haven't
mentioned their names when they comment
but um I'm a bit of an outlier here I
got no letters my name is Peggy Lazarus
I have spent probably 35 years of my
life either living directly on
Commonwealth park or within half a block
of Commonwealth Park so I've known it
over a long period of time I see the
improvements and they're exciting I have
um couple comments and then a question
um with respect to your comment um a
traffic study in January I would suggest
is almost
useless you know um the playing fields
at the Mansion are not in full swing the
fields at the park are not in full
swing uh I can't comment about the
governor's mention but I would encourage
you to do it for a longer period of time
when all of that area is active um
because and I walk over there all the
time um parking is a huge issue there
are times the way it is now that I can
hardly find a place to park just to go
for a walk so I know the Mir and I and
Mike have engaged in other parking
conversations and you know how critical
it is to people who want to live with or
enjoy all the amenities that you're
talking about you know you can't add the
amenities and take away the quality of
life so I'm I'm with everybody there my
second question because I I really do
come kind of recently to this since city
council has ratified
something is it a given that this
unification effort will happen
we are um to answer the question about
unification we are it's budgeted it's
planned uh we have a full green light go
ahead on it so it it could occur um I
mean so are we here for no reason I'm
sorry you use the word unification I
think we're probably Crossing Lines here
for a second we we call this
unification sorry when you say
unification maybe you're meaning
literally bringing the two sides
together no I understand the difference
so no we're here because the the purpose
of this Workshop this has been workshops
to death in the past this is the
consensus plan right from from a couple
years ago and actually even more
recently we had a workshop about a year
ago but the the plans where we would
potentially close the street and provide
for some Alternatives that's what we're
here to talk about well and then my
quick comment I don't know maybe it's a
little
peripheral um nobody has had
Commonwealth Park more integral to their
lives than perhaps Cordy and me um but
because I've been back in Bexley for 15
years now and seeing everything that's
been going on um I seriously seriously
have a question from
a public taxpaying member point of
view why are you putting more money
there it's beautiful the way it is parts
of Beckley are crying for resources
amenities and enrichment and City's
already demonstrated what a great job it
does at that this Corridor is not it is
amenity and
enrichment Rich so my question as a
citizen is could we take a look at how
we are
ating um beautification funds thank you
for that question so I I do want to
point out as part of our year of the
parks most of our funding has gone to
Schneider Park
Havenwood other areas of the city um the
plans we're talking about here this
potential alternatives are actually
quite less expensive than the one that
is the current tracked
plan know the the $2 million is what
happens if we put bricks and Granite on
the street um the plans that we're
discussing here what we're asking for
feedback on are less expensive plans so
we don't have dollar figures associated
with that but instead of Paving we're
putting grass seed down and Paving is
going to happen no matter what uh
without this because of the uh the
project
yep um Kenny Brown a lium Park View um
so I would just be worried well two
things and this is SE but what are the
safety can you address the safety
precautions related to the pond that's
separate but more importantly you've
come up with a plan you've worked it for
years there's a consensus it's been
approved by city council I like it a lot
I think it's terrific I think uh parents
to be able to drop their kids off to go
to the sporting events is fantastic you
could drive right through there if
you're worried if you stated that
there's 20 cars an hour that goes
through Columbia it's not a lot I don't
think there's going to be huge safety
risks for those 20 cars per hour to
navigate their way through that most of
them will opt out they'll say I don't
want three stop signs in a row four stop
signs I can do rfia where there's no
stop signs and they're just going to opt
out self you know on their own so I I'm
much favor of your original plan it's
already been approved and and you know
worked on for years and years I do not
want to see this thing become an
Amphitheater it's going to be like Main
Street main event and that's not what
Commonwealth park has ever been used for
um and I think I would ruin it I don't
think we you got a pond there and I
agree with Peggy we've spent Bexley has
spent way too much money there's got to
be other things I don't know whether
it's affordable housing or whatever but
there's got to be a lot more important
things than putting a pond in Central in
the Commonwealth Park
in unifying the two
areas thank you I a totally different
comment we need to hear from from new
voices thank you so much we can
potentially come back to that and is
there anyone here who thinks it's a good
idea because I'm just curious if there
are voices sometimes it's hard to speak
okay we're looking for some perspect I
just want to hear a full round of
perspectives
we have to go to Parkview or or to
Drexel but um and it's not terribly
convenient but I I'm okay with it um so
I'm just here to learn more I haven't
don't have a thank you view on it that's
great
cool Anna raised her hand in the back
there Mike I think oh
sorry uh my question is um in terms of
security it's a beautiful plan I think
it's going to be successful it's going
to draw all sorts of different people
which is great but both during a given
event and after what type of security is
set up for
it what sort of event like a
soccer event at the you have an event at
the park where there's people coming and
they're having a band play or just large
events of any kind I'm just curious what
kind of security there is after both
during and after when down okay I I
don't know that we were really talking
about an Amphitheater ever with any of
these ideas
um I don't I don't think that that was
so I think when we were talking about it
it was more akin to like at Havenwood
Park we have a jazz in the park is there
a way to
watch a band and that was one of three
potential scenarios just to engender
some conversation uh so when we do have
a jazz in the park at Havenwood Park we
have on a Sunday afternoon in South
Bexley maybe six 800 people there it's
beautiful event I invite you guys we've
we've set our calendar uh you'll see
that being distributed pretty soon um
last a couple hours and we have a police
officer on hand circulating so that's
anytime we would have a community event
we would have security arranged as part
of that thank you community events are
you this
summer see I want to again reiterate
this is not we are not talking about
changing the program of Commonwealth
Park we're talking about uniting the two
sides of the park as one Park this isn't
anticipating any community events I mean
I we did we had a um a National Night
Out There this Su this past summer with
the police dep Department I think that's
the first kind of larger Community event
we've had there for a while other than
normal athletic
events hi I'm Anna Ramson I live on the
corner of Commonwealth Park north and
Columbia um so I have all that
construction happening in front of my
house right now thank you for your
forbearance um yeah no it's fine I I
appreciate new water lines as much as
the next person um and I just want to
say I mean I I think if I look at the
big picture from the city perspective
and what you know a park can be I think
having a unified truly unified park and
cutting out that little bit of Road um
and not necessarily building a
Amphitheater or giant plazas or fire
pits or I'm not all for that but I think
connecting the park and making it a
green space with trees and maybe some
more benches and you know I think that
just adds value for the community and
for the kids who are running around the
park and I mean I see them they're in my
front yard Crossing um Columbia
constantly you know getting to and from
cars and nobody's been hit but I mean
that doesn't necessarily mean it's not a
conversation worth having um so yeah
anyway just the other side of it thank
you so I'm hearing consensus
Amphitheater everyone wants an
Amphitheater right is that what I'm
hearing that was a joke sorry for those
of you who don't know my bad sense of
humor hi I uh want to thank everybody
that's uh put all this hard work into
this for so many years um and I think
all of the different ideas that uh are
being discussed here I think all have a
lot of Merit um you asked if there's
anybody that really thinks uniting it in
a more meaningful way than is the
current plan um are here and and and I
think that there's a real opportunity
and I re reiterate what she's saying um
this would be I think a really
transformative uh move to make
Commonwealth Park uh which is a terrific
place and my family uses it all the time
um but but I think it would be really
transformative um and I think uh we need
to look at the traffic implication for
it and obviously you know that's work
that can be done ahead of time I live on
North Park View north of here so that's
going to affect me um there as mentioned
there are no stop signs for six tents of
a mile there which is completely
different conversation um but I just
putting my voice forward I think that uh
I think it would be fabulous thank
you
uh hi my name's Colby um I live on uh
North Park View in Clifton um I guess
from my perspective uh I think that the
fields that were done uh were were were
very much needed um the fields were in
bad shape for years um a lot of other
communities like ours have a lot more
facilities like this so this was
definitely needed um I I had a question
I feel like at one of the original plans
and maybe this is still in effect
um there would be like maybe like
removable
pillars at the entrance on both sides to
me that think that would make some sense
um to have the best of both worlds I
mean because we're really talking about
you know um events there for half the
year um you know right now there I don't
see any reason why you would need to
permanently shut down the road um that's
just my you know opinion um it seems
like if there's going to be a lot of uh
sporting events or things of that nature
we could put the up and it's a little
bit safer during the events um I'm not
sure if that's that was part of the
original plan or not maybe I'm just
making that up um it seems like a good
idea though yeah um so um those those
are my two sets on where we stand do
anyone from staff I know we had talked
about that and I remember there was
Elena do you remember you got
microphone um how that conversation went
it it was definitely discussed and it
was discussed a lot during the master
planning process um and it was something
that was never in the planning process
we didn't get into that detail I mean at
a certain level we weren't necessarily
looking at ballards when we were looking
at um the plaza itself that was
something that we had talked about
potentially doing but it would mainly be
just at the plaza level that gray area
that went across so you could still
maintain those parking spaces now that's
kind of a pain because if you get in the
new park you're going to have to Austin
power your way out of that spot and then
reverse or wait until the event is done
right but we we were looking at some of
the ballers in terms of the details as
that so that that is definitely
something that you know had come up in
terms of looking all the way to um the
Colombia or Commonwealth North and South
like right at that intersection the
thought was um you know if if that did
happen potentially just doing the the
the things that you see in the city that
you just come up is probably worthwhile
those ballards can be expensive and kind
of a pain in the butt and sometimes they
get hit and then they're damaged so that
discussion has still happened um but
there was never I mean it was a really
driving the design I think there was a
regulatory issue with it if I that's I'm
trying to remember when we were talk
about it in this latest round of design
and I thought there was we we can Circle
back on but it's a really interesting
concept yeah could it be possible just
to say when there's an event there's no
through traffic there is through traffic
you don't have to put Bowlers up you
just put a big sign that says you know
fine $500 if you drive through and when
there's not you it's open when there's
no event and when there is an event you
just can't drive through to make it
completely safe people could park there
they just can't they can't use it as a
through Street okay
any other feedback before we break into
posted notes and chatting with
designers no yes
K to your question of like preference
because I don't feel like we all talked
about that so much I admittedly am not
going to stop four times if that's my
choice to go down that street so I'll
probably go down it a lot less if it's
still a street I really like how the
brick looks but I'm also up for spending
less money
if that's helpful so that's kind of why
I feel indifferent about it like I don't
really necessarily think there's a wrong
choice here yeah and I know the money
question is a good one obviously we're
all taxpayers it makes good sense I do
want to reassure you the pond through
the very very gracious funding of the
bexy Community Foundation is a grant
funded Improvement thank you to all of
you who helped fund it I know many of
you did um we have been so we've been
just so blessed in Bexley by having
sources of grant funding for Community
beautification projects um the city
funds that we were setting aside were
for the hard infrastructure only they
were not for the the
uh the I'm not gonna say the frilly
edges of it but that's I just said that
so that's not what I was gonna say um so
I just want to again thank all of you
who have supported us through the
Community Foundation supported the
brider community um thanks for coming
out to this we do want to hear from one
more we have one more great and I
apologize for being late so I didn't
hear most of this discussion but I
just as somebody who lives on North of
this on North Columbia um I don't like
any I like any of the any ideas that
allows that to continue to be a through
Street um you know it having to as it's
been blocked off for the construction
lately
it's it's just frustrating and Hassle
and and uh I would love for it to
continue to maintain the ability to
drive through thank
you oh
Elanor Brandt I don't live on the park
so I feel like I don't even have skin in
the game but of course I'm over there
every day um one thing that's
interesting to me
um change I think human nature our
kneejerk is you offer me change I'm
gonna say no thanks probably loudly um
so my knee-jerk reaction to this whole
project was like what are they thinking
to close the street but when you
mentioned that it's been under
construction for a month plus and I've
of course been driving right around it
and all that I thought
oh maybe I was wrong um and I think
that's a valid point that I wish it pro
obviously affects the people right on
the park the most I mean they're going
to probably be like this is terrible but
for the rest of North Beckley surely
it's an interesting thing to I wish more
residents would think about it because
until you even mentioned it I sort of
didn't even realized that I was already
doing that accommodation and um I think
that's maybe important for everybody to
kind of think be a little bit mindful
about how they're driving since the
opportunity to test it is right before
us okay so we have our brilliant staff
designers here to take feedback we have
pens we have Post-it notes here's the
way this game works if you're willing to
stick
around different design con
give us any feedback you have you can
write this is the worst idea I've ever
seen you can do that on any everything
and then if you're too lazy to
write you can upot comments so these
little stickers upot comments for
feedback you could just come grab some
stickers grab some pens grab some posted
notes and go crazy uh love so much that
you guys came this evening it means so
much to hear from everybody um and one
thing that always happens no matter what
the feedback is his plans improve
through this feedback so thank you so
much for it have a great evening stick
around