MANSFIELD, Ohio – The Richland County Regional Planning Commission (RCRPC) unveiled a new clean, modern look at their full commission meeting on Wednesday with a new logo and a new website.
Jotika Shetty, executive director of the RCRPC, said the new look came about during the past year of transition and new developments.
“We’ve seen new people come on board, and the majority of us have actually been hired in the last five years,” said Shetty. “What that means is there are fresh ideas and there’s momentum in the staff. We thought we really needed to let the community and the county know about this, and one way of doing that was through a logo.”
However, Shetty was quick to acknowledge that the logo was about more than just new additions to the staff. It stands for the values the RCRPC has fostered for more than 50 years.
“It speaks to finding regional solutions to solve local issues, and it speaks to our motto to promote and protect our people and places. We truly feel it’s reflected in this branding,” she said.
The new logo, which will appear on the newly redesigned website for the RCRPC, portrays different modes of transportation and integration with a pop of color. Shetty said the colors were chosen purposefully to convey a modern look that’s also classic and timeless.
“I truly believe this rebranded effort will convey our mission and goals,” said Shetty.
The RCRPC celebrated more new additions on Wednesday when members voted to approve Michelle Swank and Mark Masters as Commission members. Swank will be focusing on County Priority Interest and Masters focusing on Civic Interest. The two will replace Bill Cunning and Deborah Schenk after their resignations.
The RCRPC holds full commission meetings at least four times a year to discuss projects, proposals, and reports by the committees, and to also nominate commission members. Members voted on four new project proposals heard on Wednesday by various entities in the county.
Bob Bianchi, city engineer for the city of Mansfield, submitted a $5 million proposal to the RCRPC for the expansion and improvement of Trimble Road between Cook Road and Marion Avenue. Bianchi said the project will address safety, congestion relief and economic growth along Trimble Road.
“Cook Road and Marion Avenue are both considered a high crash location in terms of frequency and hazard impacts,” said Bianchi. “There were 43 accidents in three years and multiple injury accidents at this location, improvements would lessen accidents at that location.”
Proposed improvements include widening Trimble Road to four lanes, five lanes to incorporate turning movements at the intersections. An additional intersection would be added in the middle of Trimble Road to accommodate for a future drive into the currently vacant property.
“Right now that corridor is inefficient and we do not believe it could accommodate growth in traffic,” said Bianchi. “There are some significant improvements on the way.”
In addition to the project, pedestrian accommodations would be installed with plans to eventually connect to the bike trail.
The Richland County Engineer’s office presented two applications for approximately $1 million each for more than 20 miles of road improvements, including three bridges.
“We have a tremendous need to receive these two grants,” said Engineer Tom Beck. “In the past we used to get a lot of money for bridges from the state … in those early days when that was getting started we were one of the leaders and applied for as much as we could, and we often would get five bridges a year. More recently we’re doing good if there’s maybe one bridge per year.”
Beck stated this year, the engineer’s office received zero bridges from the state. He noted of the county’s 360 bridges, 220 bridges have been replaced in his 26-year tenure as county engineer, leaving 80 that still need to be replaced. Approximately 350 miles of road also needs cared for.
“There’s not enough money to go around,” said Beck.
Two additional projects proposed to the RCRPC include Washington Township replacing a box culvert, and the city of Shelby replacing a sanity sewer line putting a strain on the city’s wastewater treatment plant.
