MANSFIELD — The West End Neighborhood Plan, the result of a public-private improvement partnership, officially got underway Monday morning along Glessner Avenue.
The $1 million Phase One of the project calls for Glessner Avenue streetscape beautification improvements, an effort scheduled for completion by the end of summer.
Adrian Ackerman, the city’s community development & housing director, visited the site Monday and said the work may be done even sooner.
“The contractor (Smith Paving & Excavating from Norwalk) is extremely motivated and they hope to beat that timeline by quite a bit,” she said.
The first phase will update and upgrade sidewalks, install new street lighting and improved/update crosswalks (including ADA-compliant curb ramps), as well as retaining walls and more decorative elements such as tree lawns and other beautification efforts.
The overall neighborhood plan, created by EDGE Landscape, Architecture, Urban Design and Planning, is aimed at improving an area whose geographic boundaries are generally Marion Avenue/Park Avenue West to the west and north; South Main Street to the east; and Glessner Avenue to the south.
The first phase will improve Glessner Avenue between Wood Street and Sturges and Arthur avenues. A portion of Glessner will be closed for 45 days during the initial phase.
The bulk of the money for the project is coming via the city’s federal Community Development Block Grant funds.
The plan has been in the works for a few years and Ackerman, who helped marshal the federal funds, said she was pleased to see work begin.
“I am very excited,” she said. “It’s been a long time coming and I can’t wait to see the finished product.”
Ackerman said the city was trying to coordinate the effort with Columbia Gas.
“They also have a project on Glessner and we are hoping they can complete the work while the street is closed,” she said.
OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, 335 Glessner Ave., anchors the west end of the neighborhood while St. Peter’s Church and School on West First Street occupies the east end.
Vinson Yates, president of OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital and OhioHealth Shelby Hospital, told City Council in December 2020 he supported the plan.
“This has been an important neighborhood in a Mansfield for a long time,” Yates said. “We are excited about this plan.”
Chuck Hahn, owner of the Cleveland Financial Group in Mansfield, presented the city with a $21,000 donation for the project in December 2021.
“Two years ago, we formed an advisory group committee under the Richland Community Development Group. Since that time, we started to raise some private funds,” Hahn told council. “This $21,000 is from that, mostly raised in the last calendar year to help with expenses.”
“This is a $1 million project and $21,000 is just a drop in the bucket. But what we hope to show (the city) is we’re going to continue to try to raise private funds. This may be just an initial step of working with private dollars and public dollars on development projects in the city and the county.”
Hahn pointed out to City Council that private donations played a part in other aspects of the plan.
“(In 2020), we raised $37,000 (in private funds) to help pay for the engineering costs when there was no money to get this project moving along,” Hahn said.
