Downtown Mansfield businesses voice concerns about Main Street project impact

MANSFIELD — Nichole Hamilton didn’t mince words Wednesday during a public meeting to discuss the Main Street Corridor Improvement Project.

“I am sinking. I am literally sinking,” the owner of Two Cousins Pizza told Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry during a meeting at Downtown Mansfield Inc., an event aimed at updating business owners and residents about the $19 million project.

Hamilton, who bought the 103 N. Main St. business in April 2024, said the street closures and impact on businesses since the project began Feb. 24 “was becoming excessive.”

“I know the city needs the (project) … the beautification. But it’s going to be beautiful and there are going to be no businesses,” Hamilton said of the project from Sixth Street to First Street that’s expected to take 20 months to complete.

“I don’t do construction. I don’t do planning. But it’s hard being a business owner to see all of this. I literally want to throw my hands in the air and say I give up,” Hamilton said.

Perry said she understood the concerns of Hamilton and others who spoke during the meeting.

“There is just no way, unfortunately, when you’re rebuilding the road, at some point there’s going to be closures,” the mayor said. “We want to do all we can to push people downtown.”

Hamilton offered the most impassioned thoughts during the hour-long meeting, much of which was devoted to what’s been done since the work began five months ago — and what is coming up next over the next several weeks. (See graphics below.)

Hamilton also raised questions about the city’s $50,000 grant program approved last month that aimed to award $2,500 grants to 20 different businesses on Main Street. The businesses must demonstrate a negative financial impact since the project began on Feb. 24.

Those losses must be 25 percent or greater loss in sales or revenue receipts for at least 60 consecutive days compared to the same period in 2024.

Hamilton said she didn’t qualify for the grant because she had raised prices since last year. She said the number of customers coming into Two Cousins had been reduced by about half.

“Since this project started, had I not raised prices, I would have been down more than 25 percent. I can’t prove that to you. But I know anyone walking down (Main Street) can see there’s been an impact (on businesses.)

Perry said the city would be willing to re-examine the grant program to determine if the percentages need to be changed.

(Below is a PDF with a slide presentation offered Wednesday during a public meeting on the Main Street Corridor Improvement Project in downtown Mansfield.)

The project will be a complete upgrade of Main Street from First to Sixth streets and Park Avenue from Main to Diamond streets, designed by K.E. McCartney & Associates of Mansfield.

Kokosing Construction was awarded the contract for the project, expected to be complete in October 2026.

Part of the public’s frustrations stem from a first phase that took longer than anticipated.

Phase one replaced century-old water mains from Fifth Street to First Street, work that encompassed nearly the length of the entire project. During a meeting at DMI on April 10, officials said they hoped that work would take about three months.

Three months became five before water main replacement work was completed July 10.

A wet spring and the discovery of unexpected utility lines, including gas lines, that were not included on local infrastructure maps, slowed that water main replacement work. It also created utility problems for some businesses along the corridor.

The mayor said recently the first few months of the project faced a perfect storm around the community, including city crews responding to water main breaks in other parts of Mansfield, which led to additional road closures.

Perry encouraged business owners and residents to contact her with ideas on minimizing the impact and also ways to market the downtown businesses during the project.

She said the contractor’s plan to close West Fourth Street in the area as part of the project was changed, largely due to feedback from the community.

“We appreciate (feedback) … when the concerns came up about Fourth Street. We’re trying to scramble and we are trying to work (with contractors) to mitigate (closures) as much as possible.

“I just want you to know that we’re not sitting here and ignoring all of the feedback. But we can’t eliminate all of the pain points,” Perry said.

The next phases involve storm sewer replacements, sidewalks and curbs and also street lights. Kokosing officials said the impact on traffic through the corridor would not be as great for that phase of the project.

“It will look less like a construction zone,” one said.

One resident suggested the city produce a walking map that shows how residents could more easily move around the downtown, including those Main Street businesses with back doors like Two Cousins, 3rd Cup Tea and Relax It’s Just Coffee.

“I think that would be helpful,” she said.

Officials suggested business owners and residents sign up for text alerts from DMI (see link below) and also visit the city’s Main Street Corridor Improvement Project website for real-time updates on the status of the effort.

Perry said she knows business owners and residents are frustrated.

“We are open to suggestions from anyone if there is something (else) you think we can do. Final Friday was packed (downtown). So we know people can get here and they’re finding parking spaces … with the motivation, right?” she said.