Mansfield mayor: ‘We have to solve for parking’ in potential bank/Municipal Lot deal

MANSFIELD — No solution to parking, no deal for the Mansfield Municipal Parking lot.

That was the clear message Thursday morning when Mayor Jodie Perry met with merchants of Downtown Mansfield Inc. at Richland Carrousel Park.

“We’re trying to see if anything can be done. If it can’t, I think we can all see what the answer is going to be on this one,” Perry said.

“I can tell you neither myself nor Park National Bank are going to shove this down people’s throats if they don’t want it,” the mayor said.

The “it” in question was a proposal made public Monday when Park National Bank and Perry announced a plan to build a new office on the western half of the 1.4-acre Municipal Lot at Main and Fourth streets, a move that would eliminate about half the spaces in the 180-space lot.

In return, the bank would turn over its current eight-story building at 3 N. Main St. to the city’s new Community Improvement Corporation, among other stipulations.

The idea has met with stiff opposition, including a large contingent at the Mansfield City Council meeting on Tuesday night, most concerned about losing the free public parking at the lot and the impact such a loss could have on businesses in the Carrousel District.

Local lawmakers postponed a vote, setting it for a second read on Oct. 21.

Breaking down the deal

Here’s a look at how the proposed development deal would break down if approved by City Council. It would also need to be approved by the city’s Community Improvement Commission board, if lawmakers approve it:

• Park National Bank (PNB) would pay the CIC $175,000 for the parking lot space, which would house approximately 25 bank associates and become the bank’s primary downtown Mansfield office once construction is complete. It would be the first new construction downtown in decades if it begins in the fall of 2026, likely when the Main Street Corridor Improvement Project is completed.

• PNB would also donate $130,000 to the CIC to help pay for the development of additional downtown parking that would be lost if the new bank is built on half of the current Municipal Lot.

• PNB would also donate its current building at 3 N. Main St., appraised at a value of $1.5 million, according to the Richland County Auditor’s website.

‘We have to solve for parking’

Perry told the downtown business people she had hoped to have the replacement parking issue settled before the proposal became public. But the legislation was included in the council agenda packet emailed to the media and others on Friday, leading to inquiries about the plan.

“I did not have the additional (parking) lot under control. It was not my intention to have this go public before we had the parking settled. But the process took longer and quite frankly, the law director’s office put the wrong legislation out,” Perry said.

“At that point, I was like, ‘Well, it’s out. Let’s tell people what we are planning while we still working on the parking solution.’ That’s kind of how we got here today.

“It never was the plan either by Park (National Bank) or myself to just take the parking (spaces) and not replace it. We have to solve for parking,” she said, adding that parking solution must happen within the Carrousel District.

Perry said her desires were to keep PNB in downtown Mansfield — and to keep its historic building at 3 N. Main St. in local control through the CIC and out of the hands of out-of-town owners who may allow it to deteriorate.

“My entire work on this was to help downtown. We’ll see if we can move forward or not. If we can’t get the parking solved, that probably answers that question,” Perry said.

The mayor said she understands frustration some feel about the timing of the proposal, which comes as downtown merchants are already dealing with the impact of the ongoing Main Street Corridor Improvement Project.

That work began in March and won’t been complete until October 2026.

“I understand it for sure,” Perry said. “I don’t know what will happen with (the PNB proposal). But I am very disappointed (about) the hate that has come to Park National on this.

“They started this conversation because they are excited about what is happening downtown and wanted to be on board with it,” the mayor said.

John Fernyak, owner of Engwiller Properties — the largest property management company in downtown Mansfield — asked Perry to shelve the proposal until the parking situation is resolved.

“This is a premiere street in Richland County,” Fernyak said. “If they want a premiere street, they will wait.”

Perry said, “What I can tell you, John, is we are looking at everything we can do in the next two weeks. There’s a lot of factors in all of these things. Sometimes when you wait, you lose a deal and sometimes it gets better. I am actively talking with Chris (Hiner, PNB’s Mansfield regional president).”

(Photos from a Downtown Mansfield Inc. meeting Thursday morning at Richland Carrousel Park. The primary topic was a proposal by the City of Mansfield to sell the western half of the Municipal Parking lot downtown to allow for a new Park National Bank regional center. The story continues below the photos.)

Is a new bank building the best use?

Business owners praised Perry for her development efforts as mayor and for the decade prior to her taking office in 2024 when she led the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development.

However, they questioned if a bank was the best potential use for the space. One asked if the plan for a bank in the lot was deviating from the Mansfield Rising plan by not considering a multi-use development.

Chelsi Buck, owner of Buckeye Bakery on Fourth Street across from the Municipal Parking lot, asked if development in the space could be something that would attract people into the downtown.

The Mansfield Rising plan developed by local residents in 2019 called for development of the parking lot as a way to better link Central Park to the Carrousel District. But according to the action plan, “the best project would include retail, residential, tiered parking, and green space. The site could be more than a parking lot, it could be a vibrant space for the community.

“A transformative new development would send a clear message that the local economy is growing and responsive to the community,” the Mansfield Rising plan said.

A local study and survey done in 2022 in conjunction with Bowling Green State University examined potential development uses for the Municipal Parking lot.

According to the survey, “keeping the site as parking was the most selected response, followed by family entertainment and a mixed-use development. These responses supported the feedback from the focus groups regarding the importance of the municipal lot as a primary parking node and the need to retain free parking availability in some fashion, if the lot is developed.”

Perry told business owners she would love to see residential, retail and mixed-use developments.

“But I can’t make people spend their money,” she said.

‘It’s been this long, slow rise toward being attractive’

Source Media Publisher Jay Allred said Mansfield will continue to face such decisions in the future as it becomes more attractive to developers — and has more leverage to select better deals.

He pointed to improvements in downtown since his arrival in 1990, a downtown rebirth that began with the Richland Carrousel Park as an anchor attraction.

“When this Main Street (improvement) project is done, we’re going to have to deal with the fact people are going to want to be here. It’s been this long, slow rise toward being attractive,” he said.

“We are in the very beginning of objectively being a place where people want to be and objectively having some leverage as a community that we can employ. I don’t have the answers for how we deal with those two factors we are facing,” Allred said.

At the end of the hour-long meeting, Jennifer Kime, the CEO of Downtown Mansfield Inc., thanked the large group for attending, reminding them the group meets monthly.

“I want to to thank everyone for coming, but also for being so engaged and passionate about our downtown,” she said. “This is what makes us special. We don’t just show up and work here. We all care a lot.

“Some of us have been here for decades and decades and some of us are brand new. But we all have the same passion for making this a great place,” Kime said.