MANSFIELD — It’s a 2,034-acre sleeping giant on the north side of Mansfield that city officials hope will finally be fully awakened.
That’s the idea behind “Cleared for Takeoff,” a five-year development plan for Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport unanimously approved by City Council on Tuesday evening.
After the meeting, Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry said the plan sends a message the city is prioritizing development at the nearly century-old airport.
“There are not a lot of airports that have actual economic development plans,” Perry said. “We felt that it was unique enough that it shouldn’t just necessarily be pushed in with (other development plans.)
“There’s a lot of unique assets about the airport, certainly the runway length, the past military and current military ties there and (the fact) it sits right in the heart of our prime industrial land,” the mayor said.
The 26-page plan was primarily developed by Barrett Thomas, senior economic development director for Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development, an organization with which the city contracts.
Airport development is also at the top of the list for Jessica Gribben, president and CEO of the Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development.
“I think that’s a focus: how do we best utilize that (airport) asset to attract business or grow business here in Richland County?” Gribben said during an Aug. 6 Richland County Board of Commissioners meeting
The wide-ranging document hopes to take advantage of an airport that features long runways, an FAA-controlled tower, fixed-base operator and immediate access to a number of adjoining industrial parks.
Perry said Tuesday, “Overall, I’m excited that we’re taking the step … that we’re showing, particularly the investors out there, the city is committed to maintaining the airport and building it up.”
(Below is the five-year economic development plan for Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport unanimously approved by City Council on Tuesday evening.)
She said Mansfield Lahm is used more than people realize.
“But we know it can be utilized even more, probably not the way they think as a commercial airport, where you’re going to take a passenger plane, but definitely with freight, cargo and private flights,” the mayor said.
Among a myriad of goals, the city hopes to attract aerospace businesses to the airport area, similar to Springfield, Ohio, which recently landed Ondas Sentinel for its Springfield-Buckley International Airport.
The company is locating Springfield’s new National Air Mobility Center of Excellence, bringing new jobs and technology to the Clark County city west of Columbus, most notably the building of autonomous drones.
“Springfield and that connected corridor down there is a really good example,” Perry said. “They’ve really carved out a nice niche for themselves at their airport.
“We won’t duplicate it, but there’s other technology and things that will be coming here. We’ve got clear airspace, easy access to the major airports and a good workforce here. At one time, you only thought of drones as military, but now you have delivery drones and all sorts of things,” the mayor said.
“There’s a lot of levels there that I think we could try to find our niche. That’s going to be the key for us. Not to replicate what’s happening elsewhere, but to try to carve out something that we won’t be the only one doing it, but one of the few,” Perry said.
Just as in all economic development, planners must play the long game.
“There’s nothing in the works, but we’re trying to put ourselves on the map for that. So that’s one big thing that I’m excited about,” the mayor said.
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City Council on Tuesday night also:
— heard from Safety Service Director Keith Porch, who said a project to inspect and flow test all 2,800 fire hydrants in the city will be accomplished in 2026. He said testing is normally divided so that all hydrants are tested every four years.
“The mayor wanted the priority of testing to reset our data point to see where we are with (all) our fire hydrants within the city, which was obviously an excellent idea,” Porch said.
He said 2,453 hydrants have been inspected and tested thus far and the remainder will be done “before the snow flies.” He said 407 hydrant repair orders were generated for city workers and 186 of those have been fixed.
“We currently have 221 work orders that are open on our fire hydrants, ranging from minor to major repairs. But I can assure you a majority of the ones that are (still) open are minor repairs that are needed. A lot of the equipment has to be ordered by our street department for the replacement parts which are backordered or backlogged in some cases,” Porch said.
He praised fire department members for their efforts.
“I can tell you through the inspections, which are being done by our fire crews, they have done an excellent job of what we’re doing with this program,” Porch said.
— heard an update on improvements in city parks from Public Works Director Louis Andres.
He said repairs were complete to the basketball court at Liberty Park that was vandalized in April and that the new disc golf course was opened for usage at Middle Park. A ribbon cutting for that new feature is planned Friday afternoon.
“Each week I go out and sit at parks or different projects that we have in the city and kind of get feedback from our visitors … seeing what they’re doing and what they think about Mansfield and some of the improvements,’ Andres said.
“I also stopped by Maple Lake Park and saw teenagers in the park … without phones … skating,” he said with a laugh about the new Bad Magic Skate Park that recently opened there.
“There were also kids playing basketball and there was people that were running, so kids playing in the playground. All these things that we’re doing are positive things for our city and sometimes we don’t recognize that,” Andres said.
“All these things that we’re doing, they are actually being used and that’s a wise use of our investments,” he said.
— heard from Mansfield resident Arizona Hess, who criticized city leaders.
” I am incredibly disappointed in the council and our city leaders. Respectability politics is a plague stopping people in positions of power from speaking truths and making change,” said Hess, who said she was a fourth-generation Mansfield resident.
Hess thanked 3rd Ward Councilwoman Crystal Davis Weese, who in August spoke out about acceptance of a $24,772 Project Safe Neighborhoods Grant from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services that will be used to pay police department overtime.
The grant The funds, obtained as part of a larger Northern Ohio Violent Crime Consortium award, will be used for training and also to cover overtime for the Mansfield Police Department’s crime analytics program.
The grant is part of a larger award, managed in this case by Toledo police, and the portion allotted to Mansfield is a sub-award.
“Councilwoman Davis Weese, I would like to thank you for speaking up last meeting and being the only dissenting vote for using prevention funding to pay overtime to police officers. The police have absolutely nothing to do with prevention.
“If we really want to lower crime, we must stop funneling money into law enforcement and instead turn all of our focus into making sure Mansfield residents have their needs met,” Hess said.
— voted to accept a $10,000 grant from the TransCanada Energy Corporation for the purchase of rescue equipment for the Mansfield Fire Department. The funds will be used to purchase confined space rescue equipment, such as breathing tanks and respirators.
— voted to accept a $220,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services through the Richland County Board of Mental Health for personnel costs in four speciality courts in the Mansfield Municipal Court (Domestic Violence Court, Drug Court, Mental Health Court and Veterans Court.)
— approved one damage claim by a resident and denied another.
