MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon City Council announced on Feb. 26 that a public meeting would be held to hear from residents about the proposed Edgewood Road Improvement project.
That meeting arrived on Wednesday where residents were encouraged to come and voice their opinions and ask questions.
Did they ever.
Residents from the east side of Mount Vernon, either part of Edgewood Road or adjacent streets voiced concerns about property rights, children’s safety, increase in traffic and lack of communication and engineering drawings.
The roughly 90-minute meeting was resident-driven, with council members only listening to public comments and taking notes.
Mount Vernon resident James Stallard has lived on Edgewood Road for 49 years. With those years have come concerns about expanding the roadway.
“The purpose of this agreement is widening Edgewood Road from Gambier Road to Coshocton Road. This has been a controversial matter for more than 45 years,” Stallard said from a prepared written statement. “As residents have strongly objected to the constant destruction of their quality of life by an ever-increasing flood of traffic.
“No one doubts that the implementation of the agreement will increase the flood of traffic still more.
“The information provided by the city administration on March 1 about altering Edgewood Road is inadequate to the point of being an elitist insult, more effort to hide than to inform.”
Residents worried about decrease in property values
Stallard argued residents should be completely informed about such an implementation of the agreement so “we can judge how our properties might be affected and how negatively the increased through traffic will affect our property values and quality of life.”
Stallard also asked council to remove the phrase “declaring an emergency” from the resolution citing it should be used for matters of immediate importance.
Former council member Mike Hillier echoed Stallard’s comments about the emergency phrase in the resolution.
“On page one of the resolution it says ‘declared an emergency.’ My question is can anybody explain to me how this has to be passed as an emergency legislation? Unless you don’t want to give any time for response from the residents after it’s been passed or what you’ve already heard,” Hillier said.
Mount Vernon resident and family doctor Zach Thurman said he’s worried about children’s safety due to the proposed resolution, noting he has four boys.
“I want to raise my boys in a place that feels safe,” Thurman said. “I just want to make sure that safety is part of this conversation.”
In a written statement, Mount Vernon resident Dennis Swingle said the Edgewood Road Improvement project will have major impacts on the entire R-1 neighborhood.
“The information provided by the city administration so far on the proposed alteration of Edgewood Road is insufficient,” Swingle said. “No part of it is sufficient to allow residents to even understand how much property will be taken, much less the impact on the quality of life of the entire neighborhood.
” The pitiful information released so far seems designed to hide more than to explain or convince. This is a guaranteed way to inflame the public.”