As the warm months in Middletown approach, everyone is excited to get outside. One of Middletown’s many endearing qualities is that we offer a wide variety of parks for the public to enjoy with their friends and family.

Many individuals, groups, teams, etc. host events in the parks every year, and we love to see our parks used for positive events that bring the community and the region together.

If you wish to host an official event in one of Middletown’s parks, you may need a special events permit from our Public Works Department. These permits are easy to access and are equally easy to file with the City.

Below is a list of activities that require a special events permit in Middletown:

• Festivals at one of Middletown’s parks
• 5K runs and walks
• Parades on City streets
• Concerts at Governor’s Square
• Car shows in City parks or in City-owned lots
• Youth activity program at one of Middletown’s parks
• Soccer team try-outs at one of Middletown’s parks
• Organized sporting tournaments at one of Middletown’s parks

The permit and instructions can be found at: http://www.cityofmiddletown.org/docs/commsvc/specialeventapp.pdf.

We encourage citizens to host events and welcome your event at our parks! If you choose to host an event at one of the City’s parks and need a special events permit, there are ways in which you can expedite your process – this will save you a lot of headache!

1. Please submit your application in a timely manner. We ask that you submit your application at least 21 days prior to your event. This allows the City to file your forms, and we have a heads-up that your event will be taking place so we don’t schedule another event at the same time and place as yours. This is also especially helpful if your event requires extra City services, such as road closures, extra picnic tables, mowing, etc.
2. Please provide proper insurance information. You have to have liability insurance in order to host an event on City grounds.
3. Please do not leave trash at your location after your event! We do not charge the public for hosting events on City grounds, so please provide the courtesy to your fellow Middletonians by keeping your area clean.

Once your application is submitted, it is entered into our calendar as “pending.” A copy of your application and any extra paperwork (road closure information, parade routes, etc.) are then sent to Police Administration, Health Administration, Building Inspection, Fire Administration, Engineering, Zoning, and Public Works for inspection and approval.

Once all parties have approved of the application, the Public Works Department then moves to ensure that all necessary paperwork has been received from the applicant and that there is a signature on the original submission. Then, they file the appropriate paperwork. Once these details are complete, an approval letter is drafted and taken to Police Administration for Chief Rodney Muterspaw’s signature. The letter will then be sent to the event organizer.

Finally, the event is changed from “pending” to “approved” on our calendar. It will also be added to the City of Middletown’s online Community Calendar at this stage to allow the public to know about your event as well.

We feel it is also important to note the different events that you might want to host that do not require a special events permit – why go through all of the paperwork if you don’t need to? These activities do NOT require a special events permit:

• Any event or activity that is hosted on private property or on school property. The school district should be contacted for activities on school property.
• Any family, church, or company picnic at one of Middletown’s parks*
• Any wedding at one of Middletown’s parks or City Building plaza*
• Youth athletic team practice at one of Middletown’s parks, held on an intermittent basis

*Depending on the size and scope of these events, we may require an insurance certificate.

We look forward to hearing about your event! If you have any questions about this process, we stand ready to assist you. Please contact the Public Works Department at (513) 425-1860.

Have a great day!

I get questions from time to time asking when the final stretch of the bike path will be completed between Middletown and Franklin.

The City has secured funding to complete the final section of the Great Miami River Trail from the current endpoint near the intersection of SR 73 and Breiel Blvd. to the Middletown/Franklin city limits. The project will be done in conjunction with the City of Franklin who will complete their final section of the trail from the Middletown/Franklin city limits to Baxter Dr.

The project consist of constructing 7,400 feet (1.4 miles) of ten foot wide bike path. 3,200 feet (0.6 miles) in Middletown and 4,200 feet (0.8 miles) in Franklin. The total cost is estimated at $1.74 million. Middletown’s share is about $684,000. We have secured a grant for $546,800 to partially fund our share through OKI’s Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ) program. The funding is programmed for fiscal year 2020. The City of Franklin will receive a CMAQ grant to fund a portion of their share as well.

The grant funding is only available in 2020, which means if we want the path completed more quickly, the City would need to come up with the additional half million dollars to complete our side of the project. Given other more pressing needs in paving, we intend to wait for OKI to help us out.

One of the major challenges with this final section is the need for a large retaining wall due to the drop off from State Route 73 to the river. The required retaining wall will be 700 feet in length and up to seven feet high. The estimated cost of the retaining wall is $900,000. More than half of the $1.74 million total project cost.

When finished in 2020, this project will complete the Great Miami River Trail through Middletown and Franklin and connects the trail north to Piqua in Miami County and to over 150 miles of existing trails in southwest Ohio.

 

People have been writing me regularly to add to the new businesses I wrote about earlier this week. So… here are more new businesses and other business-related items coming to town! If you know of others, let me know and we’ll add them to the list!

Inst I Glass, 1955 Central Avenue

http://www.instiglassofsouthwestohio.com/ ; https://www.facebook.com/instiglassofsouthwestohio/

Taku Japanese Steak House (Opening this spring on St. Route 122)

New Mall Sign Being Installed at Towne Mall

I-75 Exit Gas Station

This project should start construction within the next few weeks, when the empty lot becomes the rendering below.

Atrium Clock Tower

Situated on the corner of Union Road and SR 122, this clock tower, when complete, will add to the intersection and have digital content.

 

Digital Billboard

Atrium Medical Center and the City of Middletown are partnering to change out the old Cronin Motors billboard to a state of the art digital bill board. When completed, the city will have opportunities to utilize the bill board to promote city-wide events of interest to the region along I-75.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything else. Have a great day!

 

 

We have several businesses opening and/or under construction in town… Here is a quick update:

Planet Fitness is open for business at the Towne Mall. Between Gabe’s, Burlington Coat Factory, Mattress Firm and Planet Fitness, Towne Mall now has cars parked out front day and night. We welcome these new businesses to the City.

Construction should begin in the next few weeks on a new out-lot project at the Mall that will include Buffalo Wild Wings and Aspen Dental. The new project includes over $4 million in building construction and $1.25 million in new annual payroll. Watch for progress as they begin construction.

Arlington Pointe

Arlington Pointe has completed their ribbon cutting and is ready to open the 98 bed state of the art rehab and nursing facility off of Cincinnati Dayton Road. The new facility will employ 200 medical and support jobs and should be fully operational by this fall.

NTE Power Plant

NTE continues construction and is expected to be completed in about 30 months. This $600+ million project will generate significant construction income tax and will provide 35 full time positions when completed.

Nicholas Place Apartments

Construction is underway at Nicholas Place Apartments on Towne Boulevard. The facility will feature 216 new market rate apartments in our City with open space, pool, clubhouse, basketball courts, a grill area, dog park and community garden. Apartment models and lease space will begin as buildings are completed.

AK Steel Research and Innovation Center

Construction continues on the AK Steel Research and Innovation Center at the highway with expected completion in October of this year. The $36 million facility will offer state of the art research in support of AK Steel.

 

Flores Leather Works

Not to forget our smaller businesses, I attended the ribbon cutting recently at Flores Leather Works downtown on Central Avenue. Beautiful craftsmanship of quality products. Stop downtown soon and see what you’re missing!

Have a great day!

 

We’ve talked about what it will take to be sustainable, the types of things (new jobs, families) that we need to meet our revenue goals, and the Master Plan process to create a strategic plan to accomplish our goals by 2020.

One remaining question is “if you need to invest in roads, utilities and economic development incentives to reach our goals, how do we pay for those and build revenues at the same time?”

The answer, in part, is that we are experiencing new growth at exactly the right time we need it to fund these types of expenditures. We have almost $750 million in new construction underway between the new NTE power plant, Nicholas Place Apartments, AK Steel’s Research and Innovation Center and the school district’s $90 million in school upgrades. During those construction periods, the city should see a one time influx of about $2 million in construction-related income tax over the next two to three years.

As those revenues come in, we should reinvest them in support of new business, new families and other needed incentives that bring new jobs and families to the city. This is a one time chance to invest these funds in growth that will survive long after the construction is completed.

Some people have suggested that we reinvest these funds into paving now. While I understand the temptation, I’m recommending against it at this time. Investing $2 million into $161 million in paving needs only covers about 1.5% of your city paving. Investing the $2 million in economic development and the supporting infrastructure needed to meet our long term job and family goals allows us to pave $4 million of roads each year after 2020 instead of $2 million now and hope for the best later. If we get to 2020 and we didn’t utilize all of the construction income tax, it can be redirected into additional paving at that time.

Everything we are working on is designed to expand the tax base and build long term revenues without increasing your taxes to meet city needs. Every dollar we bring in from new jobs and new families helps us get back to sustainable revenues and consistent city services. I hope you’ll continue to support our efforts and talk to your friends about our plan.

Have a great day!

 

 

So, over the past few weeks I’ve talked about the revenues we need to return to providing needed public services year after year. We’ve talked about how we might generate those revenues. We need new business and new families and improving property values and a strong quality of life.

The plan I’ve laid out for you up to this point is intended to be the skeleton of the plan. We know where we need to be with revenues and we know the types of things that could reach those revenue goals.We know that we need to pave, maintain water and sewer, and add quality of life back for our residents… about $4 million additional dollars per year.

Now how do we turn the model above into reality and how do we make sure we are moving in the direction that the residents want for their city? A lot of 2016 will be spent trying to answer those questions. The pieces generated this year will lead to a new City Master Plan in 2017. Those pieces include:

Community Visioning

The Community Building Institute and Middletown Moving Forward have conducted almost 40 focus group discussions asking residents and business owners “What do you want Middletown to be? What is missing? What would you like to see change or added to the city?” As they finish this process, it should give us a picture of what types of changes would benefit our residents, make them happier, and in turn, make this a better place to live, work and play, which in turn, makes Middletown a more attractive place to bring your family or business. The Master Plan should address what we have to have in revenues, but it must reflect what our citizens expect from their government. We look forward to those results.

Downtown Master Plan

Downtown Middletown, Inc., has been working with downtown property owners to select a consultant to prepare a new downtown Master Plan. The last one was completed around 2008-2009 and contemplated a rail station that never materialized. The recession created problems and opportunities and now the downtown has or will open about 20 businesses that weren’t there just five years ago. The new downtown plan will be based on the Main Street concept and provide details on business support, branding, amenities, style, and housing to make downtown the most sustainable and vibrant it can be moving forward. After it is completed, I expect to change out the street lights (which are at the end of their useful life) with some new style of light, and then add benches, trash cans, and other amenities consistent with the new plan. As we continue to gear up our public relations efforts, we will be marketing city-wide and downtown events to the region. Downtown is one of many areas that will receive specific attention during the next few years.

Zoning Code

We have a new City Planner, a new Zoning Administrator and the City will be adopting in 2016 a new zoning code. Our current code was written predominantly in the 1960’s and the style of zoning law in Ohio has changed since that time. The old code does not contemplate things that didn’t exist in the 1960’s. We have an ongoing discussion underway right now about food trucks and whether they can operate in the city. The old code doesn’t define them and never contemplated their use or prohibition. When enacted this year, the City should have one of the most modern zoning codes in the State of Ohio.

Airport Layout Plan

I’ve discussed in previous posts the need to expand airport operations and to generate as much economic development out of the airport property as possible. We have a preliminary plan that lays out additional tourism opportunities, industrial/manufacturing acreage and backfilling of the existing facility when completed. The next step is to update the Airport Layout Plan with the Federal Aviation Administration, laying out the details of the plan. Once that process is complete and approved by the FAA, we can start adding new business to the airport.

Housing Study

I have spent the last few months meeting with local real estate professionals including realtors, home builders and landlords (they own almost 50% of our housing stock) to understand their perspective and challenges in today’s real estate market. Our property values have not rebounded as quickly as other communities. Our effective tax rate is higher than some other communities. We have an older and smaller housing stock than many other communities. We have almost 400 vacant residential lots from demolition during the recession. My goal is to create a housing strategy that over time raises values, aids in recruitment of families, and builds a housing stock that allows families to move up and move down in price and size while staying in Middletown. What is the best balance in today’s market of rental vs. home ownership? The best balance of multi-family vs. single family rentals? The best balance of new vs. old vs. historical? The best balance of two, three and four bedroom houses? What is the best use of the vacant lots? We hope to start answering those questions this year.

Connectivity Study

This is a fancy term for “how do we move people around town?” How do we improve the way we use automobiles, transit buses, bicycles and pedestrian traffic? How do we make it faster and easier to get from downtown to the highway and back again? How do we improve the health of our community by providing better walking and bicycle options throughout the city? How do we use transit not just to move people, but as an economic development tool to get people to and from work? How do we utilize the latest in traffic signals, etc., to speed up auto traffic throughout the city? We hope to develop viable alternatives through this process.

East End Plan

The City developed a comprehensive East End plan before the recession hit. We will be looking at that plan closely to determine if it is still relevant or whether changes need to be made to reflect today’s market opportunities. The development of Austin Landing, Union Center and now Liberty Center may show us better and more modern approaches to development around the highway than were originally contemplated before the recession.

So… as we complete these items, a vision starts to come together. We know what we need… $4 million extra dollars each year to complete needed city services. We know the types of things that can generate that additional money… new families, new jobs, improved property values, etc. Now we use the information above to create the path to the goal. Not an aspirational plan but a strategic plan designed to bring us back to sustainability using the city residents’ vision of what they would like their city to become. In 2017, we put the whole package together.

Have a great day!

How we look matters. Part of getting new businesses and families to come to Middletown is to present a clean, neat appearance throughout the city when they arrive. I’ll say it again because it’s that important… How we look matters.

The I-75 interchange is our gateway into the City. If we want to develop the East End, it starts with a pleasing, tidy appearance as you come off the highway. We started that process with the ODOT improvements last year. I’m not satisfied with the end results, however, and I’ve asked Public Works to look at ways to further enhance the appearance at the interchange. If we intend to send the message that things are changing in Middletown, one of the best ways is to demonstrate those changes visually, not just to talk about them. I hope to have our interchange looking sharp by the end of 2016.

While attending a city manager conference last year, one city had what I would call a “Transform Middletown” crew that worked each summer on appearance details in the city. The concept was pretty straight forward. You assemble a seasonal crew with a public works leader. Their job is to clean and tidy Middletown. If it is bent, straighten it. If it is rusted, replace it. If it is faded, replace it. If it has peeling paint, scrape it and paint it. If it has weeds, pull them. If it needs mulch, mulch it. If it is no longer necessary, remove it. If it has trash, pick it up. Pay attention to details. I am working with Public Works to try this concept this summer. In theory, once some of these items are cleaned up along the major roads in town, the crew would move into the parks and then eventually into the neighborhoods. If it works well this year, we’ll continue the process and keep cleaning the city and paying attention to the details that would make our city more attractive every day.

I’ve asked Chief Muterspaw to look at bringing back the prisoner clean up crews that we used to use to clean trash in the parks. We are in the planning stages of how often we might be able to utilize those resources, but I would like to see some use of them this summer if possible.

In 2015 Code Enforcement staff completed 687 Commercial Code Enforcement Inspections, resolving 393 of them by year end. They completed 1,634 Residential Code Enforcement Inspections, resolving 1,274 by year end. They completed 4,112 Nuisance Inspections, resolving 3,763 of them by year end. Code enforcement staff will out this spring working to make the city a cleaner, nicer place to live. I added an additional $150,000 to the 2016 for abatement of nuisances. We work with homeowners and businesses across the city to voluntarily take care of their property violations. We will continue that practice, but for those who will not make needed repairs, we will start abating the nuisance for you in 2016. If we are going to clean up the entire city, then at some point, we actually have to clean up, with or without the property owner’s assistance. If we are going to have attractive neighborhoods and improve property values, every house on your street and every business is going to have to do their part. That includes your government. We have to do a better job of keeping our buildings in compliance as well. We’ll all struggle through this one together. The end result is worth the struggle.

Code enforcement and attention to detail will also involve removing junk motor vehicles from the city. As we move through neighborhoods and strive to clean up the city, automobiles that are either inoperable or not properly registered will be removed if the owner does not take care of the issues. The MPD task forces will not only be cracking down on drug activity in the city this spring, but they will also be taking action on any illegal activity in the area where they are currently working. If you receive a warning sticker on your car and you fail to take action, it will be towed after the statutory period to allow you to correct the problem.

Finally, how we look is about details, all the way down to how city vehicles look on the road. We are looking to update over time our vehicle appearance. If we show you that your government can change, hopefully others will start to take pride in their city and join us for the cause. Below is our first update to a Public Works vehicle. You should see it out in the city very soon, and we will be updating vehicles as we purchase new and do repair work on the older vehicles.

We’re going to be working hard to clean and tidy up the city this year. Let us know how we’re doing and feel free to point out areas that need attention. It may take us a while to get everywhere, but extra sets of eyes are a great help to find remaining problems. We welcome your help.

Have a great day!