MOUNT VERNON — The Knox County Commissioners met Monday with Richard Stallard and Randy Pore from the Regional Planning Commission to continue the process of identifying potential areas for the future growth of the city of Mount Vernon. This comes as the long-standing water and wastewater contracts between the city and the county expire in early February.
Pore showed the commissioners a map of the Mount Vernon city limits, identifying possible areas for controlled future growth. Stallard, chairman of RPC’s Land Use Committee, added that these were hypothetical considerations, not suggestions or advisories to the commissioners.
Starting with Monroe Township, Pore illustrated how areas on the north side of U.S. 36 (Coshocton Avenue) would suit potential development better than areas on the south side, which have some topographically steep slopes and wet soils due to the drainage pattern of Wolf Run. Pore said Pleasant Township was even more problematic, offering only limited possibilities for future development. Large, undeveloped areas in the township that are contiguous with the city limits lie within the flood plain of the Kokosing River.
Parts of Clinton Township near the city also lie within the flood plain of the Kokosing, but other areas are clear of the flood plain and offer potential for controlled development. Pore pointed out that the land bordered by Ohio 229, Burke Road and New Delaware Road offered potential for development, particularly since it was an area bordered by roads which could serve as effective borders for any future expansion of the water and wastewater service areas. One drawback, according to Pore, is that this area is also prime farm land.
“If we need to give up 80 acres [here] to preserve 800 acres somewhere else, those are obviously numbers that we’d need to consider,” Pore said, referring to farmland preservation activities within the county.
In Morris Township, the south-central and southwest parts of the township are in the Kokosing flood plain, while much of the southeast portion of the township is already residentially developed, although not in the city water and sewer service area. Pore pointed out that some areas are potentially well suited for development, including land near the Knox County Fairgrounds between McKenzie Road and Fairgrounds Road. He also showed that there is an area between the houses on Fairgrounds Road and the city limits which could be filled in with development.
Pore said if these areas in Morris Township were developed further, the RPC Land Use Committee would recommend attempts be made to connect neighborhood roadways, avoiding the cul-de-sac streets that are common in the already developed areas.
“It fosters a sense of community to have those connections,” said Stallard, who added that it also makes access much easier for emergency vehicles.
Commissioner Allen Stockberger said the commissioners’ plan at this point was to extend the current contracts for one year while a future long-term contract was prepared for use starting in 2009.
Stallard said he had numerous notes from reviewing the water and sewer contracts about ways to revise and clarify punctuation and phrasing of the documents. He also said it would take a lot of work to get the contracts to reflect the city’s growth capacity for coming years.
“That’s what planning is for,” replied Stockberger.
