'Master Plan' to Address North Canton's Goals, Problems

City officials and those at the  have devised a way to identify new opportunities for development and improvements within the city.

But it’s contingent upon public input and community support, and they’re hoping to get a feel for both at a meeting coming up July 21.

Chamber of Commerce Chairman Bill Strohmenger addressed North Canton City Council Monday night to tell how the plan, which took years to formulate, finally is taking shape.

“This is going to be our plan, and we want to make sure we have enough representation from people in the community,” Strohmenger said.

The plan will address the city’s downtown core, the Main Street corridor, the East Charlotte Street/Portage Street area and the area, according to a news release from the Chamber.

Strohmenger said two groups of community leaders formed and narrowed down three goals involved in the plan. The first two are to understand the city’s problems and goals, then to address those problems and goals to find solutions.

“And three is to develop a plan — and this is key — that has widespread community support.”

The Chamber invites residents, business owners, representatives of local institutions and anyone with an interest in North Canton to participate in the upcoming meetings. Those are:

• 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. July 21 at the North Canton Civic Center. Agenda: Review existing conditions — problems that need to be fixed, assets that should be enhanced and opportunities to bring appropriate new development to the city.

• 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Sept. 20 in the Francoeur Room inside Walsh University’s Barrette Center. Agenda: Community workshop in which preliminary ideas are presented and participants will be asked to respond to and revise these ideas, as well as add their own ideas to the mix.

• 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m. Nov. 16 inside the Francoeur Room inside Walsh University’s Barrette Center. Agenda: As the community’s ideas are developed into a plan, participants will have an opportunity to weigh in on their priorities for implementation.

The Plan, which builds on previous efforts including Imagine North Canton, was initiated by the North Canton’s Department of Economic Development, with the support of the North Canton Chamber of Commerce, and direction from a Steering Committee comprised of community leaders and stakeholders, according to the Chamber's news release. The Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative (part of ) is providing technical support to this process.

For more information including location, parking, times and dates, contact the North Canton Chamber of Commerce at 330-499-5100.

In other news:

• Council had a third reading on an ordinance allowing Mayor Held to extend an occupancy grant tax credit to and two other companies. The companies plan to move into the Hoover District.
• Council set a special meeting for Aug. 22 to consider an alternative tax budget that must be filed by the end of that month.
•  the city is painting fire hydrants as firefighters are testing them.
• Councilman Pat DeOrio announced he would not seek re-election or run for any other positions in North Canton in November.