February 2, 2006

By Robert Mihalek

Supporting economic development and establishing a permanent greenbelt around Yellow Springs top the list of goals identified by Village Council at its annual goal-setting meeting on Monday.

The two goals received support from all five Council members.

Another goal, related to prioritizing budgetary needs to pay for capital projects and daily operations and to build up cash reserves, received four Council members’ votes. Three other goals received support from a majority of Council members.

In all, nine goals were proposed by Council members and Village Manager Eric Swansen.

The goals identified at the meeting are considered drafts. Council members are expected to adopt the goals, through a resolution, at their next meeting, Feb. 6. The wording of the goals could be altered as part of the formal adoption process.

Swansen proposed the format of the meeting — which included a review of Council’s 2005 goals and a discussion of opportunities for and threats to Yellow Springs — and then led the discussion and assisted with the wording of the goals.

After Council members and Swansen agreed to the wording on nine proposed goals, each Council member voted for his or her top five preferences. Swansen stressed that Council members should not propose overly detailed goals, so that Village staff, Council and the community would have room to devise strategies to complete the goals.

The goals receiving unanimous support from Council were:

• Define the most effective role for the Village in economic development in our region in order to maintain diversity.

• Establish a permanent protective greenbelt, especially the Jacoby Creek watershed.

Referring to the economic development goal, Council president Jocelyn Hardman said that she was interested in determining how the Village can use job growth to influence the community’s diversity. “For me, diversity is the motivating factor,” she said.

Earlier in the meeting, she said that the state of Ohio is encouraging local governments to collaborate with one another.

Council member Karen Wintrow said part of this effort could be showing “that Yellow Springs provides benefits to the entire region.”

Council also included conservation efforts on its 2005 goal list.

Hardman said the Village had interest in preserving as open space two primary areas: the wellhead protection area, where the Village draws the public water supply, and the Jacoby Creek watershed, west of Yellow Springs.

Noting that some of the properties in the wellhead protection area are privately owned, Hardman said it should be a long-term goal of the Village to obtain land in that area.

Much of the Jacoby Creek area, while identified as a greenbelt, is not protected. Through consultation with the public, Tecumseh Land Trust and property owners, Swansen said, Council will have to establish policy options for green space preservation.

The goal receiving the votes of four Council members was:

• Balance the Village’s capital needs, operations and maintenance, cash reserves, affordability and resources to develop a prioritized project list. This received support from Kathryn Chase, Judith Hempfling, Bruce Rickenbach and Wintrow.

This goal is based on Council’s successful effort to create a five-year financial plan, which had been a goal in 2004 and 2005. The plan includes calls for increasing revenue, building up of reserves and addressing the Village’s capital improvement needs.

The following goals each received three votes from Council members:

• Become a wired and/or wireless community; Hardman, Rickenbach and Wintrow.

• Define the Village’s role in facilitating and enhancing commerce downtown; receiving support from Hardman, Hempfling and Wintrow.

• Develop a strategic plan that would involve extensive public input to accomplish and define visions, values and critical success factors that define the Village’s future; Chase, Hempfling and Rickenbach.

The wired and wireless goal is the idea of providing broadband Internet access and digital cable and even phone around the community. The Village could provide some of these services or bring in another company.

In discussing this goal, Rickenbach said Yellow Springs has an opportunity to “become a hot zone or a dead zone.” Becoming wired and wireless, he said, would help local residents and businesses connect to the rest of the world and attract new residents and businesses that need to be wired.

When discussing downtown, Rickenbach said that “small business districts like ours” are threatened by malls, including The Greene, the new mall being built in Beavercreek, and big-box stores.

Hempfling said she thinks society is at the “edge” of a point where “people are starting to appreciate intact downtowns,” like Yellow Springs’.

The strategic plan goal was recommended by Swansen, who wrote in material he prepared for the meeting that the plan “would serve as the policy basis for future goals of the Village, related policy documents and annual Council workplans.”

One other goal received two votes, from Hardman and Wintrow:

• Define the Village’s role in public relations efforts.

What others said

Time was reserved during the meeting for audience members to speak. Many villagers in the audience addressed opportunities and challenges facing Yellow Springs. Here are a few of the comments that local residents made.

Glenn Watts said that the shift in demographics, including an aging population, will affect the Village’s tax structure and services. He said the community needs to think about creating jobs for young people, “and that means we have to bring jobs and commerce back to the village.”

Pat Murphy applauded the level of public participation in various efforts in the village. He said a lot of groups, many of which have Council members on them, have been formed in the last two years.

Gina Paget said that public debate in Yellow Springs is “fractured” and that a “community voice about what are our values” does not exist.

Stan Bernstein said the issue of peak oil, when the demand for oil is greater than the supply, poses an opportunity for Yellow Springs “because we have a well-defined downtown” and a “walkable and bikeable community.” He also said the Village has a chance to plan, “with lots of public input,” the northwest quadrant of town, or the area between Dayton Street, King Street, Fairfield Pike and East Enon Road.

Paul Abendroth described as an opportunity the cultural corridor project, linking communities along U.S. 68.

Contact: rmihalek@ysnews.com