PIKE: City invites residents to open house
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By BETH ZUMWALT
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The City of Pittsfield is hosting an open house Aug. 27 at 5:15 p.m. to show residents what the planned downtown revitalization will look like. The open house will be held at the Pittsfield Fire House. The city received both a $2.8 million grant and a $3 million grant for infrastructure upgrades in the downtown area. The grants will replace sidewalks, curbs, lighting, crosswalks, parking and other infrastructure in the downtown area. This map shows the area of downtown Pittsfield that will be affected by the improvements. The courthouse square is shown in the lower middle of the map.
The City of Pittsfield is hosting an open house Aug. 27 at 5:15 p.m. to show residents what the planned downtown revitalization will look like. The open house will be held at the Pittsfield Fire House.
The announcement was made at the Aug. 6 city council meeting.
Last year, the city received both a $2.8 million grant and a $3 million grant for infrastructure upgrades in the downtown area. The grants will replace sidewalks, curbs, lighting, crosswalks, parking and other infrastructure in the downtown area.
“The project will go around the three sides of the square and include Adams Street from Madison to Memorial, intersection to intersection,” Gary Mendenhall, mayor, said “Eventually, during the second phase of the project, it will also extend onto Monroe from Adams to Jefferson Streets and East Adams from Monroe to Jackson Streets.
In addition to the revitalization grant, the city has also received a $3 million grant for reconstruction of the infrastructure around the square and one block north and one block west.
“We are going to take this opportunity to replace the water lines all around the three sides of the square,” Mendenhall said. “We have to do it anyway and we don’t want to get the streets resurfaced and have to dig them out, so we are going to do the water line work at the same time.”
The council also discussed adding property at the end of East Kellogg Street into the TIF district. Braden Damon is planning on building duplexes on the property, according to Mendenhall. By being in the TIF, Damon is eligible for tax and utility breaks as well as other amenities.
As do most municipalities, Pittsfield requires permits for various projects.
“Building permits, construction permits,” Mendenhall said. “Those fees have not been changed in years. Our fees are all over the board. A fee to build a fence is $7.50. Why such an odd number I don’t understand. Either make it $5 or $10. We are going to look at these and try to make them more uniform and with fees being more in-line with each other.”
Mendenhall said the reason for looking at the fees and most likely raising them is the amount of time it takes for a city employee to go out and measure the set-backs and check on the project.
