Faux brick surface coming to Ashland alley beside brewery

ASHLAND – The city of Ashland is moving forward with plans to beautify the alley beside Uniontown Brewing Company, preparing the space for the restaurant and brewery’s much-anticipated outdoor seating.

City council members approved an ordinance Tuesday to enter into a $34,764 contract with Paveway Systems to apply a surface treatment on top of the asphalt in the alley, which city recently repaved. The surface treatment is designed to make the asphalt look like brick. 

“Everyone’s eager to get the tables set up,” Mayor Matt Miller said. “It’s my understanding that the brewery already owns the tables and they’re all ready to go.”

Miller referred to the project as an important step forward for downtown Ashland. He added the city will watch to see how the treatment holds up in order to determine whether it may be a viable option for other areas downtown. 

The surface treatment will be paid for through a public-private partnership between the city and Ashland County Community Foundation, which has agreed to give $15,000 toward the project, according to Miller.

“In the next coming year and the years out ahead, I think you’re going to hear us use that term public-private partnership more than you’ve ever heard it used before,” Miller said. “Not only does the community foundation want to help with some of these projects, but there are individual citizens and businesses that have been meeting with me and talking about getting involved.”

Miller referenced revitalization of Cleveland’s lakefront area as an example of progress that can be made through public-private partnerships. 

Council members also approved an ordinance authorizing the mayor to enter into a contract with a traffic signal engineer to design the city’s East Main Signals Upgrade Project. 

The project will include a complete replacement of the traffic signal at Claremont Avenue and East Main Street, as well as signal upgrades along East Main Street at the intersections of Center, Union, Arthur and Miller streets. Each of those traffic signals will be modified to allow preemption of the signals to help police and fire vehicles move through the intersections more efficiently in emergency situations. 

The project is being completed using a combination of local dollars and a $240,000 Ohio Public Works Commission grant.

For the initial design phase, 80 percent will be paid for through grant. The city will cover the remaining 20 percent, which amounts to $5,790. 

Council members also agreed to waive their right to hold a hearing regarding the transfer of a liquor license from The Happy Grape to Sidecar3, the business that operates The Taproom on Main. The taproom opened last month in the former Happy Grape location. The city’s assistant law director, Andrew Bush, told council it is not uncommon for new businesses to begin operations using the previous building occupant’s liquor license. 

Also Tuesday, the council held its first public hearing on its 2019 tax budget. 

Finance director Larry Paxton emphasized the tax budget is merely an estimate or projection of revenues and is not the same as the city’s appropriations, which is how the city will budget for expenses for the coming year. 

The tax budget shows the city expects to begin 2019 with about $14.4 million and end the year with about $4.1 million, bringing in $45.7 million and spending $55.9 million. 

The city’s general fund is projected to be about $1.7 million in the red by the end of 2019, but Paxton and Mayor Matt Miller emphasized city leaders will not allow expenses to exceed revenues when it comes time to appropriate funds. 

A second tax budget hearing will be held July 17 at 7:20 p.m. during the council’s next meeting.

After the council completed its business for the evening, Miller announced to the public motorists can expect to see significant pavement repairs on the worst sections of Claremont Avenue within the next couple of weeks. Though the city has opted to wait four years to do a full-depth repair using state grant dollars, city leaders have set aside money from their paving budget to improve the road conditions with temporary repairs. 

Miller also told council members he and other city administrators have begun discussions about reutilization of the city council chamber, which has been vacant since council began meeting at the Ashland City Schools administrative offices earlier this year. 

“I just want to put that on your radar, because of course some of those items for the remodel will come at an expense,” Miller said. “We’ll try to do as much in-house as we can, but we need to make use of that valuable space.”

The city’s next council meeting, scheduled July 17 at 7 p.m., will include presentations about the status of Brookside Golf Course and about the city’s targeted plan for key areas of the city. The plan is being developed for the city by OHM Advisors with funding from the Ashland County Community Foundation.