ASHLAND — Ashland University wants to “have it their way” in terms of future street access to Burger King.
Restaurant and AU representatives presented their cases to city council and the Board of Revisions and Assessment Tuesday night. Nearly an hour was spent deliberating AU’s proposal to vacate half of Jefferson Street.
That proposal first came to the Board of Revisions and Assessment about two years ago. It was remanded back to the university, Burger King and a residential property owner to reach a solution.
Rick Ewing, the school’s vice president of operations and planning, said he requested for the matter to come before council again because AU now hopes to pave a gravel parking lot on Jefferson Street.
But, that project would have a tight timeline. The school hopes to start and finish it while students are gone for the summer.
The university has undergone campus beautification efforts for several years. In 2022, AU’s renovation plans included transitioning Jefferson Street from a “cut-through” to a pedestrian walkway to the school’s athletic complex.
Ewing told council Tuesday vacating the street is also a matter of safety for AU students.
Ewing serves on the Ashland City Planning Commission in addition to his work at AU.
For Burger King, the proposal could mean a loss of business.
Mindy Sheriff, a 30-plus year employee of the Burger King, and Joseph Kearns, the business’s lawyer, said Tuesday they estimated around 20% of Burger King’s customers come off Broad Street. That means they use Jefferson Street to access the establishment.
Kearns and Sheriff did not have data to support these claims.
After a lengthy discussion Tuesday, the Board of Revisions and Assessments did take action.
All three members of the board — the mayor, city law director and city finance director — voted to pass the matter onto city council for a final decision.
City council plans to put the issue on its March 18 agenda. Councilors asked Burger King to bring more convincing evidence regarding its potential losses should Jefferson Street be vacated. The four members present agreed data would help them make a more informed decision.
“Good data makes good decisions,” said Dan Lawson, a council member at large.
Years in the making
Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said when AU first raised the proposal, the Board of Revisions and Assessment didn’t take action.
The city has worked with AU on matters like this before.
In 2023, the city entered an easement with the university regarding a platted alleyway.
The city vacated the alleyway, and the university constructed a publicly accessible driveway as part of the easement.
Instead, it encouraged AU to work with Burger King and other Jefferson Street neighbors, which includes one rental property, to come to a compromise. According to Ewing, the school did just that.
Ewing said the rental property would have a paved driveway and more access to their property. It’s something the property owners were excited about the last time the university talked to them about it. Ewing said that was around a year ago.
Miller said, in his view, AU has done what council asked. He also said while he appreciated Sheriff’s and Kearns’ comments, council hasn’t heard from the property owner directly.
“We just need to keep our eye on the ball here that one party is going out of their way to work out a situation that will be beneficial to all, and the others are showing up in the form of their attorney,” Miller said.
Kearns piped up during Miller’s comment, saying he’d found out Tuesday the matter would be coming before council for discussion.
Miller said he’d talked with Kearns last week, which city finance director Larry Paxton confirmed. Miller told Kearns he hoped the matter would be on the next council agenda. But, Miller also apologized if that date was unclear.
“I do appreciate the thoroughness that the council is looking at this,” Kearns said. “We do want some closure on this also, but we obviously want the opportunity … to try to get some more figures on this.”
‘This isn’t gonna go away’
The Board of Revisions and Assessment’s other members weighed in on the matter, too.
City law director Richard Wolfe raised concerns with other traffic flow changes that could come up with vacating Jefferson Street. But, Wolfe argued council should still make the final decision on the matter. He encouraged them not to do so Tuesday, however.
Wolfe said city council would have to carefully draft any proposed legislation in order to incorporate any changes the university hopes to implement. All interested parties should have notice of when that legislation will come before council.
Paxton proposed holding another meeting and setting a deadline for a choice on vacating the street. Doing so allows the parties another opportunity to “communicate with each other, knowing that this isn’t gonna go away,” before council has to make a decision.
