The city has three other historic districts, the Highland which is the area around the former Middletown Regional Hospital site, the South Main Street Historic District south of the downtown core and the Urban Core Central Avenue Historic District, according to city Planning Director Ashley Combs.
MORE: A budding neighborhood group is boosting Middletown’s proposed historic district
Acting City Manager Susan Cohen said the historic district’s boundaries were changed following some concerns raised by AK Steel which owns the land off Curtis Street where the steelmaker’s headquarters and research center was previously located.
The new Oakland Park district is an area that is generally bounded by both sides of First Avenue to the north, Verity Parkway, the south-side of Woodlawn and Parkview avenues to the west, the Pioneer Cemetery property, Cohen Brothers, Inc. and the west-side of Lamneck Street to the east and Calumet Avenue to the south. The new boundaries will take effect on April 2.
The project is in the second of five phases and is designed to revitalize the entire neighborhood, attract new residents and expand the tax base.
Combs said the city has submitted its application to the Ohio State Historic Preservation Office to become a Certified Local Government last week. The state is reviewing the application and expects to hear back in the next few weeks. If the state gives its approval, the application is forwarded to the National Register for final review and approval. Once those reviews are approved, it will enable the city to assist property owners in obtaining funding for historic preservation projects.
The developers and city officials are proposing new housing that could include new three-bedroom loft homes and three-to four-bedroom townhouses, condominiums and row-houses ranging from 1,500 to 2,400 square feet on the site of the former Middletown/Vail Middle School which has 120 buildable lots. It will also include the renovation of older homes in the neighborhood. After the new association is established officially with officers and policies, tax credits will eventually become available for property owners.
There were 940 parcels and 540 houses in the historic district, according to Barton and Mayzum who have been working with Middletown officials on policies on how the incentives will be used in the historic district.
Before council voted on approving the new ordinance, Vice Mayor Joe Mulligan said the homes in the new district is part of the historic fabric of the neighborhood, adding that “smaller homes would be attractive to home buyers.”
Councilman Talbott Moon thanked developers Dan Barton and Dan Mayzum for their work so far.
“Ten years from now, people are going to look at this as a transformational moment for Middletown,” Moon said.
After the meeting, Mayzum said the effort has been two years in the making and they want to do what’s best for the community.
“We’re very happy for the residents, the business owners and the property owners,” he said. “We want to thank the city departments because everyone has worked so hard.”
Last week, Mayzum and Barton met with more than 20 residents, property owners and stakeholders as they work to establish a neighborhood association to guide the projects that are being planned that include multi-family redevelopment of the former Vail/Middletown Middle School and Mayzum’s plans to redevelop the former Carnegie Library on First Avenue.
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