“It will be compliant with COVID regulations,” said Dan Corey, director of the Butler County TID. “It will be virtual and physical, most likely, and we plan on doing that in the next three months.”
Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill is being constructed on Hamilton’s West Side, on the former Champion paper mill property. It is expected to be largely completed by the end of this year and eventually is expected to attract 10,000-plus athletes and their families to tournaments and training events some weekends.
Given those crowds, local officials are placing an emphasis on the proposed North Hamilton Crossing project, which is to span the Great Miami River and CSX railroad tracks, while creating a northern roadway through town that would give motorists an alternative to driving on High Street, which sometimes is crowded.
In February, Corey and consultants from Stantec, which is working on the “Purpose and Need” statement that will describe why the project is necessary, met with officials from Hamilton, Fairfield Twp. and Butler County government to ask them questions similar to those that will be asked of the general public when the input session happens.
Corey said officials hope to have the Purpose and Need statement within the next six months. The public input will be key to developing that statement, he said.
Development of the preferred route “is somewhat funding-dependent on how we continue to pay for the consultant work and the other costs that come along with that, in achieving that milestone, but we would anticipate, funding-dependent, on having that completed in a one-year timeframe from right now.”
The TID board on Monday approved a resolution authorizing staff to submit funding applications to various agencies, including the Ohio Department of Transportation’s TRAC (Transportation Review Advisory Council) program, which awards funding based on the benefits of one highway project when compared against others around the state. Among factors considered is economic development opportunities.
Among other programs from which funding may be sought are ODOT’s Office of Jobs & Commerce and the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, which awards construction funding to projects.
Corey said local officials at the February meeting did not favor a limited-access highway. He offered that as an example of the kinds of questions the public will be asked during the upcoming meeting.
That feedback from the public will be a major guide in determining the new roadway’s route and the form it takes, he said.
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