SINCLAIR OKS $4.5M FOR STREET CHANGES
Work on project at college will begin in spring, expected to be completed by fall of next year.
Sinclair Community College is moving forward with a plan to make major changes to Fourth and Fifth streets near its downtown campus.
Sinclair’s board of trustees has approved spending $4.5 million on changes and updates to the streets that have long been in the works as part of the school’s strategic plan. The project will be paid for with money from Sinclair’s reserves and levy funds, according to a board of trustees agenda.
The new street design will include the narrowing and realign- ment of both Fourth and Fifth streets, both eastern and western gateways to campus, a plaza in front of Building 10, short term parking for student services and a western pedestrian pathway, according to a resolution trustees will consider today.
Work on the project will begin this spring and is expected to be finished in fall 2019, said Madeline Iseli, senior vice president of advancement at Sinclair.
Part of the idea behind the project is to bring Sinclair’s buildings in downtown Dayton together into more of an identifiable campus, Iseli said.
“First of all it’s about connecting visitors, new students and continuing students to the front door … of the campus,” Iseli said. “It’s making a grand entrance so that everyone knows exactly where to go.”
Trustees will also vote on a resolution authorizing an agreement with the City of Dayton to remove parking meters from a portion of Fourth and Fifth streets. If approved, Sinclair will pay the city up to $62,000 a year for the next five years to make up for meter revenue, according to a board resolution.
For years, Sinclair leaders has been working on ways to ease the flow of traffic near the school’s downtown Dayton campus, Sinclair spokeswoman Deena John told this news organization in June.
Sinclair has been working with local and national experts to redesign portions of campus as part of a larger master plan. The redesign would aim to make Sinclair’s campus safer and easier to navigate, John said.
In 2013, a consultant for the community college proposed closing a section of Fourth Street because Perry and Fifth streets could be made two-way roads.
Safety discussions re-emerged as an issue in June when a fatal crash occurred near the school. Opal Clouse, 87, of Kettering, died after her silver Honda was hit near the intersection of South Perry and West Fifth streets.
Some of the changes will be Sinclair’s attempt at “calming the traffic” by reducing traffic lanes and possibly reducing the speed limit, Iseli said.
“Now it’s not obvious how you get in,” Iseli said. “So that’s why this new street-scaping, front door treatment is so important.”