CNO 2.0 Venue and Details
The venue for tonight’s CNO 2.0 meeting was Heavier than Air Brewing Company. Thank you to the owner and CNO Member Nick Tarkany and his team for allowing us to take over their bar tonight.
There were 25 people at the meeting (20 members and 5 guests).
| Dennis Dockins – Guest |
| Brian Nicholas – Guest |
| Michael Norton-Smith – Guest |
| Andre Tagliamonte – Guest |
| Vicki Thompson – Guest |
| Diane Arehart – Member |
| Patrick Arehart – Member |
| Abby Branham – Member |
| Casey Dixon – Member |
| Debe Dockins – Member |
| Cheryl Dowd – Member |
| Emily Duke – Member |
| Evelyn Griffin – Member |
| Greg Griffin – Member |
| Mark Karns – Member |
| Brian Nolan – Member |
| Jean Pummill – Member |
| Ashley Simeone – Member |
| Michelle Tagliamonte – Member |
| Nick Tarkany – Member |
| Ron Thompson – Member |
| Ron Tinnerman – Member |
| Jayne Weikel – Member |
| Jon Werts – Member |
| Suzanne Werts – Member |
Announcement
Ron Tinnerman announced that the annual Tom Frazier Tee Off for Youth Golf Classic was a huge success. The 7/12/2021 event raised $40,000 that our Optimist Club can use for the youth in our community.
Community Event
- 8/7/2021, 9 AM to 1 PM, Debe Dockins announced that we need volunteers to work at the Kid’s Day in the Park event. It will be held at 1700 Delco Park Dr, Kettering OH 45420. Activities at the event are designed for kids aged 5 to 12. Free lunch begins at 11:30.
Speaker: Michael Norton-Smith, Uptown Centerville Plans
Ron Tinnerman introduced Michael Norton-Smith, the Development Director for the City of Centerville. He came tonight to talk about the Uptown Action Plan started 2 years ago for Uptown Centerville.
Webpage for Uptown Centerville: Unique – Vibrant – Historic
About Michael Norton-Smith
Michael Norton-Smith grew up in North Canton and he graduated high school in 2004. The town had about 13,000 residents at that time. The largest employer until 2007 in North Canton was the Hoover Vacuum cleaner company. Hoover’s original factory was in North Canton and at its peak employed 1000 people. In 2007, Maytag bought Hoover and moved all the jobs to Mexico.
Michael saw the affects of this loss of jobs on his small town. He decided he wanted to learn how to help with this type of situation. He set out to get a degree or degrees that would show him how to make a difference in towns facing the same issue. He finally found some education that would help him help others.
His wife is a doctor and she was matched to a hospital near Centerville. This is how he came to be in our town. He is using his training and experience to help change Uptown Centerville into a vibrant section of the community.
Previous Presentation to CNO
Michael presented at a weekly lunch on 5/18/2021. You can read the article here. Many of the details from that presentation are not included in this article. This article focused on progress and changes since 5/18/2021.
Uptown Centerville Survey
In 2019, Centerville conducted a door to door survey of businesses asking questions about retail businesses in Uptown Centerville. The consensus is traffic is a problem and parking is a nightmare. This makes greatly reduced pedestrian traffic. Several retail establishments have tried to make it in the area, but they have not been able to last very long.
Uptown Vision Statement
“Uptown Centerville is a vibrant district at the heart of our community. Uptown is a welcoming, walkable destination that is home to our history and a friendly gathering place where local businesses thrive.”
Overall, the City of Centerville wants to make the area a safer, easier place to park, stay and play in Uptown Centerville.
The hope is that there will be 3 construction phases, 1 each year, starting in 2022.
Progress for the Uptown Centerville Changes
Results of the project survey were released in June 2019. Everything was going great and they were ready to start in March 2021. Then the pandemic occurred and deadlines were extended. In September 2021, they decided they had to get something going or they would lose another year, so they let the business community know that plan.
The city is excited by the great responses from businesses. There are current restaurant owners in the Dayton area that have already purchased buildings in the Uptown area even though no construction has begun. The owners feel strongly that this will be a success and are ready to commit.
Just three days ago, on 7/12/2021, the Centerville City Council approved an entertainment district in Uptown Centerville. This is an important step. This will make 15 new liquor licenses available to vendors. All other area liquor licenses are either in use or the price for them is out of reach. The new licenses are $2500 vs $30,000 and to purchase one you must be operating an establishment; you can’t just hoard the licenses to raise the price.
Michael said the project is evolving. They have been asking the public again what they think about the project as it stands now. Some plans have changed as engineers have evaluated the plans and corrected issues with rain runoff and safety issues.
Overall, the majority of feedback is positive, and they believe the project will proceed quicker than expected with the enthusiasm of the retail business community and residents.
Thank You
Thank you, Michael Norton-Smith, for joining us to educate CNO 2.0 about the City of Centerville’s plans for Uptown Centerville.