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Last night, the Merion Village Association hosted a special meeting to unveil the details of a new Gateway Signage and Streetscape Beautification Plan. Community input was sought for the plan, which was put together by the Neighborhood Design Center over the past year at the request of the Merion Village Association.
“This is an idea we’ve kicked around for a number of years,” said Bill Doughton, a Merion Village resident who sits on The Merion Village Gateways Workgroup.
“Bob Leighty and I had informally discussed from time to time the idea of public art, wayfinding signage and gateway community signage,” Doughton continued. “So I started knocking on some neighborhood doors and gauging the public temperature on this, and the response was pretty good.”
The Neighborhood Design Center was tapped last year to conduct some research on the neighborhood, including vehicular and pedestrian traffic studies. That data was then used to make recommendations on where the best types of signs, banners and gateways should be located.
“We identified three gateway intersections,” said Doughton. “Morill & Bruck, Whittier & Bruck, and Mohler & High. Those locations are still very arbitrary, and I imagine there will be some rumbling within the community… but we have to start somewhere.”
After NDC completed their study, neighborhood resident and designer Michelle Isroff completed several concept sketches (pictured throughout this article) of what these improved gateway intersections could look like.
“Michelle is brilliant and we’re really lucky to have her down here,” added Doughton. “Keep in mind that these renderings are just concepts though, and in some of these instances we’re at the mercy of private land owners. We need their permissions, and we still need to raise the money.”
Funding for the gateway projects will come from community fundraising, business community support and grant applications.
“This entire project is community driven,” continued Doughton. “Our community has initiated this and our community is doing the work. We’ve put together a good neighborhood committee and we’re raising the money ourselves. The business community has been very supportive and is ready to start raising funds.”
Last night’s meeting served to both present the renderings and studies to the Merion Village Association Board, and also to gather community input from neighbors and association members as to what the final product should look like.
“Similar to most urban neighborhoods, we’re a mix of the younger, youthful ideas and… the old guard,” said Doughton. “My hope is that these changes aren’t shot down prematurely because of some folks who think that anything new is bad. Still, this is all very exciting and I’m thrilled with the opportunities ahead of us.”
More information can be found at MerionVillage.org and NeighborhoodDesign.org.
I missed the meeting due to previous engagements so don’t hate me more than anyone all ready does.
I’m not opposed to the placements of the gates but I do find it interesting that so much money was invested along 4th st with new sidewalks, trash cans and side berms but 4th is overlooked. Especially with the MV HQ located on 4th?
Clearly the research has performed and I’m sure the reasons are just, I just find it strange.
Handford and 4th St were recognized and suggested as the best internal streets for signage in the NDC study. Last night at the meeting the consensus seemed to be to focus on passer by’ers first by focusing on the outside borders. Ideally in the end there will be signage on the internal streets as well.
The gateway at Hey Hey is my fave, since it’s right next to a signature neighborhood landmark and it’s the only one that fits the description of a gateway. The first two will just confuse people outside of the neighborhood unless there are future arches planned: they’re going to think that Merion Village begins at these points when the neighborhood encompasses the west side of High (down to Morrill), so there should be a treatment on the east and west side of High. MV also extends east to Parsons where a gateway on E Gates (facing Parsons, not over Parsons) could welcome visitors to two great neighborhood spots (Hal & Al’s and Red Brick Inn). As enhancements the latter two work, but not as gateways to the neighborhood. Just something to keep in mind if gateways are the main objective.
Good to hear something is in the works for S 4th. I’m sure if even I didn’t know about it until I passed by there that the vast majority of Columbusites don’t know it even exists. Kinda makes it hard to fill in with businesses, like the empty building on the NW corner of Moler & S 4th.
I missed the meeting last night sadly but I am happy with what I see. I’ll make sure to make future meetings.
I’d love one at the end of East Gates near Parsons, something nice could even be down with the empty lot next to Hal and Als. A park maybe, maybe, cause it might just attract riff raff for drug deals.
I am also happy 4th was mentioned. I would LOVE to see lighted arches, like in the Short North (yeah why not, why not share the love, yeah I know the project was pretty doomed but still) on the very short stretch of 4th from Hanford to Mithoff. I could see that helping to push some commercial development there, and if that happens we could have our own tiny strip like you see in Short North or Grandview.
I missed the meeting as well because of work, but thanks for posting the updates.
There are plans for the empty lot which is a part of Hal & Al’s. Those plans do cost money and it’s a pretty big footprint. I think an arch would improve the aesthetics a great deal.
27 (twenty seven) Light pole banners on South 4th Street from Hanford to Morrill is described as ‘overlooked’ ? wow !! tough crowd. Pedestrian Signage ie. info kiosk at Morrill and South Fourth as well. By my (non -certified) math 1800′ / 28 placeholders= 64′ avg. 60ft. is home plate to first base at Berliner. Every 60 steps there is a Merion Village banner. I want them to overlook my street too!
So I read “merion villagers” comment about ten times now and it still doesn’t make any sense. Anyone want to translate what they are trying to say?
ok….melikecheese I’ll try to clarify my comment. The NDC plan, prepared for MV, is 14 pages long. Lots of data ie. MORPC car counts, maps, explanations of different ‘types’ of community signage such as – vehicular – pedestrian – gateway etc. You with me? NDC uses little symbols to denote good locations for each type. Arch here….banners there …..info kiosk over here…using their own criteria to ‘rank’. Excellent – good – fair and so on. So….it’s a piece of paper ( 8.5 x 11) white with a map of Merion Village with a bunch of little dots on it in primary colors blue -yellow – orange. Again…these little color coded symbols represent where, in the opinion(educated) of NDC where stuff should go. 27 little orange dots on south 4th street from hanford to morrill. 27 2ft by 3 ft banners that hang from the light poles. one blue dot at morrill and south fourth. 28 items in a length of 1800 feet. keep in mind, that many streets “dont got nuthin” so…south 4th actually has one of the highest concentrations of MV identity stuff on the entire plan. draw your own conclusions. Under no circumstance, with this response,do I make any inference, implied or otherwise. Stinybomb seems to think that South 4th is “overlooked”. I think it’s got way too much. i would be happy to send you a copy of the NDC plan. See for yourself.I hope that clears that up. I apologize for the ‘cryptic’ memo
of course, that don’t mean it’s gonna happen
Merion Villager, Can you post a copy of this plan on line for folks in the neighborhood who couldn’t make the meeting?
Thanks….
sure thing, piece. i guess i thought it was ‘viewable’ on here somewhere. my bad
I appreciate it, thanks.
Glad to see the interest in our gateways and public art discussion. It was seriously cool at our meeting… standing room only! In the next few weeks, we’ll be putting info about this initiative up on our Merion Village website, merionvillage.org. We are waiting for the Neighborhood Design Center to send us their report, meeting notes, and pictures, they are still putting all of that together. Don’t worry if you missed the meeting, there will be plenty of opportunity this Fall for input. The NDC did very useful research for us, providing pedestrian and vehicle traffic counts and analysis of different types of gateways, public art, etc, and they gave a nice presentation at our recent meeting. One of our neighborhood volunteers created the wonderful drawings that we are showing to get some ideas out there and start the discussions. There is NO PLAN YET for what gateways we are going to create, we are brainstorming right now. We have significant decisions to make on designs, locations, and funding. Several of us have been talking about these ideas for a while, and we wanted to engage the entire neighborhood in the discussion. We have a group of neighborhood residents who will be analyzing the results from the NDC research and our initial discussions, and they will make recommendations for specific gateways, including a timetable with phases and possible ideas for funding. They’ll present those recommendations to our association board, and then we’ll present the recommendations to the broader community in a meeting this Fall. We’d love to do a project pretty soon, but we need to work the details so that we do this right. I’m hoping to have more information to share with the neighborhood at our 18th Annual Crafters and Artisans Market, coming up Saturday, October 2, at Gates Fourth United Methodist Church.
My point was simply that yes an obscene amount of money was spent to turn fourth street into a “main drag” so it seemed like a logical place to put up on arch as to continue to define 4th as part of MV.
When I think of the Short North arches they were placed directly over the main stretch of SN being High ST. In MV’s case I do tend to think as Fourth as one of the main road.
Like I stated, I’m sure the committee performed their research and the reasons are just.
The NDC plan is now available for viewing at http://www.merionvillage.org Take some time to review the recommendations. Your suggestions and comments are welcome.
Some specific gateway drawings are being added to the MVA website
Please visit: http://www.merionvillage.org/involved/gateway/gatewaydetail1.html