Chillicothe council removes Tristler Road from Yactangy Park roadway plan after public safety concerns

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — The Chillicothe City Council voted April 22 to amend proposed roadway plans for Yactangy Park, removing Tristler Road from the plan between East of Enderland Circle and the armory entrance.

Councilman Creed, chair of the Safety Service Committee, introduced the ordinance affecting the park as part of the Appalachian Community Grant Program and said the council faced a choice between modifying the road or turning it back into green space. Creed told the council that modifying Tristler Road and integrating it into a roundabout would cost about $850,000 under the city’s construction manager-at-risk arrangement, while eliminating the road and returning the land to green space would cost about $50,000 — a roughly $800,000 difference that also would avoid removing “at least 27 mature trees.”

The council approved an amendment to remove Tristler Road from the project; the amendment was seconded by Councilwoman Bennett and adopted by roll call: Bennett, Barnes, McKeever, Preston and Creed voted yes. The five members present voted unanimously to adopt the change.

The amendment followed a series of public comments opposing the planned roundabout and urging more community input. Jackie York, who said she lives at 10 Kearsley Place and owns a business on Park Street, presented a petition and told the council, “Please reconsider this roundabout at Mill And Yauk Tangie. We do not need it.” She said she had asked for accident statistics and traffic counts but had not received them.

James DeLong, owner of First Group Realty, told the council he watches the intersection daily and said it is accustomed to a traffic signal. “I think that I hate to say it, but someone’s gonna get hurt if they put this in,” DeLong said, citing pedestrian safety near the YMCA, a nearby daycare and an elementary school.

Lindsay Fasold, a resident of Westwater Street, described the planning process as “disorganized” and said the community had not been given adequate notice or clear drawings. “You guys need to table this for a little bit longer,” Fasold said, urging fuller community engagement before the council finalizes design choices.

Not all speakers agreed there had been no public involvement. John Thacker, who said he had participated in earlier comprehensive-plan meetings, told the council some residents had been involved in the planning process and cautioned against claiming otherwise.

At the meeting’s reading of ordinances, the clerk read a second reading of an ordinance approving modifications to the proposed roadway plans for the Yactangy Park area; the reading was continued to the council’s next regular meeting. The council’s amendment adopted April 22 will be applied to that ordinance when it returns for final consideration.

The council also excused three members — Payne, Dement and Proehl — from the special meeting; five members were present for the votes.

The Safety Service Committee chair’s cost figures and the council’s amendment made the fiscal and environmental trade-offs the central issue: the higher construction cost and the predicted loss of mature trees versus a lower-cost option that preserves green space. The ordinance will return for at least one more reading before final adoption.