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Council hears updates on Northland Boulevard, East Kemper, mall redevelopment and a planned EV charging project
Summary
City engineering and administration reported progress on Northland Boulevard and East Kemper projects, mall owner RFPs for demolition, OKI tools and the city's first reading of an ODOT agreement to install public EV chargers at municipal sites.
City staff told the Springdale City Council on April 16 that work on the Northland Boulevard project resumed and that traffic will be switched to new lanes near the Route 4 intersection within days, with a brief 4–6 week period of switched traffic expected at that intersection.
Engineering staff said the East Kemper Road project (Phase 1) is a SORTA grant-funded effort with a preliminary plan review scheduled April 24 and that the Northland–Kemper intersection realignment and shared-use path are in kickoff stages; the intersection work is tentatively planned for bidding in March 2027 with construction to finish by November 2028.
City Administrator Brian Yule reported that the mall ownership group is narrowing three master-developer proposals toward one choice and has issued an RFP for demolition; proposals are being evaluated and a vendor selection is expected to move the project forward, though no demolition start date was provided.
On transportation planning and regional tools, a council member summarized items from the OKI board: Raven911, a web-based GIS platform used for emergency mapping, is available to municipalities; the Access Ohio 2050 strategic transportation plan is open for public input via transportation.ohio.gov/accessohio and will affect how state funding priorities roll down to local projects.
Separately, Council held a first reading of Ordinance 18 20 25 authorizing the mayor and city administrator to enter into a Federal Local-Led (LPA) project agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation to install electric vehicle charging infrastructure at municipal locations. City staff said the plan currently anticipates multiple public-access chargers: several near the community center, two at the municipal building front lot and four in the lot across the street near the health department, for approximately nine chargers total.
Why it matters: Traffic pattern changes on Northland Boulevard and design work on East Kemper will affect commuters and construction timing; planned EV infrastructure positions the city to support electric vehicles at municipal facilities; mall redevelopment and demolition RFPs indicate private investment activity at a significant local property.
Ending: Council members were told projects differ in timeline; some near-term traffic changes are imminent while larger projects will return to council as design and vendor selections progress.
