What does the community need? What do residents want? What’s best for Yellow Springs?
Those were some of the underlying questions threading through the discussion by members of the Yellow Springs Development Corporation, or YSDC, during their first meeting of the year, Tuesday, Jan. 12, held through the online Zoom website.
Members of the quasi-governmental group, which includes representatives from the Village, the Township, the schools and Antioch College, spent a large portion of their January meeting looking back over their activities since starting up last year and considering how they might move forward in 2021.
“Lessons learned” is how YSDC President Abel framed the conversation, particularly in terms of the group’s biggest project, the sale of the former firehouse on Corry Street.
Yellow Springs school district leaders are pushing forward to develop a plan to address identified structural needs in the local public school buildings.
During the school board’s most recent regular meeting, conducted online Thursday, Jan. 14, board members unanimously approved a contract with SHP Leading Design, designating the Cincinnati-based firm as the “pre-bond architect” that will work with the district in developing a new master plan for Yellow Springs school facilities.
The contract approval followed a special board meeting Monday, Dec. 28, held specifically to hear Superintendent Terri Holden’s recommendation and name the firm whose work will include helping the district prepare a bond levy measure to take to local voters. The superintendent and board’s goal is to have a facilities issue on the ballot in November. The treasurer has estimated the cost for repair or new construction of the district’s buildings at a minimum of $30 million.
BARRIE, ONT. A blackened skeleton is all that remains of a palatial waterfront home in the Blue Mountains following a raging overnight fire. A neighbour of the home on Lake Drive spotted flames just before 3 a.m. Monday. By the time we got there, the flames were already through the roof, and it was not very long after that the thing was just completely enveloped, Mike Hutchings said. Blue Mountains Fire Chief Steve Conn said flames were coming from all directions. At the height of the battle, there were 27 firefighters at the scene. Conn said no one was home at the time and that the five-bedroom, five-bathroom mansion was under construction. It recently sold for $7-million in a deal expected to close in May.
A new economic development organization started up in the village this year.
The Yellow Springs Development Corporation, or YSDC, is a quasi-governmental, nonprofit corporation that has been designated by the Village of Yellow Springs and Miami Township as their official Community Improvement Corporation, or CIC. The group also has representation from Yellow Springs Schools, Antioch College and the Yellow Springs Community Foundation. Its first meeting was Feb. 4.
The group worked primarily on two activities: exploring the possibility of siting “an educational commons” on the Antioch College campus, and selling the former Miami Township fire station on Corry Street, which was set to be vacated after trustees and the fire department moved in November to their new facility across town. The group also helped distribute local coronavirus relief to businesses.