The first of at least three public forums on how the Pro Football Hall of Fame Villageproject may affect neighborhoods near it was held Tuesday evening in Canton.
It was a public gathering but not a traditional presentation. A hundred or so residents circulated among information tables around the room with maps and fact sheets on parts of the project.
Attendees like Larry Fisher of the Meyers Lake neighborhood were disappointed not to see a comprehensive view.
“It would have been great to see what ideas are in the works right now so that if they are asking the public to dovetail off that, you could see what’s planned currently. A positive thing that I did see: At least they have bicycles in the discussion. I’m an avid bicyclist and this is a terrible area to bicycle.”
The Stark County Regional Planning Commission hosted the forum as part of a year-long community-focused study of possible impacts of the Hall of Fame Village. Emil Liszniansky is a principal in the consulting firm the commission hired to do the actual study.
“Any time we do a public planning process we want to engage the public and get as many voices as we can to the table. So we’ve been meeting with a lot of stake holders—those would be regional agencies, neighborhood groups. But we also want to hear from the residents, people who live here every day that are affected the most.”
Tuesday evening’s session lasted two hours. And, although each information station was staffed by project planners to answer specific questions, there was no public question and answer period.
At the end of the year, when the study is concluded, there will be a report issued on what Canton residents have said they want the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village to be for the surrounding communities.
