Event fee waivers, affordable housing and more spark discussion at City Council
Oxford City Council agreed to move forward with a project focused on affordable housing for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities during a recent meeting. Council members also debated the fairness of granting parking waivers to organizations holding events Uptown.
A new affordable housing development got a key go-ahead and Oxford City Council considered creating a system to decide when to give organizations fee waivers for events during the most recent meeting May 6.
Wine and Beer Festival gets fee waiver, but city skeptical about future exceptions
The Oxford Chamber of Commerce received a waiver for parking and street closure fees for its annual Wine and Craft Beer Festival, but the decision sparked discussion among city officials about whether to make similar exceptions in the future.
Typically, when organizations take up paid parking spaces Uptown for events, they have to foot the bill for the daily equivalent. Event planners who shut High Street or other roads down are also responsible for covering those costs. For the Wine and Craft Beer Festival, now in its 17th year, the total waived fees come out to $2,100.
During a City Council meeting May 6, the decision to provide a waiver led to questions about when and how the city should make exceptions to the fees. The decision to grant one for the Wine and Craft Beer Festival, set for Saturday, May 31, passed 4-1, with Vice Mayor Chantel Raghu voting against it. Mayor Bill Snavely and council member Alex French were absent.
Oxford doesn’t currently have a system for deciding when to grant waivers when organizations request them. The city does not charge itself when it holds events Uptown, though City Manager Doug Elliott said they could move money from the general fund to the parking fund. Elliott said he leaned toward denying all waivers, while council members David Prytherch and Jason Bracken suggested creating a rubric or using a lottery system to guide future decisions.
Agreement for affordable housing targeted at adults with intellectual disabilities gets go-ahead
After plans for a cottage community on city-owned property along Hester Road stalled last December, Oxford’s Housing Advisory Commission recommended accepting a proposal from Empower Me Living and Inclusive Housing Resources to create a new affordable housing development at the same property. Oxford City Council accepted that recommendation during the May 6 meeting, and the project will now move into a more in-depth planning phase.
The proposed project would feature 16 homes ranging from 400 to 800 square feet. Several units will be set aside specifically for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who often face more barriers in independent living, said Empower Me co-founder Emily Kendall.
“We are going to target aging family caregivers and their loved ones with intellectual and developmental disabilities so that they can move into the community together and help ease that transition from living outside of the family home,” Kendall said. “That doesn’t have to happen during a crisis situation.”
The project will be one of the first of its kind in Ohio, Kendall said. Greene said the city plans to work with the Talawanda School District to find potential adults with disabilities who are looking for housing.
Oxford requests new seasonal bus route to community park
On the recommendation of the Recreation Board, City Council authorized a letter to the Butler County Regional Transit Authority requesting seasonal routes to the Oxford Community Park and the Knolls of Oxford.
BCRTA presented proposed route changes at a meeting last February. At the time, some people questioned the heavy focus on Miami University students and lack of summer routes. The Recreation Board is requesting a bus route to Oxford Community Park and the Aquatic Center during the summer season. The board also proposed a bus stop at the Knolls to provide public transportation for older residents.
Council member David Prytherch said the city’s recreational facilities are concentrated in the wealthiest areas of town. He supported a partnership with BCRTA to help make those resources more equitable.
The expanded route could cost the city more than $50,000, Assistant City Manager Jessica Greene said. The city doesn’t currently pay BCRTA for bus services, and the vote to send the letter did not commit any city funds to the expanded route.
Other business
The city is recommending that the mural be created on panels to be hung on the parking garage instead of on the brick itself. The mural will be at the corner facing Main and High Street, and nearly 500 square feet of space is available for it across the two walls.
The artist will be paid $20-4o per square foot of the mural, which will include the material, equipment and labor costs.
A selection committee will consider all responses to the RFQ before identifying three finalists to move on to the design proposal phase. Submissions to the RFQ are due July 10, and a final artist is set to be selected Aug. 11 with the mural completed by the end of 2025.
City Manager Doug Elliott shared that the city had come to tentative agreements with two landowners with property along the proposed route of Phase 5 of the Oxford Area Trail System. The city had previously approved using appropriations to get easements on the properties, which were the last outstanding ones for the phase which will connect Talawanda High School to Talawanda Middle School with an additional Chestnut Street connection. City Council will need to approve the agreements, likely during a June 3 meeting, Elliott said.
The city approved a contract for long-planned improvements along South Locust Street. Under the contract, Benchmark Land Management LLC will install new sidewalks, two rapid flash beacon pedestrian crossing systems and a drainage conduit along the open ditch on the east side of South Locust Street north of Spring Street.
