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Vienna City Council discusses Spencer’s Landing, new school site

By Douglass Huxley 4 min read

VIENNA -- It was standing-room only in council chambers Thursday during the regular meeting of the Vienna City Council as they discussed plans for the design and development of an amphitheater at Spencer's Landing and a proposed site for a new elementary school.

Council did not vote on approving a contract with the Thrasher Group for the overall development of Spencer’s Landing, opting to give council members more time to review the agreement and allow members of the public to provide additional feedback.

Vienna resident Tami Rhodes spoke to council about an independent survey she did on her social media page to gauge the interest of what should be done with the property at Spencer's Landing and said she received 246 responses. She said 66.5% of the respondents were Vienna residents with the rest coming from those who live in other cities in the Mid-Ohio Valley. She said 41.6% of the respondents stated they were in favor of an amphitheater being built on the site.

City Recorder Melisa Elam asked Sam Rich of The Thrasher Group if there was a way the city could do its own official survey.

"I think we need to somehow be able to highlight and make sure everybody knows this (survey) is the official you know, from The Thrasher Group, this is the compilation that we're looking for," Elam said.

She said council cares about the opinions of others in the Mid-Ohio Valley, as they are part of the overall community, but she wanted to make sure they were hearing from Vienna residents in particular.

Rich said the survey to be used will be focused on target Vienna residents specifically and use demographic questions to ensure the feedback is representative of the local community.

"So the software that we will use, it's an online platform called JotForm," Rich said. "We can filter the results based off of those responses and one of the questions it will ask is, 'Are you a resident of Vienna?' Now, people can lie. But I think most people will respond to this in a truthful manner."

Other council members stated they were in favor of an amphitheater but would like to see what kind of theater the public would like.

Mayor Randy Rapp said council will add acceptance of The Thrasher Group contract to the agenda of the next meeting.

Vienna resident Alice Goodwin questioned a vote made by Councilman Tom Azinger from the previous meeting stating he wasn't present to make a vote. City Attorney Russ Skogstad explained it was simply connection issues with the phone line and that Azinger was called as soon as they realized he had been disconnected. Video from the previous meeting shows that was the case.

Wood County Board of Education President Justin Raber, Superintendent Christie Willis and Ryan Taylor, President and CEO of Pickering Associates, spoke to council about a proposed trade that would see the district build a new elementary school at Jackson Park.

"What I would love to see is a potential land swap because we have some valuable land that has an improvement on it, as well as you have valuable land that we would like to improve," Raber said. "It would be really nice to hopefully be able to swap land and provide to the city of Vienna, the current Vienna Elementary site."

Raber said the building has valuable features that could be repurposed, such as a newer roof, gym and cafeteria. He suggested the city could potentially use it as a community center.

Rapp asked if the school district would be willing to also give the city the old Maplewood building so they could partner with the labor union for a mentorship program. Raber and Willis agreed.

The details of any potential land swap would need to be negotiated between the Board of Education and the council.

A town hall meeting has been scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Vienna Community Building for residents to ask questions, get answers and provide input about the designs for the new school or its location. Raber and Board member Judy Johnson will be attending as well as Assistant Superintendent of Operation Kaleb Lawrence.

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxley@newsandsentinel.com

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