Rebranding of Norwalk's southside

Dec. 17—NORWALK — "You never get a second chance to make a good first impression."

Norwalk Mayor Dave Light said the idea of redesigning Benedict Avenue on the south side of Norwalk would be great for the city.

The Norwalk Economic Development Corp. presented a plan to Norwalk city council with some ideas of taking advantage of the area around Fisher-Titus Medical Center.

"NEDC hired OEM to do the study on the south side," Light said, adding NEDC paid OMH $26,000 for its work, with money coming from a $14,200 JobsOhio grant and private money.

"They are pretty ambitious plans to redesign Benedict Avenue to the (U.S. 20) bypass. Very nice plans ... uplift for that whole area. With the sale of the property near the bypass and the rezoning, it would be a rebranding of the south side."

Light said it was just a vision of the future, not any solid planning.

The study was done for the NEDC, the city and FTMC.

"There are some questions," Light said. "Is there adequate water and sewer lines? They brought Norwalk City Schools and (Huron County commissioner) Harry Brady in to get everybody's input."

The plans call for a tree-lined boulevard starting at the Executive Drive light.

"As you enter Norwalk from that south side, first impressions are so important," Light said. "You are looking at a traffic light at the Elks Club (South Norwalk Road). We have had a higher number of accidents there.

"The Chapel is there and it is always busy when they have services," he added. "Always a dangerous intersection. Start with the traffic light then go from there. It would pretty nice if we can grants and money to make it happen. There are grants to help revitalization to make things happen."

There was a lot of work put into this study, Light said.

"They sure did. A lot credit to Sarah (executive director Sarah Ross) and NEDC. We are lucky to have here. She came down from Erie County and we are lucky to have her.

"This is a big deal. I will steal one of Norb Smith's quotes ... Downtown is like the city's living room."

There is a lot going on in the proposed area.

Along with FTMC, there is the Jobs and Family Services building, the county Sheriff and BMV (with a senior center in the plans), Norwalk High School and plans for a possible elementary school across the street from NHS.

"It's exciting — that's what draws people into our city," Norwalk City Schools Superintendent Brad Cooley said. "It is good for the city, good for the schools and good for the community.

"We have two good schools with Norwalk City and Norwalk Catholic. With everybody working together it is a good thing to see. With us working on our Safe Routes to School program this fits right in."

There are 19 acres of property across from Fisher-Titus and south of the light at Burger King where the old WLKR offices and Smiley Automotive used to reside. There is room for commercial and residential property. That would open up space for more retail areas.

It would be a perfect place for a store, Light said.

"Years ago we had Foodtown there," he said. "Once you get past Dave's in town, there is no place to get a gallon of milk on that side of the city."

There is a proposal on the books for a new Mickey Mart next to McDonald's with a truck entrance from Benedict Avenue and an exit on Executive Drive.

All of that is in the planning stages and would affect this new plan.

Light also pointed out a new Vacationland Credit Union coming on Executive Drive. The land was purchased from FTMC and a building has already come down.

"That will provide a much needed service on the south side," Light said. "Progress."

Speaking of progress, Light said things are going well as he wraps up his third year as mayor.

His first two years came during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Things are much better than what I ever expected," said Light, who filed his his petitions last week to run for a second term in November. "Coming into this job that is what I was hoping for. I wanted to see Norwalk progress and move ahead. Then COVID hit and the wheels flew off.

"RITA (Regional Income Tax Agency) told us to scale back to 2018 money," he said. "They told us businesses were going to close and money was going away. Every two weeks we would get the report from RITA and it was a question of 'how many people are we going to have to lay off.'

FTMC, the city's biggest employer, is at about 1,400 employees and did not have layoffs, Light noted.

"And New Horizons kept going out there," he said. "Norwalk Furniture only had a brief shutdown there. One of our other big contributors to our income base are all of our teachers here and city workers.

"We have fared better than what we expected."