Friday afternoon, Frankfort city officials released details of a trio of stakeholder meetings regarding the upcoming Holmes Street corridor project, which will see active infrastructure repair and revitalization of the roadway from the U.S. 127/Holmes interchange to the intersection of High and Main streets in downtown.
The meetings will be on Monday, Feb. 27, at Memorial Baptist Church at 138 Holmes St., Thursday, March 2, at The Point Community Church at 1142 Holmes St., and the final meeting will be at Thorn Hill Education Center at 700 Leslie Ave. on Wednesday, March 8.
Those wishing to attend can contact the city at 502-352-2072 to make an appointment to attend one of the stakeholder meetings. Individual slots are set for 30 minutes each and will be available for any of the three meeting days between 9 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Map detailing areas of focus regarding the Holmes Street Corridor project. Courtesy | City of Frankfort
Stakeholders to these meetings will include residents of the Holmes Street area, business owners, state and local officials, law enforcement, transportation officials and education officials who would be directly impacted by the project.
According to project manager, Chuck Knowles, “The purpose of these meetings is to provide individuals or small groups the opportunity to learn more about the project from the consultant team and to listen to comments and concerns from a wide variety of interests.
“As with any project of this scope and complexity, there are sometimes competing factors affecting the design and implementation. It is our goal to find a reasonable balance between these competing factors.”
Major topics of discussion will include input provided by Strand Associates, the consultants who are charged with evaluating, as Knowles explained, “opportunities and constraints along the entire corridor.” This includes social impact studies on housing, traffic and crash impact studies, and parking observations.
The first studies into needed repairs to the area were initially conducted in the early 2000s, with a task force focusing on the revitalization of the area organized between 2003 and 2004. This research led to a master redevelopment plan in 2007, which has been integrated, at least in part, to the current Downtown Master Plan.
Since that time, the area has struggled to maintain both residential and commercial populations, with falling property values a major concern. The corridor is also prone to flooding, which can impede traffic for commuters and residents during major weather events.
Holmes Street has also been identified as a “food desert," with no grocery stores offering fresh produce and limited options for other groceries outside of convenience markets and merchandise or variety stores like Dollar General or Family Dollar.
According to the city’s website about the project, “this area of disinvestment has significant potential, with large tracts of underutilized land that connect the neighborhood with nearby economic opportunities. Frankfort’s comprehensive plan identifies reconstruction of Holmes Street as a top priority.”
There are also a trio of public meetings scheduled regarding the project. The meetings will be on April 17, July 6 and Oct. 24. Times and locations are yet to be announced.
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This will be an enormous undertaking. It'll be a headache for sure, but it's desperately needed.
another year of waiting to fix this creek bed!!!!!!!!!
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State-Journal.com’s comments forum is for civil, constructive dialogue about news topics in our community, state, nation and world. We emphasize “civil” at a time when Americans, in the words of the current president, need to “turn down the temperature” of political debates. The State Journal will do its part by more carefully policing this forum. Here are some rules that all commenters must agree to follow:
Absolutely no attacks on other commenters, on guest columnists or on authors of letters to the editor. Our print and online opinion pages are sacred marketplaces of ideas where diverse viewpoints are welcome without fear of retribution. You may constructively critique the ideas and opinions of others, but name-calling, stereotyping and similar attacks are strictly prohibited.
Leeway will be given for criticism of elected officials and other public figures, but civility is essential. If you focus your criticism on ideas, opinions and viewpoints, you will be less likely to run afoul of our commenting rules.
Keep comments focused on the article or commentary in question. Don’t use an article about the Frankfort City Commission, for example, to rant about national politics.
Hyperpartisanship that suggests anyone on the other side of an issue or anyone in a particular particular party is evil is not welcome. If you believe that all Democrats are socialists intent on destroying America or that all Republicans are racists, there are lots of places on the internet for you to espouse those views. State-Journal.com is not one.
No sophomoric banter. This isn’t a third-grade classroom but rather a place for serious consumers of news to offer their reactions and opinions on news stories and published commentary.
No consumer complaints about individual businesses. If you’ve had a bad experience with a private business or organization, contact the Better Business Bureau or the government agency that regulates that business. If you believe the actions of a private business are newsworthy, contact us at news@state-journal.com and we will consider whether news coverage is merited.
Absolutely no jokes or comments about a person’s physical appearance.
No promotion of commercial goods or services. Our outstanding staff of marketing consultants stands ready to help businesses with effective advertising solutions.
If you state facts that have not been previously reported by The State Journal, be sure to include the source of your information.
No attacks on State Journal staff members or contributing writers. We welcome questions about, and criticism of, our news stories and commentary but not of the writers who work tirelessly to keep their community informed. Corrections of inaccurate information in news stories should be sent to news@state-journal.com rather than posted in the comments section.