(March 7, 2020) BEXLEY, OH
Last September, E. Main Street was chosen as a “street corridor… for further study and planning.” Mr. Kevin J. Wheeler, the Assistant Director for Growth Policy at the City of Columbus’ Dept. of Development, reported that E. Main Street was chosen as one of five such corridors.
“With Columbus expected to add 500,000 people by 2050, planners are looking at where this increased population can live,” said the Assistant Director. “The Main St. corridor has potential because it can provide good public transportation into the downtown.”
In addition to this public transportation, the Main St. corridor is able to accommodate for Columbus’s growth in lieu of housing, employment, and property developments. By 2050, 44,300 more housing units are to be installed. Along with these houses will come employment, with the job market projected to grow by a nearly equal 43,300 jobs. In addition to the increase in housing and employment, the City of Columbus’s Dept. of Development has also set aside 900 acres for property redevelopment.
The vacant areas of today’s E. Main. St. corridor are to be filled in this new development, and Mr. Wheeler expressed his enthusiasm in our last annual meeting over the SID’s role in filling those vacancies.
“Making the business district clean and safe will help to prepare Main St. for the development that is projected,” said Wheeler.
For more information regarding the Insight2050 E. Main. St. development plan, please view the plan on Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission’s website.