City to purchase buildings along West Main Street for $300,000

City+to+purchase+buildings+along+West+Main+Street+for+%24300%2C000

By Staff Report

Zanesville City Council members voted Monday evening to purchase a set of buildings along West Main St. just off the Y-bridge.

According to Matt Schley, Director of Community Development, the intended future purpose of the site is for a mixture of active and passive recreation along with possible commercial development.

The site sits just east of a recently constructed Dollar General store.

“The Mayor is very interested in preserving our parks, preserving our waterfronts, as well as preserving our key entrances and exits to the city,” said Schley.

The site is currently owned by Raymond Wilkes and is the commercial location for J. W. City Car Company.

City Council voted on the purchase as an emergency and according to Schley, the purchase should be complete in the next few weeks.

City of Zanesville Mayor Don Mason said the purchase is part of his overall goal to improve the downtown and city center, which includes Putnam Ave., Dug Rd., Pine St., West Main St. as well as the Y-Bridge.

“We wanted to make sure the city could help determine the direction of the future growth of West Main,” said Mason when discussing the city’s desire to purchase the property when it became available.

Mason says he intends to stimulate economic investment in the community, citing how decades earlier the area along West Main St. was “an extremely vibrant commercial hub.”

“I plan to work with city council and the public as a whole to determine the future of this property,” said Mason who doesn’t want to develop an opinion for the site before hearing from constituents.