ATHENS — Residents of Athens’ West Side are helping design a long-term renewal effort for their own neighborhood, working with Habitat for Humanity of Southeast Ohio and the Westside Community Association on a revitalization initiative expected to unfold over five to seven years.
The approach is new to the Athens area, though Habitat uses the model nationally. Instead of starting with a fixed list of projects, organizers describe it as a broad strategy for improving quality of life that begins by asking the people who live in a neighborhood what they want changed.
Early conversations have already surfaced practical concerns. Residents have raised repairing abandoned buildings around Central Avenue, fixing sidewalks so streets are easier to walk, and testing soil and water for lead, according to Westside Community Association secretary Grayson Schultz, whose group formed its own committee to plan the work after first hearing about the program last December.
The next step is more listening. Molly Blair, training center coordinator at Habitat’s Millfield branch, said a series of public forums will come before any final priorities are set, with residents dictating what the neighborhood should become. Habitat chose the West Side in part because an active core of residents was already engaged there, she said.
That engagement was visible earlier this year, when association members collected feedback from nearly 100 people at Porchfest in May. Attendance at a second listening session in September was lower, organizers said, underscoring why they are continuing outreach rather than rushing to conclusions.
The next open house is scheduled for Oct. 24 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Central Avenue United Methodist Church in Athens. Organizers are sorting public input into five areas: safety and accessibility, commercial and social spaces, physical structures and environment, community building, and housing.
Turning that input into a plan could take up to a year. Habitat and the association hope the finished priorities can also feed into the City of Athens’ five-year review of its 2040 comprehensive plan, so neighborhood goals align with citywide planning.
Funding for individual projects is expected to come through partnerships and grants, with Habitat helping steer the community toward its goals. Organizers stress that the strength of the final plan will depend on how many West Side residents take part, and that goals are not yet final.
