Open house invites public feedback

PERKINS TWP. — Perkins Township officials welcome the community to an open house later this week to provide feedback on a possible town center. The open house begins at 6 p.m. on Thursday at Perkins Township Hall, 2610 Columbus Ave., Sandusky. "During the 2022 Perkins Township strategic plan process, our community stakeholders, including residents and businesses, identified that the township should explore the idea of a gathering area/town center," according to a township statement. Officials also encourage people to take a survey, ohmplanning.typeform.com/TownCenter. "Please consider taking the survey to tell us more about how this could space potentially look like to you and what it could be used for." Talking about the town center Adam Panas, the township's planner and zoning inspector, provided some additional context: • The survey's purpose: "To discover more about what exactly that means and looks like to them." • The survey's comparison: "Downtown Sandusky is a major gathering place for people from all over our greater area. It draws people in to participate in our local economy and culture. From a workforce perspective, downtown Sandusky also has a variety of housing, work and food options that help attract and retain talent in our area. Our residents voiced that they believe the township itself should have a similar sort of gathering place, a third place other than work or home, for people to come to and easily walk between a variety of amenities within a specific area." • The survey's goal: "The survey aims to inform township decision-making about how to best move forward with a town center concept. The survey asks respondents to assess our current inventory of amenities, businesses, housing and recreational/open spaces as well as how they might account for what our township is missing with the construction of a town center. We also ask them where in the township they would like such a center." • The survey's whereabouts: "People can take the survey online. Please see our Facebook page; the front page of our website, perkinstownship.com, for the QR code or link to the survey platform; or you can go directly to the survey by heading to ohmplanning.typeform.com/towncenter. We would love a lot of data from our residents, and we encourage frequent visitors, whether it be for work or pleasure, to give us feedback, too." • The survey's importance: "Perkins Township currently has few established social gathering places capable of catering to all sorts of interests. It is the township's mission to constantly strive to improve the quality of life for our residents. The creation of a town center has the potential to chip away at gaps in local amenities while improving residents' sense of community. By taking the survey, you are helping township officials serve you as best as possible by providing us the input we need to move forward with such a project on your behalf."