Kent city council face residents concerns on Intergenerational Community

Residents of Kent on Wednesday, November 17 expressed to the Kent City Council that they have concerns over the “Intergenerational Village” building.

The Intergenerational Village will be by Allerton Street, the building will be for residents to live in but will be by neighborhoods.

A resident named John Thomas who lives on Chadwick Drive said the neighborhood is 14 streets and boarded by Chadwick Drive on the east, South Lincoln and South Water on the west, and Meloy Road on the south.

“We were notified about this a few weeks back, the university hosted a meeting at the rec center on October 27th, that was attended by approximately 25 to 30 individuals,” Thomas explains, “I think they made a serious left step out of the box by not including elected representatives,”

The resident brings up how important he feels about elected representatives being part of the project, for example, the at-large city representative and the ward representative.

Eric Nicols resident of Kent who lives on Chadwick Drive said he received a piece of paper on his front porch at 6 in the evening.

“Our neighborhood was notified approximately 23 hours before the meeting with a slip in the door,” said Nicols.

He tells the council that the project looks and smells and seems like a for-profit scheme with private developers.

“It doesn’t affect just me, my neighbors, john, wendy, or anybody. It affects you and every single person that lives around here,” said Nichols.

Nichols wants more discussion as a community to make a decision that is right for the city of Kent.

Wendy Yuzik resident of Kent who lives on Chadwick Drive attended the meeting that was held at Kent State Wellness Center.

“I kind of sat there in awe, most of the questions were not answered. The concerned citizens presented questions and the answers were basically we don’t know,” she said.

Yuzik explains that she walked away from that meeting feeling concerned. She decided to pass out flyers to other Kent residents to meet and discuss their concerns.

The council explained to the concerned citizens that there is only so much they can do but will try to advocate as best as they can.