By Tom Hardesty

The cities of Stow and Munroe Falls are taking their first steps toward downtown revitalization — but they’re starting from opposite directions.

The City of Stow has been working on its Comprehensive Zoning Code Update for some time now, with completion expected this fall. The code update will likely include the city’s plan for a downtown district, something that Stow currently doesn’t have.

Munroe Falls, on the other hand, has a clearly defined downtown area centered around the intersection of Route 91 and Munroe Falls Avenue. What the city doesn’t have at this point is a plan for revitalization, although preliminary discussions are underway.

Stow is dotted with shopping plazas located at various large intersections and along lengthy strips of roadway throughout the city — a zoning layout which forces residents to drive from location to location and creates additional traffic. What city officials want is “a more walkable downtown with mixed-use boutique shops and restaurants,” according to Stow City Council Member Kyle Herman.

The zoning code update is taking aim at that issue. The first question is: Where to put downtown Stow?

Herman says the city, with the help of public input, has it narrowed down.

“Stow residents have been talking for decades about wanting a more developed ‘city center’ with boutique shops and local restaurants with outdoor patio seating, similar to the downtowns of neighboring cities,” Herman said. “While the Amphitheater Project at Norton Road [scheduled to break ground in a couple months] can help create this type of environment near our border with Hudson, a natural location for ‘Downtown Stow’ is the center of our city, anchored around our busiest intersections where Route 91 intersects with Route 59 and Graham Road.

“However, Stow’s current code suppresses development along the strip of 91 between 59 and Graham. For decades, this busy road has been governed by a Residential-Business Overlay District, which only allows businesses that fit in single-family homes.”

With a potential city center identified, the next issue being discussed by city leaders as part of the zoning code update is: How would a downtown Stow be built?

The answer, according to Herman: Gradually.

“Rather than using big-government tactics like eminent domain to create a downtown,” he said. “Updating Stow’s code could allow redevelopment to take place at a natural pace over the coming decades. Nobody would get kicked out of the current homes and businesses; updating the code would simply allow for a more walkable downtown to form organically if/when current property owners decide to sell. The code could enable small-scale mixed-use buildings with storefronts by the sidewalks and a story or two of apartments above, with parking in the rear. [Nearby] residents will benefit from being able to walk to all of the amenities that will benefit the rest of Stow.”

Munroe Falls, meanwhile, is in the very early stages of developing its own vision for a new and improved downtown — and the city wants residents to be a part of it.

City council is looking at working with the Ohio Main Street Program, administered by Heritage Ohio, on a plan to revitalize the downtown area. Heritage Ohio is a non-profit organization that works with cities and helps them walk through a sort of strategic planning process, evaluating the needs in specific communities and what steps could be taken to spur more economic development and investment in downtown areas.

City council is looking for a committee of volunteers who could help work through that process. Anyone interested in being on the committee should email Council Member Dina Edwards at dedwards@munroefalls.com.