Committees are now working together to plan the future of The Ridges after a year-long conversation produced little to no results
There are no development goals set for The Ridges after a year of planning and thousands of dollars spent on brainstorming ways the 665-plus acre property could be transformed.
The Ridges Master Plan Committee, charged by Ohio University President Roderick McDavis, was supposed to come up with a plan for the property by spring 2015. Now, they have until the summer.
“There is no single plan for The Ridges,” said Ben Stuart, existing buildings subcommittee chair in the Ridges Master Plan Committee.
The Ridges Master Plan Committee will work with the university’s “Comprehensive Master Plan Committee,” which oversees development of other OU properties.
“We can integrate what we are doing and planning for The Ridges with the Comprehensive Master Plan for the campus,” said Joe Shields, vice president for Research and Creative Activity and co-chair of the Ridges Master Plan Committee.
“We anticipate that the results will become more firmly developed by the end of the summer,” he said.
The committee has spent $303,000 preparing, but not finalizing, a “Master Plan,” said Shawna Bolin, co-chair of the Ridges Master Plan Committee.
“We are in the process of designating a budget for the cost of renovation, but there is no budget for The Ridges,” Bolin said. “We are developing a plan and trying to understand what it will take to renovate The Ridges.”
Input for projects has come from consultants, such as Schooley Caldwell Associates, community members, public forums and workshops, Stuart said.
“Part of our team will be trying to think of creative solutions to be able to afford The Ridges, but we have to look at that in conjunction with all of the university’s needs,” Bolin said.
The next step is to ask what the academic, research and other community opportunities are for The Ridges, as well as to get funding for them, Stuart said.
“We are going to partner with the community; we are going to partner with maybe some private entities,” he said. “It’s a plan that’s meant to be flexible.”
The state of Ohio gave The Ridges to OU in 1988.
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