J8 Sunday, March 27, 2016 | The Repository | CantonRep.

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PLAIN TOWNSHIP
Plain Local
opens arts
culture to
GLENOAK HIGH SCHOOL
community
By Alison Matas
Repository staff writer
IS COMMUNITY HUB
By Kelli Young

A
popular rock band, Repository staff writer

a country music
star and a Motown
group all have
appeared onstage at Gle-
nOak High School.
The Plain Local Com-
munity Center for the
Performing Arts brings
national performances at
affordable prices to com-
munity residents and
provides opportunities for
the districts students to
work with professional art-
ists. The outreach is part of
a district mindset that the
arts are an important com-
ponent to learning and the
high school campus should
serve as a center for the
community.
Superintendent Brent
May said the idea behind
the center was to showcase
the districts facilities and
students and to give back to
the community.
The reaction from people
who come to the perfor-
mances, including some
who travel from out of state,
has been, Wow, we didnt
know a public school could
do this, he said.
Performing arts center
The districts recent Just
Plain Dance competition
featured faculty mem-
bers performing routines
choreographed by students,
sold more than 900 tick-
ets and raised $14,000.
The money will go toward
bringing future perfor-
mances to the districts
910-seat Abbey Foltz Stage.
So far, the Plain Local
Community Center for the
Performing Arts has hosted
the Gin Blossoms, Kellie
Pickler and The Tempta-
tions. Rock guitarist Eddie
Money is scheduled to per-
form there April 2.
Assistant Superintendent
P
lain Local School
District encom-
passes one of the
most diverse cross-
sections of Stark County.
Its boundaries stretch
from the wealthy fami-
lies in Hills & Dales on
its western border to the
established working-class
neighborhoods near Skyline
Pines Golf Club on the east
side, and from the farms
near State Street NE in Lake
Township to the north,
to lower-income housing
allotments near Harmont
Park to the south.
Superintendent Brent
May said a key to bring-
ing together such a diverse
district 28 square miles
and roughly 50,000 people
(in Plain Township and
other municipalities) --
has been making GlenOak
High School more than
just a campus for its 1,900
high-schoolers. COURTESY PLAIN LOCAL SCHOOLS
Its (Plains) down- n GlenOak High Schools campus has become a community gathering point for the massive school district.
town, May said. It is
not just for grades 9-12,
we have so many partners 20,000-square-foot the Stark County Park the library, get a checkup the districts is in constant
there. community branch at the District added the Middle at Mercy, go for a walk conversations with poten-
Since the day the high complex in 2006. Last year, Branch Trail, which loops on a Stark Parks trail, tial partners.
school opened at 1801 the branch served more around the campus. said May, who has been We feel that would kind
Schneider St. NE in 2006, than 108,000 visitors. The district also has meeting monthly with of complete (the campus)
the district has continued Mercy Medical Center been inviting residents to community organizations from Veterans Park all the
to expand its reach into the opened a 3,200-square- campus through such com- for the past two school way to Easton, you could
community by finding new foot immediate care center munity-minded events as years to share ideas. It really go there for every-
ways to bring more resi- at the school complex in its Plain Family Fun Day really is a hub. We are thing, he said.
dents, including those who 2008. The center provides and diversity celebration really open seven days a As the district looks
dont have a child in the urgent care, X-rays, draws programs. Increasingly week. Thats what it was to write a new five-year
classroom, to the campus. blood for tests and other more residents are coming built for. strategic plan and gain
lab services as well as to the campus to watch feedback from residents,
Beyond GlenOak sports medicine services performances in Plain Future expansion? May said talk about the
The first community six days a week. Local Community Center May hopes to add more campus future continues
agency to establish a Stark State College also for the Performing Arts, community services to to evolve. He expects to
presence on the GlenOak uses space on campus to which now also offers the northern end of the present his recommenda-
campus was the Stark offer college-level classes national acts. campus in the future. He tions for the strategic plan
County District Library, for GlenOak students and When you come to envisions a health and to school board mem-
which opened its nearly evening and weekend the high school, you can wellness facility tied with bers at the boards March
classes for adults. In 2012, see a performance, go to higher education and says meeting.

Plain focusing on future development

Mike Labriola said the goal
eventually is to be able to
announce a slate of acts and
sell season tickets.
On a smaller scale, com- By Jessica Holbrook
munity theater productions Repository staff writer
such as the play Picnic

and the musical Next to
Normal have been per-
formed in the high schools
smaller black box theater.
The school day ends in the
afternoon, May said, but the
facilities dont have to shut
down, too.
And the districts Sat-
urday Enrichment classes
have been offered for at
least 20 years. Students and
adults can get instruction in
dance, drama, art, tum-
bling, tae kwon do or yoga.
Opening up the building
is a way to make people who
live in the community but
dont have children more
comfortable with coming to
the schools, district spokes-
woman Mary Beddell said.
The hope is it might make
people think twice before
driving to Cleveland or
Akron to see a performance.
Student opportunity
When a national artists
tour bus rolls up to Gle-
nOak High School, students
spring into action.
In prepping for the
shows, students assist with
the technical aspects of the
performance, they handle
the marketing, and they
work with the districts
catering service to set up
the performers VIP room.
One contract rider
stipulated there could be
only one color of M&Ms,
so students had to root
through the bags and sort
the candies by hand a
job, Beddell said, that
might have taught the stu-
dents event planning isnt
always glamorous.
During the school day,
hundreds of students from
the intermediate through
high school grades partici-
pate in choir, band, strings
and art, drama and dance
classes.
P
lain Township is
poised for develop-
mental growth.
The townships
borders overlap with the
juggernaut Hall of Fame
Village. And Plain is eyeing
opportunities elsewhere as
well.
Its leaders said theyre
working to encour-
age development, while
keeping its residents best
interests in mind.
Growth is inevitable,
township Trustee John
Sabo said. Its our respon-
sibility, as the board, to
figure out how we can
manage that growth.
Here is a look at some key
areas of development in the
township.
Hall of Fame Village
Initial Hall of Fame Vil-
lage plans call for acquiring
90 more properties in Plain
Township, according to
past Repository reports.
The Hall also has identi-
fied at least 104 additional
parcels in the township it
might need for develop-
ment beyond 2018.
The Hall plans to annex
those properties into
Canton. In December,
Hall officials talked with
trustees about a proposed
tax-increment financing
deal involving 225 parcels
of Plain Township land,
including four commercial
properties and numerous
residential ones.
The commercial tax base
of that property, excluding
the school district, is about
$72,000 annually, Hall
officials said.
Safety services
The Village will have a
significant impact on Plain
Township, and not just
n A look at construction of Tom Benson Hall of Fame stadium in Canton. Part of the Hall of Fame Village development will be in Plain Township.
in the areas closest to the
development, Trustee Scott
Haws said.
One of the biggest
concerns is with safety
services and infrastructure.
Increased traffic to the area
will mean more strain on
township roads and other
infrastructure, something
township leaders will have
to address, Haws said.
Plains Fire Station 3, on
25th Street NW, would sit
on the border of the pro-
posed Village.
The township has
mutual-aid agreements
with other Stark commu-
nities, including Canton.
If something happens at
the Village that requires
emergency assistance,
Plain Townships squad
likely would be first on the
scene. And if the Village is
as popular as predicted, it
could mean Plain making
a lot of calls there, Haws
said.
The Village could box
in the fire station, making
it harder for squads to
respond to emergencies,
Trustee Al Leno said.
That station wasnt put
there for the city of Canton; it
was put there for the west end
of Plain Township, he said.
Plain residents approved
a fire levy increase that
grew squad sizes and
quickened response time.
Its vital the station is
serving Plain Township
residents, as well as offer-
ing mutual aid, Leno said.
Plain officials have
discussed some solutions,
including locating a Canton
medic squad at the station
or striking up a cooperative
agreement in which Plain
and Canton share the sta-
tion and its expenses.
But it might make more
sense to relocate the sta-
tion, said Sabo, who is also
the townships former fire
chief.
Station 3 is strategically
located where it easily can
cover a densely populated
part of the township, he
said.
But with those homes and
businesses being bought
by the Hall and annexed
into Canton, the township
population there will drop.
The station might not be
responding to enough calls
within the township to
justify keeping the station
there, he said.
You dont take a fire
station and put it close to
where your boundary line
REPOSITORY FILE
is, Sabo added. Housing
Moving the station isnt Housing growth also will
easy; it would require fund- be a big part of the town-
ing and available land in a
ships future, Haws said.
strategic location, he said. New housing develop-
Plains potential ments have popped up
throughout the Township,
The Village also will bring he said, citing growth at
opportunities. places such as Lexing-
Its a great thing for our ton Farms and Saratoga
community. Its going to Hills, as well as ongoing
make the whole area prob- development at the former
ably the best that its going Edgewood Golf Course.
to ever, ever be. ... Its
The Townships aging
going to make big things population also creates
happen in our community, the need for more senior
Leno said.
and mixed-use housing,
The Village will draw new he said.
businesses to the township,
New residents are also
especially in the areas clos- attracted to the township,
est to the Hall, Haws said.
partly because its quiet
It will also increase prop- and peaceful, while also
erty values, he said.
being interconnected with
But even with increased the rest of the county, he
traffic to the area, current
said.
Ohio law will make it dif- Were literally in the
ficult for Plain Township to heart of it all, Haws said.
benefit as much as it could
But the township also
from the Village, Sabo said. needs to draw more busi-
Right now, Plain Town-
ness development, Haws
ship cannot collect income said.
tax on businesses in the
Right now, the township
township, only property is predominately a bed-
taxes, he said.
room community about
The township is also lim- 78 percent of development
ited on its ability to issue
is residential, he said. A
liquor licenses, which could 70 / 30 housing and other
deter some new places from development split is more
opening.
ideal, he added.