The Repository | CantonRep.
com | Sunday, March 27, 2016J7
PLAIN TOWNSHIP
What Do These
5 Photos Have
in Common?
n Kayakers enjoy the outdoors last summer.
NOT SO PLAIN
By Tim Botos
Repository staff writer
T
his township is
towering oak trees
that form a canopy
above Darlington
Avenue NW in the Avondale
allotment; roadside signs to
announce lenten fish fries,
sign-ups for youth baseball
and softball and an Eddie
Money concert at GlenOak
High; driveway basket-
ball hoops and backyard
trampolines; single-story
brick ranches where a man
in a lawn chair waves at
a passing car; Checkered
Records, where you can buy
Sounds from music on old-fashioned
Worlds Favorite vinyl; a cross at Bentler
Avenue and Easton Street
NE, to memorialize a 1993
auto accident that took the
young lives of Eric Addessi
and post your unique favorite sounds! and Chris Woodburn;
driveways with tarped boats
Please visit us on facebook to see ours and idle campers waiting for
summer; fields with rem-
Can you hear them? nants of last years corn and
soybeans; aging Oakwood
What are your favorite sounds? Square shopping center
and driveway concrete
visit our website at www.HEARINC.biz. being poured at new homes
in Saratoga Hills; Country
each country identifies as their favorites, Cones ice cream stand and
Gervasi Vineyard; Bob-
To see the other 5 and explore what O-Link apartments and an
1830s house for sale along
said were their favorites. Market Avenue N; sled-
riding hills near Diebold
30 countries around the world and a deer crossing sign
on Elmhurst Avenue NW;
These are 5 of 10 sounds people from Diamond Park and church
row on 38th Street NW.
Those who live here
either love or have adapted
To hear your
to suburban sprawl that
has become the Plain
Township of today.
favorite sounds
With its own fire depart-
ment and dedicated
sheriffs patrol, com-
again...
mercial and retail hubs,
assorted neighborhoods, a
school district, zoning and
home-rule government,
its virtually a city dis-
Call 330.478.3350
guised as a township.
Plains transformation
from rural to suburban
began in the 1940s. City
dwellers began moving
for a no risk, no cost, no into new houses in outly-
ing areas, such as Plain.
obligation, take your sweet By 1960, the townships
population had skyrock-
time Hearing Aid test drive. eted from 8,096 to 32,391
people and has remained
relatively consistent. The
most recent U.S. Census
We believe the only way you will figures put the population
at just less than 35,000.
know which hearing aid is right for It has changed dra-
matically since I was
you is to experience the benefits in growing up here, said
Judy Pocock, president of
your daily listening environments the Plain Township His-
torical Society.
Yet, it has retained a
6264350327
certain charm.
It has managed to
maintain a sense of
small-town appeal that
is somewhat atypical for
larger townships, notes
the townships mini-
master plan, prepared by
the Stark County Regional
Planning Commission in
2012.
Identity
While certain areas of
the township such as
Avondale are well-
known throughout Stark
County, much of Plain
has struggled mightily to
form a certain intangible,
n Little Flower Catholic Church in Plain Township.
cohesive identity.
That was a real prob-
lem, an issue up until
about 10 or 15 years ago,
explained Lou Giavasis,
a township trustee from
1992 until his resignation
last year. Weve really
made an effort to change
that ... working in con-
junction with the school
system ... to get that sense
of community.
Pocock agreed.
People now know that
GlenOak is Plain Town-
ship, she said.
The high school campus,
which includes the Plain
Local Community Center
for the Performing Arts,
the adjoining Stark County
District Library branch,
Mercy Medical Center
of Plain and Stark Parks
Middle Branch Trail, all
located along Schneider
Street NE, have helped
cement the community.
I think the schools ...
were the hub, Plain Local
Schools Superintendent
Brent May said.
Giavasis likened the
evolution to what has
occurred in neighboring
Jackson and Lake town-
ships and in Green.
When I took office,
Jackson Township had
those signs that said, We
make things happen, he
recalled. Well, the big
joke then was Welcome
to Plain Township, where
nothing happens.
Part of the problem was,
and remains, the layout of
the township. Originally
36 square miles, it has been
whittled down by more
than a third. North Canton
became a city; pieces
were annexed by Canton.
Today, several sections of
Plain Township are islands
of land cut off from other
areas of the township,
including a neighbor-
hood known as the Dells
within North Canton.
That one makes abso-
lutely no sense, said
Giavasis, who used to
live there. Those people
consider themselves North
Canton, but its our plow
trucks, our fire department
... and sheriff that goes
there.
The mini-master plan
sums it up like this:
Character and identity
of a rural area are difficult
to preserve in the face
of increasing real estate
development, it explains.
As Canton and North
REPOSITORY FILE
REPOSITORY FILE
Canton have expanded
over the years, the differ-
ence between town and
country has eroded. There
is no apparent sense of
leaving the areas in the city
and entering the township
as it historically used to
be.
Today and tomorrow
The township was formed
in 1809, so its transition
from rural to suburban in
a span of a couple decades
occurred at a relatively
rapid pace.
I look at Plain Township
as a microcosm of the coun-
try, Giavasis said. Its
diverse, socially, economi-
cally, ethnically ... And the
community comes together
when it needs to.
May agreed.
Its a great representa-
tion of what the real world is
like, he said.
About 80 percent of
the developed land in the
township is for residen-
tial use, with the other 20
percent for commercial
and industrial the ideal
mix, according to planning
experts is a 70 /30 ratio.
Thats because gener-
ally taxes on residential
properties dont fully pay
for government services
provided.
Four of Plains main com-
mercial areas are ripe for
additional development,
or even redevelopment,
according to the min-mas-
ter plan.
n The Everhard Road/
Whipple Avenue NW area
is in the midst of a renais-
sance with the addition of
a hotel and renovation of a
shopping plaza. Major road
improvements there are
planned for 2018.
n Whipple Avenue NW,
north of Avondale, already
is a commercial district,
though the west side of the
road, in Jackson Township,
contains more businesses
than the east side.
n The U.S. 62 corridor,
from Market to Harmont
avenues NE, is largely com-
mercial development.
n The Easton Street and
Middlebranch Avenue NE
area is home to the town-
ships government center,
as well as Oakwood Square
Plaza. The mini-master plan
suggests this section as a
possible home for a redevel-
oped community focal point
that could include every-
thing from retail to senior
housing complexes.