WILMINGTON — The deadline for registering to participate in the public comments portion of next Wednesday’s public meeting on the future Rombach Avenue Paving Project is 4 p.m. Monday.

Attendees must register their intention to speak publicly at the meeting with the Clerk of Council by that time. This will provide the opportunity for all parties to be heard and allot the appropriate amount of time for the meeting.

The City of Wilmington and Wilmington City Council are hosting the public meeting, to be held 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15 in the Robert Moyer Community Room in the Municipal Building, 69 N. South St.

About the project

At a November Wilmington City Council meeting, Mayor John Stanforth addressed concerns of business owners voiced at earlier meetings about the proposed concrete medians.

Stanforth thanked those who provided input for the Rombach Avenue project, and reiterated the scope of the project.

“The project includes milling and overlay with new asphalt, nearly three miles down Rombach Avenue and Eastside Drive, including extensive full-depth repair,” Stanforth said then.

The project also includes a thousand feet of new/replacement sidewalk, new water lines, new traffic signals, and safer crosswalks, particularly around the restaurants.

Regarding medians, Stanforth said then that medians were still in the submitted plans the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is reviewing — but that could be adjusted.

“ODOT has told me that the decision to leave in or take out the median is a city decision,” said Stanforth.

Many business owners have stated publicly that they like the overall plans for the project, but they oppose the center medians, stating that medians could negatively affect their businesses.