Sidney City Manager Andrew Bowsher discussed business developments, housing and more in his State of the City presentation Wednesday at the Senior Center of Sidney-Shelby County.
Anna Edmiston | Sidney Daily News
SIDNEY — Sidney City Manager Andrew Bowsher hinted at two businesses coming to Sidney in his State of the City presentation Wednesday at the Senior Center of Sidney-Shelby County.
Bowsher told the approximately 80 people in attendance about an “absolute game changer” of a company that has begun plans to move into Sidney. According to Bowsher, there are non-disclosure agreements and other reasons for the ambiguity of the mention, but he said it was a tech company that would offer six-figure salaries. The weekly city manager’s newsletter mentioned additional announcements about what is being called Project Galaxy will come soon.
With this announcement came a discussion about SEMCORP, the slowdown in the initial plan and the future of the company in Sidney. There are five phases in the plan, with phase one already complete, and there are plans drawn out for the rest of the plan.
Bowsher’s PowerPoint slides of plans for downtown Sidney included many plans in the works for new restaurants, like the new deli that will replace Amelio’s.
The Ohio Building construction update let the audience know that there will be units for leasing by August of this year, along with photos of its progress. There are also plans for a parking garage.
More housing has been one of Bowsher’s main goals for the city since he became city manager in 2021.
“It’s the growth and the economic engine, because jobs do have to go to sleep at night, and they go to sleep in homes, and we have to build more housing, and by building more housing, it leads to more affordable style homes here within the community,” Bowsher said.
There are 1,200 new housing units being constructed, including Burr Oak, The Mills and the Vision Development project. According to the city manager, this is growth that Sidney has not seen for over 50 years.
Bowsher discussed the importance of income taxes but also emphasized the city’s utilization of grant funds to help supplement the cost of projects.
“Our staff has been exponentially proactive and making sure that we’re going after grant, federal and even private grants to be able to fund a lot of the projects that we’re going to talk about today,” he said.
With around $26 million in the city’s general fund, Bowsher reported that an estimated 60% of that money goes to public safety.
Bowsher said Sidney has almost as many jobs as Piqua and Troy combined, the “opposite of a bedroom community,” which is a suburb with many residents who commute to a nearby city for work. Manufacturing makes up 46% of the jobs, maintaining Sidney’s long history as an industrial community.
“Sidney has more commuters than Columbus based off population,” he said, adding there are a reported 12,600 people commuting to the city daily, thereby encouraging the emphasis on housing and public safety.
In order to aid in the development of the community, Bowsher said city leaders are working to beautify the city, including more attention on local parks, improving downtown, adding new local businesses and revamping historical sites like the Historic Sidney Theatre. This includes adding city silhouettes to the overpasses over Interstate 75.
The Great Miami Riverway bike path is still continuing to make its way through Sidney with the Canal Feeder Trail being the most recent addition. One of the city’s goals is to work with CSX to bring the trail under the Big Four Bridge.
“We want (future generations) to come back… You’ve got to bring big city amenities, the ability for a range of different housing for those individuals,” Bowsher said.
There was discussion about the city hall renovation, with hopes of its completion in around 18 months. City hall employees have started to move into work pods that they will stay in during the duration of the renovation. Bowsher also mentioned the new fire station that will be built on Campbell Road, just south of the public works building, and will replace the existing fire station in that area.
One of the developments mentioned was the use of Sidney’s airport for NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility Mission which is working to provide drone services for the transportation of goods and travel for people without the need of a pilot. According to NASA, this industry will hopefully be a commonplace practice by 2030.
“What they need to do is to be close to Wright Patt without being in the flight pattern of Wright Patt Air Force Base and Sidney Airport is one of only three tier one airports in the entire Dayton region,” Bowsher explained.
Bowsher finished the report by going over the levies that were voted against this past November with a more detailed explanation of city council’s belief in its importance for improving the community. The 0.25% five-year street levy will be back on the ballot in the May 6 election.
The city of Sidney plans to make a video covering the report, sharing the slides from the presentation, and sharing some of the questions asked by community members. It will be available on the city of Sidney website in the coming weeks.
Reach Sidney Daily News reporter Anna Edmiston at 937-538-4825.
