The Marietta City Administration and Marietta City Council are continuing their work and discussions with officials at Marietta College regarding Butler Street between Fourth and Seventh.
Marietta Mayor Josh Schlicher says alternate discussions are taking place.
"Discussions we're going to be entertaining in the public is just to hear out Marietta College's plans for future development," said Mayor Schlicher. "The college has concerns with pedestrian safety and just their overall plan for future development on the campus. There is really no discussion right now to vacate the street."
The topic of closing Butler between 4th and 7th has been discussed in the past and a traffic safety study was also conducted with a professional engineering firm called TEC Engineering. When this was considered, a vote of 7-0 came in against the closure.
The City of Marietta responded Jan.13 on social media to a report by another media outlet that made an error regarding this Thursday's meeting.
Future meetings will be focused more on safety at Marietta College.
"There is going to be a street and transportation meeting at 4 p.m. today to discuss the future development and safety issues," Mayor Schlicher explained. "We have issues with access to the campus concerning how we would be able to enter different parts of the campus safely if an emergency were to happen. We have to be prepared and we feel that we are not able to accomplish a lot of the safety responses if we continue to shut down roads and give the college city property."
A street and transportation meeting will be taking place today at 4pm. Future development at Marietta college and the safety concerns mentioned by the mayor before will be discussed. The City says they are not considering closing any portion of Butler Street but will be considering ways to make students safer crossing butler.
The City of Marietta Administration is in support of the College's plans but say they must respect the thoughts and suggestions of citizens prior to the ultimate decision.
