Reprinted with permission of
the Journal-News
By Kristin McAllister
JournalNews
HAMILTON — By late September, motorists entering Hamilton on
the Michael A. Fox Highway will be welcomed into the City of Sculpture with a 60-foot-tall
anodized aluminum sign bearing the city’s name.
“It’s a football field-sized perennial garden with
associated trees and shrubs around peripherally on all three sides of the
highway,” said local landscape artist Warren Klink, referring to the median
strip and banks along the northbound and southbound lanes of Ohio 129, between
Fair Avenue and Hampshire Drive. Klink
is president of Urban Thickets Landscape, the company designing and
constructing the project for the Hamilton Community Foundation. “The sign is a
designed sculpture in a portion of the garden,” he said. Workers now are preparing the soil for an
irrigation system, Klink said.
The foundation in November announced the estimated $450,000
project as its sixth and final legacy gift to the city in commemoration of the
organization’s 50th anniversary. “I’m a big fan of ornamental grasses, so that
will be a dominant element in this,” Klink said, adding that his company last
week was awarded merit awards for two projects — the “Lentil” sculpture garden
at Courthouse Square and a flower show in London last year.
Plans call for year-round color mixtures incorporating
plenty of flowers, shrubs and trees, Klink said, and according to foundation
officials, the sculpture sign will be partially illuminated during the day,
with the letters illuminated at night. And because the foundation gift is a
permanent endowment, garden maintenance is ensured.
“This is one in a series of projects the foundation is
doing, and it’s really going to be very nice,” said Mike Samoviski, city
manager. “They identified a number of projects as a gift to the community that
have a significance in dealing with community image.” Ralph Reigelsperger, city public works director, said traffic
will be minimally affected during project construction.
“For a good portion of the project, there will be a one-lane closure,” he said. “Right now, they’re just tending to soil, making arrangements for the sprinkler system. There’s actually one already in, but it needs expanded. So they’re prepping for landscaping.”