Portions of Lantz Road, Wallaby Drive, and the proposed extended roadway located to the north of Dayton-Xenia Road and west of N. Fairfield Road will be renamed McGrath Way in honor of Jeff McGrath. During the October 12th council meeting, Beavercreek City Council members approved the recommendation by staff to rename the portions of roadway.
Mr. McGrath was employed with the City of Beavercreek for 19 years and passed away unexpectedly in January this year. Jeff was instrumental in bringing the current active redevelopment project in this area to the City and worked with the developer and city council to make it a reality.
Jeff McGrath left a big mark on the City of Beavercreek as the Planning & Development Director through many projects and the growth of the City. He not only left physical landmarks through planning, he left emotional impacts on all those he met and worked with. It is only fitting that the City honors his memory for how he impacted and loved the City of Beavercreek.
The street name change will not impact any existing property address since all of the existing buildings in the vicinity of the street name change are addressed from either N. Fairfield Road, or Dayton-Xenia Road.
The city’s capital improvement plan calls for the extension of the segment of Lantz Road that currently ends just to the west of N. Fairfield Road to connect into the portion of Wallaby Drive that ends just to the north of Dayton-Xenia Road. The schedule for this roadway extension tentatively calls for the project design in 2021, and the construction of the extended roadway in 2022 as funding permits.
Jeff grew up in Beavercreek and was very active in the community, not only as the City of Beavercreek Planning & Development Director later in his career, but as a coach to many children in Beavercreek and a friend to all.
The street name will just remind all of us to love Beavercreek like Jeff did and do all we can for its success. If we do it the “McGrath Way” I’m sure we will be successful and that is all Jeff ever wanted for Beavercreek.
McGrath Way will be a something everyone can remember Jeff by.