Cuyahoga Falls City Council holds regular meetings on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. Council committee meetings are held on the first and third Mondays in order to allow councilmembers to publicly discuss pending legislation that will be voted on at regular meetings. The public is free to comment on pending legislation during the allowed time set aside as part of committee meetings.
Planning & Zoning:
B-35: An ordinance approving a regulatory text amendment to Section 1133.04(A)(5) to allow for the keeping of chickens in R-2, R-3 and R-4 Zoning Districts. Currently chickens are only permitted in R-1 zoning. This matter was approved by the planning commission and is now before council for discussion and will be either voted into law or denied. The text amendment as was presented by Planning Director Rob Kurtz would allow urban chickens with the following conditions: residents could have up to four chickens in their backyards. Roosters would not be permitted. Residents would need to have a minimum lot width of 50 feet. Chickens and chicken coops must go in the backyards, and coops need to be set back a minimum of 20 feet of all property lines. All coops would need a zoning certificate from the city’s planning division, just like any other structure on someone’s property, per the planning director for the city. Chickens can not be slaughtered at the residence, and eggs may not be sold from the residence. The legislation was sponsored by Ward 2 councilwoman Susan Spinner and Council-at-Large Mary Nichols-Rhodes. On Monday night a public hearing was held to allow comments from the public concerning the matter.
After a short presentation by Councilwoman Nichols-Rhodes the floor was opened up for comments from the public and committee chair Susan Spinner asked for both positive comments and then negative comments three times. Many residents spoke out both for and against the legislation and after about an hour and thirty minutes, Spinner closed the public hearing portion of the meeting and moved on to the Planning and Zoning Committee portion. She explained to the public the difference between the two discussions was that while the public hearing was for residents to give opinions and statements, the committee portion would open the discussion to questions and comments from the public and allow for city officials and councilmembers to make comments and ask questions as well. Several councilmembers reported that they have received negative feedback from constituents concerning the zoning change. Community Development Director Diana Colavecchio stated her department is opposed to the change largely due to how difficult enforcement will be with her department. Since the change falls under the heading of zoning, the process of vetting a complaint would be done in the same manner as a poorly constructed deck or an illegal fence. Once a complaint is received the Senior Planner logs it, schedules a time to go out and investigate the complaint, and if justified issues a warning letter that will give the property owner 14 days to correct the problem. If after 14 days nothing has been done another letter goes out and this one lets the property owner know of the intention to forward the complaint to the law department, and/or the property owner can also ask for an appeal meeting that can add a few weeks to the process. In short, Colavecchio said if you have an odor or rodent problem, residents are not going to be happy about the length of time it’s going to take to resolve the issue. Once the complaint reaches the Law Department, Director Janet Ciotola stated they also have a process to follow, which also includes 14-day notifications.
These are some of the reasons in the staff report Planning Director Rob Kurtz presented to the planning commission at the beginning of this process started that they were not in favor of this change. A similar measure came to the planning commission in 2014 and failed with a 3-3 tie vote. The planning and zoning committee voted to bring this out for a vote before council at their next meeting on May 22.
Finance & Appropriations:
B-44: An ordinance authorizing the director of community development to enter into a contract or contracts with Scanworks, LLC for the building records imaging/scanning project.
Community Development Director Diana Colavecchio presented this ordinance to the committee, stating that it will allow both her department and the engineering department to start turning in the boxes of documents and plans in the attic of the city building to be scanned and placed into a digital format. Scanworks LLC was chosen for this project because, amongst all the other positive and professional aspects of this local business, they will be able to perform all the scanning on site. When looking for a contractor to perform this task it has been critical that these documents not leave city hall. Scanworks will use vacant space in the law department. Colavecchio said this is uncharted waters due to the sheer volume of the work and her office has $50k budgeted. When that amount is spent, the engineering department has $50k as well. The digital files will be searchable and take up considerably less space. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote next Monday.
Public & Industrial Improvements:
B-45: An ordinance authorizing the director of public service to enter into a contract or contracts, after publicly advertising for bids, for concrete pavement repairs to various streets. City Engineer Tony Demasi presented this to the committee, showing that it will finish the last remaining concrete street in the Brooklands subdivision by completing the last blocks of Hoffman Drive. The projected cost of this project is $190k. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote next Monday.
B-46: A resolution authorizing the mayor to apply for and accept financial assistance in the form of a grant or loan from the Ohio Public Works Commission for upgrades to the Bailey Road Booster Pump Station. Demasi explained the resolution would allow the city to apply for a grant to replace two of the city’s booster pumps (one on State Rd. and one on Bailey Rd.) The equipment is old and dated and the grant would help the city pay half the projected $1 million cost to upgrade both sites. The committee voted to bring this out for a vote next Monday.
