WESTLAND AREA COMMISSION
December 19, 2001
Meeting was called to order at 7:12 p.m. Present were Daniel Province, chair; Betty Balthaser, Janice Collette, Virginia Frank, Mike Hurd, Glen Hymer, Dorothy Jantzen, JoEllen Locke, Mike McKay, Tom Morris, Jamie Mueller, Jan Province, Bill Saxton, Shawn Thomas, Ric Weber, and Jeff Woodson. Mark Lehar was absent. Bill Saxton has resigned.
Jantzen moved to approve the October and November 2001 minutes, Balthaser seconded. Approved.
Zoning Committee (McKay): A rezoning on Norton Road was briefly discussed. It was tabled so the requesting parties can return to the next commission meeting with more information.
Zoning Request z01-101, 5248 Sullivant Av. Jeff Brown representing Lutheran Social Services presented a zoning request for AR12 at the northwest corner of Sullivant Av. and Inah Av. They want to build a senior apartment complex, a two-story brick and stucco building with recreational services for residents. 46 single units, 540 sq. ft. per unit with driveway access from Inah Av. only, two entrances total. Lot size 4 acres +-, total project is 36000 sq. ft. including both floors. The building will be slab construction with 46 parking spaces. Lot and grounds will have security lighting but no security fencing. There will be green space, grass to the south with a walking path. There will be sidewalks along both streets but where there is an open ditch there may not be space for a sidewalk. Residents will have to be 62 years and over with a low income, this year's income would have to be under $20,850. Residents pay 30% of income as rent. Not every tenant will have a car so one parking space for each tenant is enough. Lutheran Social Services already have 12 similar facilities overall, six in Franklin County (Grove City and Clime Rd. on the southwest side). Nearest bus line is a mile away, but residents that can't drive would be eligible for COTA's Project Mainstream service. Some commissioners expressed a concern about traffic at Sullivant/Inah intersection. Traffic probably not enough to require widening of Sullivant Av., city promising to widen Sullivant to five lanes anyway. Some discussion of parking--Brown says there is room for additional parking, but their experience is that one parking space for each tenant is more than enough. There will be ground level signage and a use restriction that limits tenants to the age/income limit listed previously. Weber moved to vote to approve request, Jantzen seconded. Approved.
Community Outreach Committee (Morris): nothing to report.
Economic Development Committee (McKay): nothing to report.
Education Committee (Collette): Update on South-Western City Schools; English as Second Language program (ESL) hired a new cultural diversity coordinator; originally from Cuba, she speaks Spanish and English. SWCS now has approximately 1000 ESL students, primarily Latino, Somali, and Russian/Ukranian. The majority of ESL students live on the west side and attend Westland High School, Franklin Heights High School, Prairie-Lincoln Elementary, Prairie-Norton Middle School, and Galloway Ridge Elementary. District has hired three Somali and five Spanish bilingual assistants. This is the first year for SWCS to have ESL teachers along with tutors in language and academic skills. Some Somalis have never been to school and wide range of needs including custody and residency issues. Collette distributed For and About, a staff publication from SWCS featuring ESL programs in the district.
Central Crossing High School and adjacent Career Academy are about 80% complete. All athletic fields are complete. Central Crossing building is planned to be finished enough for SWCS to take possession on May 2. The band director, football coach, and five academic department heads have been hired--second round of hiring will be to fill teaching positions. Central Crossing will be taking 500-600 students from both Grove City and Westland High Schools, 150 from Franklin Heights. Central Crossing will have no senior class this year, first senior class will graduate in 2004. There will be about 500-600 students at the Career Academy. Land for both schools was annexed to Grove City, city of Grove City will provide sidewalks, lighting, some street improvements.
Dan Province: What about students illiterate in home language? Collette said they are assessed by the school, that this is often a problem. Without tutoring would often result in putting a 16 year old in 4th grade.
Jan Province: There used to be a guide to the Westland Area, written by SWCS and printed by Doctors West Hospital, could we resurrect this? Some discussion followed, Collette will check, a Spanish version would be desirable, LEON publishes a directory of social organizations and stores that speak Spanish.
Health and Safety Committee (Weber): nothing to report.
Recreation and Open Space Committee (Hurd): To change hours at Greene Countrie Park from current hours (7 a.m. to 11 p.m.) to new hours of 7 a.m. to park closes at dark, the city says Westland Area Commission must vote to approve, then write a letter to Recreation and Parks Dept. to change the park hours sign. Mueller asked why the hours aren't being changed to dawn to dusk. Some discussion of hours followed; dawn would be earlier than 7 a.m. during portions of the year. Park has no locked gate so there's not much control. Lighting has been added but residents with property adjacent to the park want shaded "down" lighting to reduce the lighting's glare into their homes. Locke said the area blockwatch wants the sign changed because police can do something about offenders if there's a sign. Area families feel intimidated by teens, block watchers are monitoring their activity. Some kids making trouble in the park are from Greene Countrie, some are from other areas. There are no parking spaces so users are generally from neighboring apartments. Police don't like to get out of their car to patrol the park. Morris said the community and police need to get involved to change problems at the park, at one time residents and the schools had a program to notify Westland High School of truancy problems in the park. Mueller said since it is almost like a private park, area landlords need to hire private security. It was meant to be neighborhood park within walking distance of users. The community is also asking for a community park serving a larger area with more amenities. Ballfield at Greene Countrie Park not meant for league play, but apparently is as users end up parking on neighboring residential streets. Mueller made motion to approve hours change, Jan Province seconded. Approved
Nomination Committee (Jantzen): nothing to report.
Dan Province said we need a vice chairperson in case of his absence, if not picked Betty is because she is the next officer in succession. McKay is the new zoning chair, this is a good time of year to take over as there are usually very few zoning requests in January and February.
Old Business: Weber asked if Family Video is a dead issue? Dan Province said there has been no response to his letter, a boycott is possible answer. There was some discussion of the issue; the local press and the WABA newsletter were discussed as other options to bring attention to the Family Video issue.
New Business: Dan Province has asked the new WAC intern to look at Galloway Rd. area due to the large number of zoning requests there. He will look at the area as a package instead of scattered small parks. Development in that area will bring 4,000-5,000 more people, along with drainage issues, and traffic issues. This will be affected by the zoning overlay along Hellbranch Creek, overlay will probably dictate smaller streets with green space to improve drainage. Overlay will dictate much of where to go from here on zoning. City Council says it is time again to review the Westland Area plan, we need to think about where to go from here.
There was a brief discussion of houses on Hall Rd. that are smaller than specified in their deeds. No limitation text only limit is on their deed so the city can't enforce. Neighbors have to sue offending properties individually or in a class action suit.
Morris apologized for missing summer meetings. He said he has been busy with his business but plans regular attendance in the future. Dan Province said attendance is more important now than ever--with the city cutting staff they need our input.
There was some discussion of the recent Columbus Dispatch series on developers. Developers have the right to give money to elected officials, the only conflict of interest is if officials make money on a particular decision. Westland Area could do the same as the Northland Area to get redevelopment money, Broad Street being in several jurisdictions (Columbus, Franklin Twp., Prairie Twp., New Rome) makes it much more difficult. Locke asked why we couldn't do a West Broad St. TIF like Morse Rd./Northland. Dan Province said there was a meeting about it where only three people attended, not much interest from community. The Development Committee could investigate.
Mueller reminded everyone that the next WABA meeting is Tuesday, January 8 at Westland High School, the featured speaker will discuss "Internet 101", call 870-1123 for reservations.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:12 p.m.