November 13, 2001
Meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Present were Daniel Province, chair; Betty Balthaser, Mike Hurd, Glen Hymer, Dorothy Jantzen, Mark Lehar, JoEllen Locke, Tom Morris, Jamie Mueller, Jan Province, Shawn Thomas, Ric Weber, and Jeff Woodson. Virginia Frank and Mike Hurd were excused. Bill Saxton was absent and has submitted his resignation.
Zoning Committee (Saxton): Zoning
Committee (Saxton): Saxton not here.
Jeffrey Brown from Dominion Homes spoke briefly about property south of West
Broad St. at Galloway Rd., corner piece of land across from the new
Kroger. Land is zoned single C4 family,
minimum 50 foot lots, houses with 2 car garage minimum. Land drains toward Hellbranch, would exclude
that area in watershed from consideration.
Zoning commission heard this proposal earlier and voted unanimously to
oppose--with lots only 50 feet wide developer can't assure anything else. 1100
square foot or larger homes too small. Dominion would divide between commercial
and residential; commission would like to exclude any adult
entertainment-related businesses which are no longer allowed under C4.
Two legs
of property come out to Galloway Rd., one at southern end of land and one at
Westland High school. Traffic study
required with development, will be submitted to city traffic department.
Developer will have to take care of any traffic problems identified. Dominion has property to west of site under
contract but property is in limbo until storm water issue resolved (drains
toward Hellbranch). No control of
property to south to exit to Hall Rd. or Sullivant Av.
Jan
Province asked about building design exteriors, proposal prohibits
prefabricated and untreated block or poured concrete but nothing about ugly split
block. Since this is directly across
from a brick Kroger and car wash shouldn't it match? Brown said all facades facing Broad St. will be brick--Item 1 in
proposal explains this. Dan Province
moved to vote, Jantzen seconded. Not Approved. Proposal scheduled for the city development commission’s December
meeting.
Dan
Province explained to the audience how this works. If the Westland Area Commission says no, the development
commission then gets the no vote from us.
The development commission then gives a report to City Council with
their assessment of necessary changes.
The development commission is a board like the area commissions set up
by the mayor. Citizens have the right
to attend meetings, generally held the first Thursday in December.
Next
development meeting is December 6, held at the City Building at 757 Carolyn Av.
(Near the Cooke Rd. exit on I-71) Citizens need to attend to get changes made
if you care; might be a long meeting but it's too late after this meeting. Contact council aide Steve Sobol at 645-7380
for exact time.
Larry
Price from Mayor's Office and Rick Tilton brought questionnaires to fill out as
part of Neighborhood Pride program.
City wrote up code violations found in Neighborhood Pride areas, now
this step is to assess citizen priorities.
The Westland Area Commission has their ideas but the city wants to hear
from everybody. Tilton explained that
the Mayor's policy office developed this "Neighborhood Priorities"
questionnaire to take week of Neighborhood Pride and make into a way of doing
business. The city wants to work with
neighborhoods and determine priorities--every area of city is different. Survey
is one way to ensure that city services are delivered where needed in each
neighborhood. In December the Mayor
will be announcing neighborhood liaisons.
Every neighborhood in Columbus will have a liaison to get answers for
their community, kind of like the Mayor's Action Center.
Larry:
city had a breakfast meeting with Mayor Coleman and various commissioners, now
we see this survey as a follow-up to the meeting. Ask everyone to fill out questionnaire, would like to take 15-20
minutes for everyone to complete a survey.
Judy Clark, Division of Sewers and Drainage, facilitated the survey by
going through survey quickly and asking everyone to mark three priorities in
each category. Categories were: Health Services, Public Service, Public
Utilities Services, Public Safety Services, Recreation and Parks Services,
Neighborhood Nuisance Issues and Education/assistance Information, After-school
and other Education Issues, Discrimination/Mediation Services, and Computers
and Technology Links with City Hall.
There was also a section for respondents to list 3 top priorities from
all categories, important that they are not headings but individual concerns
made as specific as possible. The
survey included a place to list issues not mentioned along with comments and a
place to mark interest in participating in various community-related programs.
Larry: taking surveys back to Mayor's office and
compiling results. Asked if anyone has
questions and introduced the following people here from the city: Police
Commander Bill
Mattei,
in charge of western portions of city; Officer Brian Smith, Columbus Police
community liaison for the 10th precinct; Bob Ames, assistant director of
Recreation and Parks Dept; Allen McKnight, Columbus Recreation and Parks
Planning/Design; Patty Harris, assistant director of Recreation and Parks
Dept.; Gary Sarelson, supervisor of city’s 28 recreation centers; Ron Eaton,
executive assistant to Recreation and Parks assistant directors.
Dan
Province said getting a recreation center takes forever; commission wants to
reduce time, community has nowhere now
for senior activity, after school programs, nowhere for youth to go except to
cause problems. South-Western City Schools recreation centers became
classrooms, area has just three parks.
Is it possible for the city to use an existing facility?
Locke
asked if the city has identified a parcel large enough in Westland Area for a
recreation center.
Response:
Westland Area, Southeast Area are underserved with community centers. The city master plan is looking at what kind
of facilities to build, where they should be located, whether they should be a
traditional center like Westgate or another type of center. There is some
parkland
in the area that could possibly be used, no specific site determined for
recreation center at this time, could possibly use city owned property at Broad
St. and Alton-Darby Creek Rd. or at Holt Rd. City will keep working with
community, the hard part is identifying funding. Centers are funded off voted bond packages. Plan might be finished by the end of the
year, city will then come back to neighborhoods with recommendations.
Dan
Province asked about how much money and land was available and how money and
land Parkland Dedication Ordinance could be used.
Response: developers must set aside land or money
toward parks, within planning area 26A (area is not contiguous with the Westland
Area) the city has a commitment for $223,000 with $108,000 in the bank. City would need millions of dollars for a
recreation center. There are about 154
acres of parkland in this area not including Mentel Golf Course. City is looking for other sites in Westland
Area to use as future parkland but also needs to develop existing parkland in
Westland Area. Parks and Recreation
Department looks for appropriate piece of land in each development or might
want cash in smaller developments.
Has
there been success with corporate sponsorships? Busch Sports Park on Olentangy River Rd. is a major corporate
sponsorship, Busch contributed a portion of the development costs about 15
years ago, city owns the land. There
have some smaller scale contributions since then but no major donations.
Does the
Recreation and Parks Department get involved with waterways other than Darby
Creek? City has some preservation
easements for smaller waterways. Hellbranch Plan is designed to preserve more
open space and floodways.
Dan
Province said Greene Countrie has started blockwatch due to problems,
especially vandalism and truancy in park area, police can't get back into park
easily so what can be done?
Response:
parking lot may not be a solution due to secludedness of back area of park,
plus parking probably isn’t needed as the park is considered a walking park for
immediate neighborhoods; perhaps more security lights is the answer.
Locke:
Greene Countrie blockwatch having is having their third meeting,
Recreation/Parks people could attend.
People who back up to park have certain concerns, especially truancy
from nearby Westland High School.
Does
Recreation and Parks Department work with wetlands? Response: Yes, trying to
do more of that, not generally looking for new sites but working to preserve
wetlands on existing properties.
Thomas
asked about Westchester/Old Irish area where there is a small piece of wooded
land that area residents want to preserve.
Response: city would agree to preserve woods if that’s what local residents
want, perhaps add a small playground.
Dan
Province: have asked for 4 years for
traffic calming in Epernay (south of Hall Rd. and west of Norton Rd.), street
ties into Baytree, city says they can't put in speed bumps on a collector
street, why is that? Mattei: police can't control speed bumps, only have
enforcement authority. Traffic Engineering Department does speed bumps,
Columbus Fire Department has requested that wider streets (collectors) have no
speed bumps so they can access small streets faster. 400 streets citywide have
asked for traffic calming devices, funding available for only about 14 streets
a year.
Discussion
about intersections like Georgesville Rd. and Holt Rd., Norton Rd. and Hall
Rd.; heavy traffic at these intersections, need more turn lanes, Norton and
Hall 3rd worst intersection in city, needs to be considered as Norton Rd.
planned to be widened in 2002. Alkire
Rd. and Holt Rd. intersection needs turn lane.
Columbus, like all Ohio communities, required to follow Ohio Manual for
Uniform Traffic Devices to add traffic lights--14 standards must be met,
including traffic volume, traffic speed, intersection type, accident rate,
traffic delays, and local conditions.
Locke:
there are sidewalks in disrepair in the area, what are steps can be taken to
get them fixed? Response: property owner's responsibility, can call
City Engineer's office at 645-8376 or 645-1410. Can contact Officer Smith at 645-4794 or Commander Mattei with
any safety concerns west of Scioto River.
645-7790 is number for traffic engineering.
Weber:
pornographic videos rented at Family Video store located at Sullivant Av. and
Norton Rd., cubby hole in back for 21 and under, store opened before new city
code was enacted against pornography, what should be done? Some discussion followed. Apparently they agreed not to rent
pornographic items in their original zoning request but the agreement was taken
out before final approval. Sexual
activity is a health risk so it is easier to shut down, renting pornography often
not prosecuted.
Some
discussion followed about speaking before city council--some have asked to
speak but did not get time to speak, 3 are supposed to be able to speak on each
side plus the appropriate area commission, meetings sometimes moved without
informing all interested parties.
Dan
Province said that he believes the mayor is for neighborhoods and is moving
toward more community involvement.
Motion
to adjourn by Mueller, seconded by Weber.
Meeting adjourned at 8:43 p.m.