City Council - Regular Meeting

Okay. Good evening. We're going to call the special meeting public hearing for Akran City Council to order. At this time, our clerk will read the role. Balden, I. Boy, I Connor. Davis. I Garrett present Hannah. I K. Hi, Lombardo. Hi, Mkhitri. Hi, Emobian. Somerville. I Wilson. I. We have all members present except for Councilwoman Emobian.

We do have one item that's up for public hearing and our clerk will read item number one. Notice is hereby given that the following open comment public hearing will be held by the council of the city of Akran on Monday, April 6, 2026 during a special meeting to be held at 5:00 p.m. Ordinance authorizing a conditional use to expand parking at 839 South Arlington Street and 10:37 WY Avenue. This notice was advertised in the Akran Beacon Journal on March 21st and on the Akran City Council website beginning March 19th. Mr. Hosbach.

Thank you, Madam President, members of council. The petitioner is requesting permission to expand a parking lot for a retail business onto property zone single family residential. The establishment of a retail use in a residential district requires conditional use approval. The petitioner plans to utilize the previously conditionally zoned daycare centers to provide head start and early head start programs. Both the two-story building facing South Arlington Street and the one-story building facing WY Avenue will undergo major renovations, including security security entry vestibules, a larger commercial kitchen, laundry room, and new restrooms. The exterior of both buildings will receive new doors, windows, security cameras, and card readers. The Arlington Street building splitface block will be cleaned and repainted and the WY Avenue building will be reclaimed with pre-finished PVC board and batten siding. The Arlington building will house three Head Start classrooms for up to 40 children and 14 staff members. Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with child drop off at 7:00 a.m. and pickup at 3:00 p.m. The WY building will house five early Head Start classrooms that will accommodate up to 51 children and 12 staff members. Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Child drop off at 7:15 a.m. and pickup at 3:15 p.m. Uh, the Arlington building will have its existing paved area reconfigured to contain a total of 18 parking spaces at the rear of the property. An existing landscaped bed between the two Forbes Avenue curb cuts will remain. Landscape bed will be added at the northeast corner of the property and the northernmost parking space will be 14 feet from the right ofway. The WY building will have 14 spaces added for a total of 25 spaces. Four new parallel

spaces will be at the north edge of the current landscaped area along WY Avenue 11T 8 in from the right ofway. 10 spaces will be located east of the building with the southernmost space being 16 ft from the right ofway. A 6 ft in height vinyl privacy fence will be installed along both eastern property lines and to the rear of the WY Avenue building. The existing outdoor play areas will be cleaned up and new play equipment, mulch, and fencing will be installed. An enclosed dumpster will be located near the northeast corner of the WY Avenue building. Objectives of the land use development guide plan include promoting good design standards for buildings and parking areas and providing well planned designed and located business areas to serve the needs of the population. Additionally, plan staff and developers should cooperate to ensure the areas where non-residential and residential uses but are carefully planned and best practices are incorporated to minimize negative impacts on residential uses. Parking areas should receive particular attention. The vacant buildings are currently boarded up and the South Arlington Street building contains graffiti. The proposed improvements to the buildings and site will better serve the needs of the Head Start and Early Head Start programs. Although the proposed number of parking spaces exceed code requirements, the petitioner has stated that additional spaces are needed because Head Start requires that parents or guardians escort children to the door and sign them in at the front desk before passing them on to a staff member. The proposed solid fence along the eastern property line should screen the daycare activity and parking areas from the abunding properties. The includ inclusion of shade trees and additional landscaping will enhance the WY Avenue streetscape. The petitioner has worked with the planning staff to lessen any negative impact of the parking upon neighboring properties. The petitioner has further

stated that the 44306 zip code area has a 10% higher poverty rate than the rest of Summit County. The proposed renovations and reuse of the property for Head Start and early Head Start programs will be an asset to this East Acron neighborhood. The planning staff and planning commission recommend approval. Thank you. Thank you so much. At this time, we're going to open up our public hearing. Do we have anyone here in the audience who wishes to speak in favor or against item number one? If so, we're going to ask that you please stand at this time so that you may be sworn in by our clerk. Could you please raise your right hand? Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you give will be the truth? If so, please say I do.

Thank you. So, we're going to begin with those who wish to speak in favor. And if you could approach the podium and just give us your name and your address for the record.

Sure. Uh, my name is Jim Pursudo. I work at Four Points Architectural Services at 2850 South Arlington Road, uh, Sweet 200, Akran 44312. Uh, I'm the project architect uh, for this particular site. Um, again, it was a very detailed description of what we're after here. Um, uh, we definitely were trying to get the additional parking on the property to accommodate, uh, roughly 26, uh, staff members, um, and over, uh, 90 children. Um, again, uh, all the children are of age that need to be escorted into the building uh, and signed in. Uh so we wanted to try to get as many parking spots on there for uh parents in particular to use. Um other than that, we're very happy that you're considering this change and uh I if there are any other questions, I'll gladly answer them.

Thank you so much. Sure.

Good afternoon to all. I'm Allison James and I currently serve as the Head Start director uh with Community Action and I've been involved with Community Action for about 30 years and working in the Head Start program and I'm sure many of you um you are aware of the Head Start program, the impact to children and families, the impact to the community. So what we are trying to do is continue to uh provide the services in the communities where the services are needed and we embarked on this project to do just that. We know that there are eligible children and families in the area and we are there to help provide the support. We are going to be working with uh families with preschool children uh as well as families with infants and toddlers. So the the um the classrooms that will be at WY will be for the infants and toddlers and then the Arlington building will be preschool. So the idea is as children enter Early Head Start then they can walk right across the parking lot and then they will be served by Head Start. And you know Head Start has been around for 60 years. Early Head Start 35 years. Uh so we are very um thankful that you've taken the time to uh hear us and we thank you for your consideration and approval of this project.

Thank you so much. If there's Oh, one more. So, Mr. Cer, we're going to have you to be sworn in first. I think this happened earlier today. Yes. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you give will be the truth? If so, please say I do. I do.

Thank you. Good evening. It's uh it's great to be back here. Appreciate all of you. Uh I just I just wanted to to mention that u you know as Allison said, you know, Head Start began nationally in 1965. We've been in this community, you know, for that that long community action akan summit and actually we have services in that area and even acting on water and so forth and so on. But in this situation there this has been a basically a day daycare operation. And I think most of you probably know the difference between daycare where uh you know where children come in and basically try to keep them safe and you feed them and so forth and so on, but it's not necessarily um to prepare them for school. The difference in Head Start is that is is that the children are prepared. So that and there's a very strong reputation nationally for uh children being prepared for school and doing very well and in fact assuming leadership roles and so forth. For example, the head of f Ford foundation you know sites head start as the reason why he ended up where he was. He grew up in a very poor neighborhood in San San Antonio, Texas. There are a number of other uh or other individuals who also have cited their um you know their background in in in and start in Head Start. But the other thing too is that one of we have uh competed

and in fact have uh bring about $4 million in additional um funding uh federal federal funding that allows us to reconstruct this particular property as well as um even kind of provide other services. As you know, we were involved with utility assistance and a number of other type of programs. And this area is adjacent to a low-income uh uh area and um you know and there have been a lot of different uh issues and things throughout over the last maybe 10 years uh in this particular community that will Arlington uh road down to water. So but anyway, thank you. I know uh this is a single item, so we want to get out of your way. Thanks. Bye.

Thank you so much, Mr. Casta. If there's no one else wishing to speak in favor or against, we will close our public hearing. Councilman Kr, what is the committee's pleasure? Thank you, Madam President. I'd like to pull the committee for uh passage this evening. Okay. Uh, Connor, hi boys. Hi, Hannah. I'd like to make a comment. You You'll make your comment after the vote. Okay. Okay. Hannah, I uh Somerville, I

and myself. I uh Thank you. Uh you heard from the planning department. They're in favor. uh planning commission is in favor and it seems like it's a good fit for uh the neighborhood and I do know the uh ward council person is in favor. So that's it. Thank you. So we'll defer to um Councilman Hannah for comments. Thank you, Madam President. Um I don't know if you remember a lady by the name of Mertis Thomas.

Absolutely. She was a dear dear friend of mine for many many years and uh I want to thank Mr. Costa and the board uh for investing in Ward 5 and bringing your new facility in Ward 5. And as you said earlier, the CAC has been around for a long time. In fact, I had two boys that went to Head Start and graduated from Howard University. So, uh Head Start has went on to be one of the uh premier facilities in the Akran uh area for the poor and underprivileged children. You have served the children and the community exceptional. You have given the children exceptional care and service throughout throughout the community. I would like to welcome you to Ward Five.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you so much, Councilman. Councilwoman Amobian. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, can you hear me? Okay. Yes, we can.

Thank you. I just first id like to have my name added to the legislation and I think we all know the reputation of community action. Uh as Mr. Costa and Allison indicated uh they have been in the community a long long time and has done exceptional work for many children. Not only those that are lowincome but I know those are the ones that are eligible but it's kind of rubbed off on others. I I think Judge Analisa Williams would tell you that she benefited from a lot of those programs and you see where she is today. So I just certainly want to give my strong support for any program that they do because they do very uh very exceptional work and and the programs that they provide are stellar programs. So, please, I'd like to add my name and and thank uh Community Action for for doing this, adding this to community where the need is great. Thank you.

Thank you, Councilwoman Amovian. Are there any additional questions or comments at this time? Seeing and hearing none, the committee's report is favorable. All in favor signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? The eyes have it. This ordinance passes 12 to zero. Thank you. Um, seeing that there's nothing else coming before this committee at this time, meeting adjourned. Council will meet in regular session at 6:30. Thank you.