Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

[Music] All right. Thank you everyone for coming out tonight. If you want to take your seats here in the next minute or so so we can get started. Uh we're going to go through the presentation. Uh we'll have a question and answer session uh for any concerns that you have and uh we'll go from there. Okay. All right. Thank you everyone for coming out tonight. Appreciate it. Um my name is Chris Shonik. I am the city planner here. Uh that's a new role with the city. I've been here for about six months. Um, and I have a few members of city staff here. Uh, with me as well. We have Don Calbert who is the assistant safety service director, Daryl Farcus, building official, Mark Craig, administrative legal counsel, Ashley Scott is right behind me. She's a community development director, and we have John Schneider, our uh, chief engineer with the city as well in attendance. So, tonight we're going to just go through a few things with this zoning code update that we are still working on. I want to emphasize that um the city will be having public meetings at a later time, formal public meetings with planning commission, city council um when this is uh a little more ready, but this is a very preliminary meeting to discuss some of your concerns and uh thoughts uh regarding this zoning code update. So uh we've gone through our welcome introductions here. Our presentation tonight is going to include just a few brief uh items here. role of my position, city planner. What does that mean exactly? The uh zoning basics just to give all of you an understanding

if you don't know what zoning is. We'll go through that in brief to sort of give you 101 class if you will. Uh and then we're going to go through our new zoning code and go through that in a very high level. Uh the document is available online as well for your use. Uh, and if you do need a paper copy, uh, I will have them available either, um, in the back here or if you do need it printed, uh, you can just reach out to me by business cards are available in the back as well. Um, we'll talk about next steps and a brief question and answer session, uh, regarding any of your concerns with this new zoning code update. So, we had some public meetings last in February. I think it was the 21st and 25th. Um this was uh very preliminary at the time. Uh we had a draft I think it was about oh 70 60 pages or so. Uh this document has increased in size to about 130 pages. Um so since February what we what have we done? Our consultant provided an updated version of our plan uh in March following the last public meeting. Uh new information is included in the update, including information to what accessory uh including accessory uses, fences, and signage. Later on in the presentation, if you don't know what an accessory uses, we'll we'll explain that for you. Uh zoning districts and uses have been greater have a greater definition. Uh some of these were very preliminary uh definitions that were provided. So, we've honed into those a little bit more and have uh elaborated further. uh public input. All of you, if you attended those meetings in February, that uh input was considered in these revisions that were made. Um so that is another important piece to this puzzle that we're going through together. Uh so zoning districts were changed on our zoning map. As you can see, we have one available there. Uh where the districts

were changed slightly and then some of the permitted uses were also revised. Some of them became conditional uses. And once again, we'll explain what that is a little bit later if you don't know the definition of that. Uh, and currently our city legal department is reviewing these proposed changes to the zoning code uh to ensure compliance with state statutes, federal laws, and of course any local laws that we have. So, moving on here with our presentation. So, role the city planner, any of you that's that are coming in, that's me. Uh, I'm the city planner for Alyria. So what we do is uh we review needs uh zoning needs of the city, review requests for zoning. We create what is called a staff report. And what this is is based on our findings of whether it's compliant with our zoning code. You have to consider what a zoning code is. It is law when it is uh adopted by ordinance. Um and these uh reports are directed to either our board of zoning appeals for what is called a variance planning commission for reasonzonings and of course city council has final say on anything that's related to a reszoning or a conditional use. So our my role with the residents and developers uh my role is to guide you or developers through the review process such as these resonings, conditional uses, variances, what we call design review. That's usually aesthetics for commercial properties in the city, industrial properties and so forth. Um, and also my role is to coordinate with city departments. As you can see, we got many staff members here. I work with them on mostly a daily basis to ensure uh everything is move moving smoothly concerning a uh anything regarding the zoning code. So, our beginning uh our first section of this presentation tonight is zoning basics.

to give all of you a basic understanding of what uh zoning is. Um there's several benefits that can be attributed to zoning. It does protect property values, separates industri or residential areas from industrial commercial zones, preserving the neighborhood character, ensures public health and safety, regulates setbacks, how far building is from the road, uh the height of the building. I'm sure if you have a single family home, you don't want to live live next to somebody that has an 80 foot tall building. Um, guides orderly development, propose provides uh promotes rather efficient growth and prevents apphazard land uses. Uh, it's to avoid having let's say a commercial or industrial use next to residential use. Um, it provides amenities such as parks, schools, and services to the community. So, what is a zoning district? You'll see in that map at the front there, we've got eight of them shown. And they vary from residential to commercial to industrial, parks, open space. All of them have a color uh associated with them. And what each of these districts do is they impose a limit on how a land own land owner may develop and use their property. You'll have a list of uses. For example, you might have a residential area. Most uses are only going to be residential. They're not going to include um you know, a bar or restaurant in most cases. Um they aim to organize land use in a way that promotes compatible compatible uses and discourages incompatible ones from the district. Um and as I said already, the example here, keeping industrial uses away from the residential ones in the community. And each of these zoning districts has a use that is

permitted. And there's three different types of uses that are usually associated with a zoning district. They include principal uses, conditional, and accessory uses. These uses may be found in several zoning districts or they may just be found in one in particular. And for example, a heavy manufacturing use would only be found in an industrial zoning district, not in residential or downtown or near a main roadway within the city. So going on with our definitions of these three types of uses, our first use is a principal use. Uh this is a use that is permitted outright in a zoning district. that that could be a bank maybe in a commercial area or a um just a McDonald's or you know anything that you might think um is the principal use that that would be um defined as such or a single family home in a residential zoning district. Our second use category or use type rather is a conditional use. These uses have limitations to them. um in a zoning district and usually or actually my apologies uh they are authorized by planning commission andor city council uh in their final determination. So for example, a cannabis dispensing facility must meet specific criteria concerning the location. Um, in our proposed zoning code update that we have here, uh, cannabis dispensing facilities as it is currently, they cannot be located within a thousand feet of a school, a park, another cannabis dispensing facility to avoid a concentration of these uses. The best interest is in public safety and health. Uh, that's the pretty much the beginning points of zoning. Wh why

zoning exists? Um, so like I said, the cannabis dispensing facility must meet specific criteria concerning the location and must be uh abiding state laws and other requirements that may be set forth by the planning commission or city council. Our third type of use uh that exists uh in a zoning code is your accessory use. this is subordinate to the principal use on the same lot and naturally serves that use or is incidental to it. Meaning uh you know if you have a detached garage on your property that's considered an accessory use. And in terms of zoning you can't have an accessory use without a principal use. Uh that's how we've defined it historically and that will uh be how it is defined moving forward. So to give you guys just a basic understanding of what all this means, some of these terms that might be a little alien to you, I just thought we would go through some basics here for all of you to understand. So in terms of our um oh and excuse me, the some of our uh accessory uses with the new zoning code, there are quite a few new ones that are being considered with the revised code um that is either in front of you or you uh have available online for your use. Uh some of them include accessory dwelling units. Those are mother-in-law suites. Those have become very popular uh in the uh US collectively. Uh that does allow a second dwelling unit to exist on a property. Uh this is a tool that is used to combat the housing costs that uh is affecting the nation. Um another accessory use that we have uh proposed are daycare homes. Uh there are two types of daycare homes uh defined by the state of Ohio. There are type A and type B. A type B home can be allowed in any residential area. Uh cannot be

restricted by zoning and that is uh defined as 1 to six children being in the home taken care of. Um anything that exceeds that amount is 7 to 12 children. We are talking about permitting this in the zoning code update. However, there will be use specific restrictions and what that means is they will need to meet certain criteria for parking and uh things of that nature and ensure that there is not a concentration of them. They're not uh near a bar or any other type of use as well uh that may be detrimental to the health or well-being of the children that are staying at this daycare home. Another use that uh has been uh very uh hot button issue throughout the US is uh backyard hens. Um barnyard animals in general. Um the way we've looked at this is we are singularly looking at allowing backyard hens. A lot of neighboring communities are permitting this. Um in the city of Northolmstead, Parma Heights, there's many other cities in the local area that are permitting this use. Um but there will be restrictions and safeguards to ensure public health and safety as well. We are making sure that that is being included in this um as well. And uh beekeeping that is another one that is also um believe it or not Cleveland Heights and Parma Heights and other other communities in the Northeast Ohio region do permit this in their zoning code. Not going to say that necessarily somebody's going to pop up next to you and have it, but they will be allowed to do it. Um, and once again, this will have use specific restrictions uh when you do read the zoning code that are in there to ensure that uh it does not affect people's public health and safety. So, like I said, some of these are uh they need to meet a certain distance from other uses of the same um

vernacular. uh requirements such as fencing or screening setbacks from other property lines uh are some of these requirements that are listed for these uses that I've mentioned here today. And then some of these other communities, Cleveland Heights, Parma, Madina, and others do permit these uses. So, moving on here to our new zoning code. If you did attend the meetings in February, the the use or rather the districts that are proposed here, uh most of them are the same. We do have one district that has been added. I believe we presented on seven in our last meeting. So tonight, all eight of them we will go over in brief, mention some of those principal uses that are allowed, a few conditional uses as well. Um and then uh we will provide you with the next steps of this process. So currently our zoning code is 18 zoning districts. We're moving down to eight. Um by reducing these zoning districts, it's been shown in a lot of communities throughout the country that can attract more local businesses, promote econ economic development, uh development on vacant parcels. We do have considerable amounts. We want to see growth and economic development in Ayria. And then some of our uses are not listed. This last update was in 1998. So with the update that we're having now, some of these uses that have not been considered uh such as breweries, green energy, esports centers, Airbnb, Airbnbs, I always have a hard time saying that one. Um those are uses that are going to be included in our new zoning code uh to ensure that it is compliant with a lot of people, a lot of businesses that wish to come into the community. Uh just so you know, the new zoning code will not impact most

residential homes. If your existing use is in operation currently, it will continue to be able to operate. So, if you have any concerns regarding that, that is it's um nothing to worry about as we move forward with this process. So, our first zoning district that we're going to go through tonight, go over is the residential one district. Uh this is indicated as the lighter yellow on the map above. It is a considerable amount uh considerable part of the city. Uh it's low density developments uh pres preservation of neighborhoods predominantly residential uses in these areas. They may be appealing to senior citizens and small families. And these areas include our newer subdivisions in the city. Excuse me. Uh and as stated, uh this includes our one unit, two-unit residential, town home residential. Uh some of those daycarees are permitted. um community gardening, playgrounds, parks, very simple. You're not going to have an industrial manufacturer next to you or a commercial strip coming in. Our second zoning district that we have here tonight is the uh residential 2 district. This is indicated as the burnt orange or orange-ish color on the map that we have above uh in front of the room here. Uh this district intends to promote broad diversity of housing types including walkable neighborhoods, compact affordable residential neighborhoods. Small-scale commercial properties will be permitted in these areas, traditionally at the end of the streets. Um grocery stores are intended to be confined to corner lots. Um these are usually our historical areas of the community. And of course, we want to promote sidewalk bicycle connectivity as well.

And this does broaden the range of uses in this residential two district. It is closer to the downtown area. So we are allowing for greater range such as 3 to 8 unit residential homes, residential care housing, uh community gardens and parks which is the status quo from the residential one district. Moving on here down to our downtown district. This is indicated as purple on the map. Um this is the uh heart of the city of Ayria. This allows for a mix of uses. Businesses, restaurants, bakeries, coffee shops, bars, um breweries, so on and so forth. Allows for plazas, park pocket parks as well. This area is confined to the down downtown downtown district is confined from Fifth Street to the river. This is a little bit of an increase from our current downtown uh zoning district. Uh we are broadening it to allow for greater economic development in the urban core. So some of these uses uh they vary of course. Um this is probably the most forgiving district. It allows for the most flexibility, but it includes residential uses, all of them, daycare facility, indoor sales and service, which can include various offices and um different businesses um in the community. Uh gardens, parks, religious assembly and so forth. also uh brew pubs which is a uh new new cad new uh use rather uh that we are included in the zoning code update. Moving along here uh our corridor district is indicated as the blue on the map at the front of the room here. These are our arterial roadways in the community. This includes Cleveland

Street, Broad Street, West River Road. These are usually near uh significant intersections and these buildings are meant to be less have a smaller setback from the roadway providing adequate pedestrian and walk uh bicycle connectivity to the neighborhoods and parks predominantly those residential two districts that are close by. And of course we want to encourage density as well in this portion of the city. These uses are very similar to what you see in the downtown area. A few have been um are not permitted. Um but we are trying to make this as flexible as possible in these two districts, the downtown and the corridor district to allow for that economic development in the community. So moving along here, our commercial zoning district. Uh this is red on the map in the room in the uh on the map in the front of the room here. It supports businesses, services, employers. This is your uh traditional post 1950s strip mall type area. Includes Midway Mall. Um a lot of these areas are not as pedestrian friendly, more autocentric. Um and as indicated here on the slide here, it's uh mostly your shopping plazas, malls, um outside of the residential areas near major arterial roadway. So think of Chestnut Commons, Midway Mall area. Some of the uses that are permitted in here uh include the uh recreation centers, outdoor storage, indoor sales and service, uh small indoor dining, drinking, entertainment facilities as well as large. There's a limit on this uh for a reason. Um there is a restriction in and I forgot to mention

my apologies in the corridor district there is a limitation on up to 20 uh people that can be occupants within the corridor district that mirrors our current zoning that allows for a limitation of 20. When it exceeds that number it needs to be conditionally permitted. Uh there there's a reason for that uh from city council. they have uh there was historically some issues with certain uh bars in the community. So that restriction is remaining as we move forward here. So, moving on here, um, as I indicated at the beginning here with the zoning districts that we have, there was one, uh, zoning district left out in our last presentation, something we were working on between February and now, and that is we have decided to have two industrial districts in the city. Uh, the reason for that is, uh, industrial uses have uh, they're very, uh, they vary in intensity. So, we've packaged essentially industrial uses that can be permitted in the city to a tiered system of low, medium, and high intensity. Uh, city of Cleveland has something very similar. And what this allows for is for us to keep, considering how Ayria was developed 100 plus years ago, a lot of our industrial areas are very close to residential communities. So what we wanted to do was separate out some of the heavier industrial uses to ensure they were not near some of our houses. So what we did was we divided it into two industrial zoning districts. And each of these three zoning uh uses here, low intensity, medium, and high f uh fall within those two districts. So as we move along here, I'll explain that a

little bit more in depth for you. And of course, if you have any questions after the presentation, we can go over it a little bit more. So, our industrial one zoning district, that is the light gray on the map in the front of the room here, that allows for our low and medium intensity industrial uses. These usually include office parks, medical uses, uh it can include uh various different storage centers and facilities in the community. Um, these areas are somewhat bikable, attracting workers. They're light intensity at the end of the day. So, what do those include? Oops, looks like my slides are going off on me. So, those include data centers, storage centers, religious assembly, and then a mix of some indoor dining, drinking, entertainment facilities, your traditional bars. Some of some breweries are even in light intensity low inensity industrial areas as well. Um so it allows sort of a mix between a little bit of commercial uses into that industrial one zoning category. So moving on here we have our industrial 2 zoning district. These are the heaviest industrial uses, heavy manufacturing. uh they include a lot of trucks, heavy trucks, semi-truckss driving into the area that has been concentrated when you look at the map in the front and of course we will provide a map at the end of this presentation for us to look at. Um that is concentrated on the west end of the city, away from most residential uses, away from downtown enough um to allow for those uses to still exist in our city, but we want the development to occur there instead of in your backyard essentially. These are usually located in industrial parks and railroad

corridors. So some of those examples can include gas manufacturing, chemical, biological incineration, slaughter houses, I don't think there is any inria, but it is listed. Uh livestock feeding, maintenance and parking of heavy equipment vehicles, uh stone crushing, milling, that type of stuff. that is where you're going to see those uses moving forward with this new zoning code. So, our final zoning district that we have is the parks and open space districts. This is pretty straightforward. This is green on the map. This includes farmland. You can think of Shusters Farm in the community and then most of our parks and recreational areas in the city. allows for walkability, biking, uh mingling of people of different ages and abilities, and uh dog parks, splash pads, and so forth. So, moving on here, next steps. I know we had this meeting in February. There was one last November as well, sort of getting the baseline for this. Um currently this project is under review by our legal department. I did say that earlier. Uh they are going through that. They're providing comments and revisions that we will make. So this is very much a draft. I want to keep that emphasis on that it is a draft. It is not a complete product and there will be an opportunity for true formal public meetings with your city council members, planning commission and everyone else uh that is uh elected in the community. So this is not a final product. It is currently under review and those final revisions will be forwarded through our process of planning commission our committee city council for three readings. Uh we're looking at tenative approval by the end of this year, late

2025, but as you can imagine, there's a lot of moving parts to this. Um it has more than doubled since February. So we are making progress on it. But the point of having this meeting is for your input to hear what your thoughts are, your concerns, address them to the best of our ability, uh and try to have a compromise on what we want to see the future of Ayria to look like. So, with that, I will open this up to a question and answer session for you guys. Um, I know we're here until around 8:00, so looks like I went through that presentation a little quick here. So, we have an hour and a half to uh discuss any concerns that we might have uh regarding the zoning code. So, with that, I will open this up and we will have a microphone going around for any of you as well. Let me just make sure this is working. [Music] I understand that it looks like your intent is to increase density. Uh, and density is a good thing for downtown. It's pretty vacant. Uh, and so if you're increasing density on the south side where we've got the old storm, the old sanitary sewers, what's your thought about that? Are you kidding me? You got to be kidding me. This is ridiculous. And then and then if it is really approval by an administrative review, does that mean one person gets

decide what's appropriate in that district? I'll Mr. Schneider address the storm sewer concerns and then I'll address the second part. Sanitary sewers is what I'm talking about in in regards to utilities. Uh the the zoning ordinances really don't aren't governing the utilities. That's something that will have to come with a plan to planning commission. uh as far as if somebody wants to build somewhere or do something, there are steps involved that we do to make sure there's adequate sanitary sewers, flow metering, and things of that nature. So, uh that's really not part of this, but it's something that we do in the background during the planning commission process. But if you're planning on and saying that you can do this, then you should be ready to accept it and deal with the sewers, not hey, we're going to work on it. You know what I mean? That's just my opinion. You got to do what you want to do. Not very happy. In terms of the administrative review, we do have a considerable amount of uses that are approved administratively in our current code. Um, we have gone through this considerably. There was changes compared to our February meeting where some things did become conditionally permitted. Um and as indicated during the presentation that uh includes buffers of for example 1,000 ft between uh for example marijuana uses and even vape shops. We've considered that in this zoning code rewrite. Uh city of Cleveland in the past month or two they did approve a uh they had a large concentration of vape shops and as I said the main concern with the zoning code is public health and safety. um you have a high concentration of vape shops.

Uh they limited theirs to about a 2-m buffer. We can't do that in Yria. That that would be excessive. You would have one on one end and one on the other and that'd be about it. But what we're doing is we're trying to prevent uses that are incompatible with the district. So that's where the filter comes in with conditional uses. We haven't gone away from conditional uses completely. They're still there. Um you know, I mean, if you have concerns, Mr. trade. And regarding conditional uses, I'd be more than happy to go through some of the ones that you believe might be um should be conditionally permitted, of course, but uh we still do have that process and we have even uh improved the filter on what we had comparatively to the old code where we're calling out that the use specific criteria that are in this new zoning code are being followed by planning commission that are being followed by city council. to ensure that you know it's not being ignored or we're just you know passing it through. We want to make sure that all this stuff is addressed formally um from a review process not only administratively but also on our commission on our city council to ensure that these incompatible uses or what may be deemed somewhat compatible as conditional use is brought forth and filtered properly. So you know I mean we can table this for further discussion of course um but it is still in existence the conditional use review

Sorry about that. So, I'm very proud that West by the River neighbors have changed at least 12 houses back from Well, currently our principally permitted uses in the current code, those would be considered administratively approved. It's goes through the, you know, the vetting of the zoning verification and it's just brought forth in that manner. If it's if it's permitted in the district, that's administratively reviewed and brought forth. So what we're doing here is I mean I will agree with you we are allowing greater flexibility but flexibility and use you know I mean we can look at at it from an aesthetic point of view. We can look at the you know the secretary of the interiors requirements for historical buildings and we want to ensure that those historical structures are maintained and the integrity of the historical buildings are maintained but the use that is you know I mean we want to make sure that something incompatible isn't going in there. We want to make sure that, you know, maybe a marijuana dispensary or a heavy manufacturer isn't going in there, of course, but if they're similar or akin to the main district such as the downtown district or the corridor, commercial, what have you, um, if it's akin to it, we're allowing that greater flexibility. So, hey, if somebody wants to come in and open up a brewery in the city or wants to open up a Airbnb in the historic district, they will have to go through less hoops. There's less red tape, less government red tape to allow for more efficiency and they can get to the finish line earlier than as it is now because it takes two, three, four months for somebody to get there. And we're

falling behind unfortunately compared to other communities. You look at Madina, you look at Cleveland Heights, Parma Heights, they they've got this stuff in their code. They have that flexibility. So that's what we're trying to do here. Allow this flexibility because we don't want to fall behind. [Music] Gotcha. And I I understand where you're coming from in terms of property value, but going back to the in terms of the marijuana uses, the vape shops, all that stuff, those have specific safeguards in place. That's where the conditional use permit comes

in place. So they need to go. So we're eliminating that stuff in that conditional use and therefore it needs to meet very specific stringent criteria not only set forth by the state laws also the local restrictions that we're going to place on them. The likelihood of that happening is very very slim. And I don't even believe vape shop use that is not in the downtown district permitted at all. um as well as the um the marijuana use those are even in the existing code conditionally permitted too. So the those safeguards are in place and the ones that we do have in there for example the marijuana uses that are um restricted by conditional uses in the current code that will be carried over into the new zoning code. So in terms of that that is uh you know going to remain the status quo but with the concern to the 3 to 8 unit residential that is something that we could take a look at uh further and of course like I said this will be going to planning commission city council for you know your elected officials to take a look at this. This is very preliminary. We still have our legal department looking at this. There may be further revisions to it as is right now. Um, just to sort of, you know, address some of your concerns.

that has been addressed actually. It was originally split by the by our consultant. We worked together and we made it into just the downtown district. So that has been addressed. Yeah. So it's singularly downtown. Um, [Music] Um I I can speak to that. Um there is no plan shared with the city of Valyria to put a meer there. We have not submitted plans. We have not had a conversation with Meyer. Um we know that there is interest in that area. um for for a lot of retail. Um but there are no immediate plans for that to occur.

[Laughter] So, um, so thank you. Yes, we we are well aware that there are traffic concerns there. Um, you know, we we drive through that traffic, too. So, we've experienced it at peak hours. Um this is a a common chicken and egg problem when you have development and you you have the space and the interest in developing it. Um the tra some of the traffic solutions have to come along with that development. So, I don't know if um Engineer Schneider can speak to a little bit more to, you know, some of the what they've done so far to mitigate traffic um to the best of their ability in that area as well as, you know, maybe what some future plans could be. I know that there were um some plans several years ago that were shared um and and I I believe ODOT had approved them. Um but they are massive massive massive changes um that we're not sure without the development being um you know committed that they even make sense without knowing exactly what the development plan is moving forward. So I know um that's a very not technical answer to a very technical issue. So I don't know if uh Mr. Schneider could could share a little bit more with that. I apologize. I was talking to uh Councilman Armstrong, so I didn't really hear the question. Um it's one you're very familiar with. Traffic at Chestnut Ridge and 57. Uh in in regards to the traffic there, obviously we've done some things to help the traffic out over there. Uh unfortunately you have to also consider the fact that Chestnut Ridge for a number of years even currently for a large portion of it isn't even in the

city of Valyria. Just so you know the tra I mean the the state route 57 in Chestnut Ridge is not in the city of Valyria intersection. It's actually outside city has taken over the the uh the traffic light from ODOT to help so we can coordinate better with uh the traffic light at Cheset Commons. a lot of that's not inside the city, so we don't we don't have a lot of control. Uh so we do our best. We work with them. Uh but obviously there's been some improvements. We we've got uh out there now there's uh more uh vehicle detection. So we're we're able to control the traffic better, be more responsive. Uh if no one's in a lane, you know, you click over, go to a different lane where there is. So we're doing that type of stuff. Uh we have uh I don't want to go too too far in this but you know we have almost like an AI type capability of monitoring the traffic over there and with a click of a button it can it can modify it. Uh the problem is it doesn't always work for every type of situation. If you actually watch the traffic over there from certain times of day it's dead in one area then it just all of a sudden cars come out of nowhere. They really do. uh the Reese Point crossing connecting that over has taken a lot of traffic off of uh that intersection as well as well as it provides traffic over there as well. But uh so we continually to do a lot over there as far as expansion. There's a number of things that have to happen still before that happens. Uh as uh uh director Calbertt said there's a ODOT involved as well. If there are any connections on 57 that's you know that's a limited access highway. We have no authority to to grant that. That's through ODOT. So, uh, we work with the developers as much as possible to to move, uh, so the traffic as much as possible. They do traffic studies, but unfortunately, there's certain times a day you're going to have backup. That's it's and it's all over the place. I mean, you can go to any city, you'll

find backup. Columbus, Cleveland, even in Avon, right around 83. That's a nightmare during certain times of day. But majority of the time, it moves really well out there. We have a traffic technician who monitors it all the time. So, uh we're doing our best, but unfortunately sometimes you can't control everything and uh sometimes some of the things also depend on the uh uh the uh equipment working. So, we've lost communication over the past couple weeks here and there, which when that happens, it does cause issues with our timing. It's not necessarily that the lights aren't working properly or they aren't working properly because they don't have the proper communication to uh to make some of those adjustments as they need to. But uh our traffic technicians and our communications departments, they do their best getting out there and checking those type of things. Hope that helped. No, no. Shortly after you go past uh uh Turner Street, there is the border with Ridgeville. So, there's like a I don't know if you can I mean there's like a tree line there with a ditch, which you might not be able to tell too well. That's actually shortly after that. Maybe a couple hundred feet. Yes. Yes, in the back.

I can address that. Um, ma'am, there's a majority of homes that I've personally placed investigations for specific things like bulldozing things into the river, stockpiling stuff in their backyards, all kind of different things. So the building department has a lot of cases that I personally took down there. So we are working on those. Yes, I Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about. They we are working on that issue at this Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Again, um there are several homes that are being investigated on that I personally took to build an apartment because of residential complaints about specific things that you're talking about. Oh, there's been a few that's been speaking up quite often. So, also to address your question, uh, which was concerns of property maintenance, uh, as well as, uh, involvement from the building department, uh, zoning does speak to, uh, and this is our current code, uh, large semi-truckss in uh, residential properties and so forth. It will also be reflected in the new proposed zoning code as well. Um we are actually working

on defining that a little bit better um compared to the current one. Yes. So so that is something that is uh a note I have and it is being considered absolutely in this proposed zoning code. Okay. Well, thank you. Thank you. Um, is there any other questions right now? We do have also a interactive map that is available on the city planning web page. I can pull that up if any of you are interested in seeing your address, what it's going to be zoned moving forward. Um just just to bring that up just to have all of us uh review this a little bit more. So if any of you are interested in that as well, we can do that or if any of you have any further questions, we are here to answer [Music] them. Oh, I'm referring to the map uh on the screen here actually. So what we can do with this is we search by address. We type in your address if you're comfortable with that, you know, being shared here with the group and you could see what your zoning will be moving forward. And of course, if you want to see on your own, this is available on the city web page or, you know, if you shoot me an email or a call just to, you know, see what your zoning will be uh with the new proposed zoning code. Yes.

for the downtown area. Yeah, I can move over to the downtown area. Oh. Oh, in the slides. Absolutely. Yeah. So, we will show the slides for the downtown district here. I must have passed it. I'm sorry. Okay. Well, I think that you know I know uh public health and safety is the that's the purpose of zoning. So the way uh you know we've gone about having this uklidian concept that's plenty term here but uh since the 1920s we've made things more restrictive especially 1950s onward where everything was separated and what this allows for is more flexibility. That's the goal. And I understand that some of these new concepts might be a little different, a little out there with this. Um, you know, all this can be amended moving forward if if it doesn't work hypothetically. But at the end of the day, a lot of communities have been

doing this. And like I said, Yria is getting stuck behind compared to the other communities locally, even Northeast Ohio, Madina, Cleveland Heights, and I know we're not exactly those communities either, but having a greater flexibility in use allows for development in the area. um those residential properties uh south of downtown traditionally some of those houses have had you know in other communities maybe a barber shop or a salon um different use go on go on Tom great city Yeah, there has been discussion about overlay uh overlay district for West by the River that has been address not addressed in the current code that you have in front of you, but the uh those properties are uh listed in a map that's exactly what we have in the current one. that is something that is uh being reviewed by our legal department. Um and I've been working with them closely over the last few weeks. Um they've they've been going through it and trying to you know provide their comments as well. So like I told you this is not a finished product of course it's a work in progress and that's why we're holding this meeting. So of course thank you for bringing your comments here uh regarding it. um and they are considered. Um we

just need to find that happy medium and I think uh like I said at the beginning of the presentation, a compromise. That's what all this is about is finding a compromise that works for the residents of Valyria. Um because I'm not trying to come in here uh you know and dictate everything at all. No, that's not any of our intention. The intention is to come to a compromise and find something that works for the community that that can make the community prosper moving forward. That is something we can definitely look into parking concerns, but you have to consider parking and any sort of street parking. That's that's outside the purview of the zoning code at the end of the day. That's right away. That's a city uh city- owned property. Um parking is a very hot topic issue. um across the country um there's been cities that have removed parking requirements. We have maintained ours in this proposal. We've kept it similar to what is there, but we've um increased our parking uh or rather decrease the uh parking minimums that we need uh in some of these areas to allow for greater flexibility, less needs for variances. sort of going back to what I was saying with the uh reducing government red tape with some of this. Um but that is

something that can be considered moving forward. But as I said the the street parking that that's outside of the purview of zing. Yes. Uh okay. Well, I'm I'm glad you're here. Glad you're here. So, in terms of the meetings uh for this, there will if you provided your name and email address on our form on the back. Um I will be providing to the group any sort of information of when this is um ready by our legal department and we'll start moving forward in the administrative or the not administrative review but the review by our planning commission committee and the city council where the elected officials uh will uh be hearing your voices on this matter. So in terms of from our perspective, from what is being built, you know, we still have work in progress to do on our end. Um, a lot of work with our legal folks as well. Um, and once those concern concerns and issues are addressed, um, we will hopefully have a product that is ready and that will move forward to the planning commission, so on and so forth. Um I can't put a time frame on that currently um because there's a lot of moving parts as you can imagine with something of this caliber. Uh the zoning code is one portion of this. We have two other sections that are about 50 pages each as well. So this is about a 200page plus document in total. Um, so there is a lot of moving parts to it, but I will absolutely keep you informed. As well as there will be notices provided when this is ready for planning commission out to our uh the Chronicle Telegram does have uh noticing in there and that will be uh

10 days prior to the planning commission meeting that that's required by law. Um but like I said, if you did provide your name, email address on the form in the back. um if you didn't, please, you know, include that uh to ensure that you are uh informed and we will do our best due diligence here to inform everyone in the city that um when this is ready, I just um just also to um give you a little bigger picture about the governmental process here. Um so this will go once our law department's reviewed and determined that the draft is you know legal and there's no conflicts within that uh from a legal perspective they we will put it in front of planning commission for for the commission to review and make a recommendation to city council. From there it will be discussed at a city council committee meeting um where that that recommendation from planning commission any proposed changes amendments the the entirety of the draft will go to council committee for review. So, um that is another opportunity for you to attend both planning commission and council committee um are opportunities for you to come in and speak, share your concerns, and then from there it will go to city council, full council where we we are, I think it's fair to say, pretty confident it will have three readings. Um and each one of those council meetings will be an opportunity for you um to to comment and share. um and then it will go for a uh vote of council after that third reading. So there is a lot of process and opportunity for you to come and and share your voice and your concerns. I will also say though in the meanwhile um as a staff we we really want to make

sure to the fullest extent possible we're addressing your concerns and balancing um what has been laid out for us in that comprehensive plan where the residents have said what they want to see happen in the city with what your specific concerns are. So, I don't um I want you to feel comfortable to reaching out to any one of us here, asking your questions, having a conversation about what you see, what you like, what you don't like. Um you know, I can't promise that we'll make those changes, but we we definitely want to be sensitive to that and um make sure we we're finding that balance and and striking that balance. So, thank you. Are there any further questions for us? Uh, while you have us here, of course, we will be here until 8, but there's no other further questions. I think we can sort of end the meeting. If you guys want to take a look at the maps that we have here, um, as well as the map that we have available on the web page, um, and if you have any further questions, we'll be here until 8 to address any of those, uh, that you might have. So, thank you for coming out tonight. We appreciate it. Um, like I said, we are here to, uh, hear your concerns, your questions regarding this update. It It's a lot. It's a lot to absorb. So, if you have any concerns, questions moving forward, feel free to reach out to any of us, uh, our contact information's in the back. Business cards are available. Um, and of course, we are here at city hall. So, thank you again for coming out and have a good night. Thank you.