City Council - Regular Meeting

Please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Call the roll, please. Mayor Bailey? Here. Vice Mayor Bateman? Here. Mr. Goodyear? Here. Sam Lin?

Here.

Mr. Hart?

Here.

Hazel Baker? Here. Mr. Jernick?

Here.

Welcome, everyone. With us tonight, we have our Director of Finance, Mark Medler. Assistant City Manager, Chris Weinage. Clerk of Council, Misty Clark. City Manager, Dave Kennedy. City Solicitor, Joe Braun. And Chief of Police, Michael Gabrielson. And former Councilmember, Todd Osborne. I don't see any other former Councilmembers. I think that's everyone. So, welcome. Happy to have you here. I think a lot of people are here for this next thing, I think. Oath of Office for Brett Carlson.

So I'm just going to do the quick intro. I don't know if you recall, the council has a two year, every two years we set the goals and I think it's a very unique process. And one of the goals that came out of this year's goal setting session, which was back in the winter months and was adopted was, It was sort of time that the city, under the umbrella of it's time we take better care of our stuff. We did a quick analysis. The city actually, if you might be surprised to know this, we have 80,000 square feet of roof structures in this city. That's buildings and restrooms and everything. and council really recognized just like they did years ago when they created the maintenance mechanic position there we would have never thought of having a guy whose job was to take care of all of our vehicles and I would say between Thomas and now Chris we can't Chris Rose we can't even put a price on how much money that has saved the city so the next frontier was the maintenance mechanic position and council approved that position in may 12th so staff moved relatively quickly thanks to chris and and chief huber had a lot of input and of course julie and it was a fairly sought after position council was unanimous that this was something the city needed so thus began the search and we were very very fortunate I think this was a position where someone had to have just enough skill to be able to take some of the duties off of contractors, of which that dollar amount might surprise you in the course of the year for HVAC, for electricians, for a lot of those things. But also, it was organized. We couldn't get into routines of all the... the mundane things of changing filters in all the new buildings let's uh the the safety the new fire station alone um and can figure out all that goes into keeping us uh rather than let's wait until stuff breaks uh playing an active role with the capital improvements when we figure out what we're spending next year on buildings uh this particular person uh quickly climbed up on the top of this roof and said this you don't need We can do some repairs and buy ourselves another three years on this roof. And those are the kind of things I would have probably just went ahead and done it. So those are just even a touch. So our new facilities manager is Brett Carlson. If you want to come up, Brett. Brett comes to us. He is already in the brief time he's been here really shown what he can bring and what he will bring to this city for many, many years to come. he's grabbing that ladder, he's fixing things. And he's gonna have a certain level of independence, he's going to really be sort of a free safety that gets to roam around and look at things that need to be done and pay public works, those gutters need to be cleaned. I mean, I could go on and on. Brett comes to us via Australia, actually. Chris and I've learned more about Australia over the last few years, last few days than I thought I would ever know. But I really truly think he's the perfect person for the position. And I think it's a great selection and he's been proving it every day. So I'm gonna let the mayor give you the oath and I'm gonna go ahead and sit down.

All right. First, thank you for being here. Thank supporters here with you tonight. We do this. We bring you here because otherwise we don't ever get to meet you sometimes. And you don't know who council is and you meet staff, obviously. But and also our community wants to wants to meet you because this is a small community and we're very proud of it. And I think we always give the same sort of message that we are a smart community. We totally support our employees, but we expect our employees, sort of the message here is you represent us when you're out there in this small community and sort of drive that home when you're here. You said here you are. You have to face them eventually and face us. So we're happy to have you, happy to meet you. Thank you. And let's do your oath. All right. Ready? Aye. State your name.

Aye. Brett Carlson.

Solemnly swear that I will. Solemnly swear that I will. Support the Constitution. Support the Constitution. Of the United States. Of the United States. The Constitution. The Constitution. Of the state of Ohio. Of the state of Ohio. And the charter and ordinances. And the charter and ordinances. Of the city of Loveland. Of the city of Loveland. And will obey the laws thereof.

And will obey the laws thereof.

And will faithfully discharge. And will faithfully discharge. The duties of facilities manager.

The duties of facilities manager.

Upon which I'm about to enter.

Upon which I'm about to enter.

Yeah.

Thank you. Welcome.

Thank you. Well, congratulations. Welcome, Brad.

Welcome.

Hey, Matt. Brad, . I thought I wanted to introduce you. Yes.

You don't have to stay for the rest of this meeting. You're allowed to sneak out.

Okay. That's a big guy. Bobby, you want to come up? Hey, Guru. They all love Molly.

Thank you, Council Mayor. I just wanted to take a couple minutes to introduce Bob Milnar to you. If you look around here in Council Chambers, you see a bunch of flags that have been hung. They were here right before 4th of July. They were up and everyone was able to see them during the 4th of July celebration. There's several different flags that are here, ranging from 48-star flags to the 44-star flag. And Bob will give a quick summary of those because I know he enjoys them a lot. But I really just wanted to thank Bob. Thank him for allowing us to show these during this 250th and 150th sesquicentennial for us. And I know you wanted to just say a couple words about them. But once again, thank you.

All right. If everyone looks up the flag in the far left, that one is actually significant for Loveland because that's from 1876. That's a 38-star flag. And also the President of the United States at that time was from Claremont County, Ulysses S. Grant. And that flag, actually, the 38-star flag hung around for about 13 years. So there were three more Ohio presidents that served under that flag. Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, and Benjamin Harrison. next to it is a original 48 star flag now there are actually two 48 star flags the original one had a staggered star pattern and Another president, you know, now that's the, what everyone recognizes as a 48-star flag behind the Casa. But in 1912, when that came into effect with the addition of Arizona and New Mexico, at that time, there were no standards for the American flag. The president at the time was from California. Hamilton County, William Howard Taft. So he issued an executive order, you know, ordering that the American flag needed standards in order to be, you know, for future use. So that went into effect. So I'm glad that they went away from the staggered star pattern because you also have a 45 star flag, a 46. And with that staggered It's mind-boggling trying to figure out which one is which. So coming up with the rectangular six by eight star makes it very identifiable. Of course, that one was around from about 1916 until 1959. And let's see. Here we have a 44 star flag. And that was the addition of the state of Wyoming. Next it's 46 star, which is the addition of Oklahoma in 1908. And the latest one is the 49 star flag with, you know, which was Alaska. Now both Hawaii and Alaska were both voted in in 1959. but there is a rule that state does not become officially a state until the 4th of July following the date that they were voted in by Congress. Alaska was voted in about a week before the 4th of July and Hawaii was voted in a week afterwards. So that's why we have a 49-star flag that only lasted for one year. But in the corner here is an interesting, you know, a blue star flag. Now, that's from World War I. And that was created by a gentleman from Cleveland in commemoration of his two sons who were in the front lines in World War I. Now, in his case, he would have had two blue stars on it to represent both of his sons. So it's, you know, like I said, it's, they can have any number of, my wife's grandparents would have had one of these with three stars on it, because all three of their sons were in World War II at the same time. Of course, no one would have seen it because they would have hung in a window. They lived on a homestead up in northeast Montana. And I mean, the next neighbor is probably, you know, five miles away. So it's... But that was the beginning of what was later, it was used to have a gold star placed over the top of the blue star in recognition of a soldier that was killed in combat or in the service. Didn't necessarily have to be in combat.

But the, trying to think what else is there.

I think that's all of them, Bob.

Yeah, well, wait a minute. We have the 45-star flag up here. That's got a little story that goes along with it. Now, that's from 1896 with the addition of Utah. Well, Utah was actually supposed to come into the Union along with Colorado, the 38-star flag. But there was a problem. It was a bit of a legal problem that Congress couldn't deal with. It was a little thing called polygamy. So Utah ended up having to wait until 1896 before they finally satisfied what Congress deemed necessary. And Utah passed a law outlawing polygamy. Well, it's with a lot of laws. You just don't necessarily have to enforce it. So polygamy continued on over the years. But there is a law outlawing it in Utah. So I think I've covered just about everything.

Thank you.

Thanks, Bob. We do have one of our commemorative, the City of Loveland, Centennial Coin.

Oh, okay.

So thank you, because we appreciate it. We saw people on the 4th of July. We're in here reading your history of these and then marveling at your flag. So we thank you very much for sharing with us.

Will this get me out of the speeding ticket? Yes. Okay.

Can we do a picture, quick? Sure. Let's do a picture.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, next is open forum. We have Carol Hutchcraft.

My name is Carol Hatchcraft. I live at 625 West Loveland Avenue. I've been here before about codes and things like that, but now I have another issue that I wasn't aware of. The Metropolitan Sewer District manages the sewers. The maintenance? No. Fixing anything? No. Repairing anything? No. All they do is the billing. The maintenance, the repairs, everything is on the property owner where it is. And if they have an easement, if somebody has an easement, but it's on your property, you're responsible for that. If it breaks, and I have my issue now, I've talked to some people about it, is the apartments up on the hill, Timber Ridge Apartments. All their sewer runs into an above ground storm drain. And I don't know where the pipes go, but I'm assuming they go downhill, which is right through my property. And the guy from the metropolitan district gave me this and said I was responsible for the repairs and the cleanup. and that's all i gotta say i don't know how this uh how this you know i've been here since 1951 there's a lot of changes i i'm not familiar with what i'm responsible for but um it seems like i've had a lot of issues with codes and things i had a property that next to a new build They asked for a variance, and they got it. It was supposed to be 15 feet between buildings, and they gave them an 8-foot variance, so it should be 7 feet. But they kind of stretched that, too, because they built a wall that's just one foot from my property all the way, and it's attached to the house, so it's part of the building. And they've just about... I don't know who inspects these. I mean, if you have code, somebody has to come and inspect them. But now the issue is the neighbor wants the electric wires underground that are coming into his house. So these guys are over there trying to squeeze electric wires, do the conduit with the cable and I don't know what they're all doing over there, but it's a mess. They said it'd be done in six months. It's almost going on two years. And I don't know who inspects these things. It seems to me like when they got the permission to build, the first thing they would do is put in, you know, The plumbing, the electrical, they'd put all that stuff in before they poured concrete all over everything and then tried to fit those things in because I don't think half the stuff they're doing over there is in compliance. There was supposed to be a retaining wall. There isn't one. There was supposed to be a retention basin. There is a retention basin and they had to redo that already because that wasn't working. But there is no retaining wall. And so all the water that comes down the hill now just comes down into the neighbor's yard and under his deck. And right now with the sewer issue... all that water's coming down the hill with nothing there to direct the water down to that ditch and the drain behind the insurance company. It's a sewer pond right now under his deck and in his backyard because there's nowhere for that water to go. They did not follow the plan or any of the things that they said they were gonna do. They said they would take care of that. And so anyway, my issue is, I guess, if you're going to look at codes and things like that, variances, you probably have to have somebody to inspect and make sure that people are following the codes. I mean, you can make all the codes and things, but if nobody comes out there and inspects just see what they're doing it's just i mean there doesn't seem to be any consequences i i i i don't know i'll let you guys figure it out thank you thank you todd osborne

Good evening. Todd Osborne, 1100 Sunrise Drive. I'd like to speak about the Schildmeier master plan agreement and the committee that's on tonight's agenda. As a contract specialist, I look at contracts and council packets a bit closer than most residents. So I have a few questions. Questions like, why is there a lump sum payment versus a performance percentage? Why isn't there a termination clause for convenience? Also in the contract, section C under termination says there is no liability to the engineer if terminated by cause. Why? If they have been bad, shouldn't there be a liability? Shouldn't there be liability? All documents prepared or furnished by the engineer or instruments of service in the engineer retains an ownership. Isn't this a work for hire agreement? Why isn't the city taking full ownership of its product? Indemnity should be mutual. and insert an exception for gross negligence and acts of intentional misconduct. That's missing off of this contract. This agreement has a liability cap based on their compensation. It's either $50,000 or $73,000. Why is there a cap versus a five or ten times compensation or a set higher amount? So the question is, why so low? Why is there no errors in omission insurance? Standard seems to be a minimum of a million dollars, if not five million. Will they have any access to the city's servers internally or cloud-based? If so, why isn't there any cyber crime insurance? Under the force majeure, why doesn't this clause cover the city? As it reads, if there is a delay of 30 days or more, the city pays as a result of the suspension. This clause should be fortified to protect the taxpayers So frankly, looking at the agreement, why are there no material red lines? Strauss-Troy is a very competent law firm. Why doesn't the city have their own agreement draft versus relying on a boilerplate agreement written in favor of the vendor? Lastly, This agreement that magically is within tonight's agenda. When was this promoted to the residents to perhaps volunteer to be on the committee? Those listed in the agenda or in the packet would be a great subcommittee, but unconnected residents should make up this committee. Weren't you all elected on a pledge to foster and encourage vast community involvement? That's a good question. Thank you.

All right. Next on the agenda is review and approval of minutes from the July 14th, 2026 meeting. Are there any changes or addition to those minutes?

The very first sentence says that Mayor Bailey convened the meeting and she was not here. So I think that might be a copy-paste error.

And it has been corrected in the version for you to sign. Thank you.

With that, any changes, additions to the minutes?

Move to approve is written.

Second.

Call the roll, please.

Vice Mayor Bateman.

Yes.

Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Ms. Hamlin. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker. Yes. Mr. Jernick.

I'm going to abstain due to a family vacation.

Mayor Bailey. Also abstain. Same reason. Motion carries seven to zero.

All right. Next is the public hearing. I need somebody to motion to open the public hearing.

I'll move to open the public hearing to consider a formal zoning text amendment to the City of Loveland Code of Ordinances, which includes a rewrite of the existing codified ordinances of the City of Loveland, Ohio, specifically Part 11, Planning and Zoning Code.

Thank you. Is there a second?

Second.

Call the roll, please. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazelbaker? Yes. Mr. Janik? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Motion carries 7-0. All right, first we have Todd Osborne.

Todd Osborne, 1100 Sunrise Drive. Good evening, Council and those here and watching via video. Tonight I'm speaking as a resident and as a former Councilman and Vice Chair of the last Charter Review Committee. The proposed zoning code amendment attached to this meeting's council packet conflicts with two provisions of the city charter and raises related concern under the oath of office taken by each council. on packet pages 43 and 85 under administrative relief of area standards and review and decision making bodies. Nice title. The proposed amendment states that the zoning administrator may approve deviations from certain minimum and maximum development standards. Those include up to 15% variance of front, side, and rear yard setbacks and lot coverage, and up to 10% variance of parking space requirements, size requirements for buildings and structures and lot sizes and widths. In my view, deviations of 10 to 15% are not necessarily minor. Charter Section 9 states Council shall not abolish any office, board, or commission, or diminish or transfer any powers or duties prescribed in this Charter. Council may, however, by ordinance establish, abolish, divide, or combine, and shall determine the functions, compensation, powers, and duties of any office, board, commission, or committee not prescribed in this charter. Charter Section 9.04 , which we added. states that the Board of Zoning Appeals shall have the power to hear and decide appeals for exceptions to and variances in measures and orders of officials and commissions governing hardship subject to those such reasonable standards as shall be prescribed by counsel and such Board shall have such other powers as may be granted to it by counsel. The proposed zoning text transfers at least part of the BZA's charter assigned variance authority to the zoning administrator, contrary to sections 9.01 and 9.04 . Recent examples, JA development first went to BZA for variances and then went to planning and zoning after receiving those variances. They weren't appealing a decision. They requested a variance. Likewise, 621 West Loveland also simply requested variances, not appealing any decision, just requesting a variance or four. Section 1101 requires each council member to support for the charter and ordinances of the City of Loveland. I respect respectfully asked council not to advance this zoning code in its current form until the charter conflict is resolved. By the way, the city website states that the Board of Zoning Appeals hears and determines appeals from zoning commission decisions and requests for variances from building and zoning regulations. So BZA hears variation variances. They deemed variances to give the zoning administrator this power diminishes the Board of zoning appeals. Thank you.

Thank you, Katie Alexander.

Good evening. My name is Katie Alexander and I live at 520 Hanna Avenue. I've lived in Loveland for four years now and I can say that I really love and enjoy living in the city. I very much appreciated how the city is run. I was recently sitting down on one of the new swinging benches in downtown and I can say to where I previously lived, this is a beautiful, wonderful place to live. First, in regard to the new code, I will not pretend to be a zoning and code expert, although I do have some experience being a real estate agent many years ago. I do see that there's been a tremendous amount of work that has gone into this rewrite. I personally have interacted with the zoning office here, and I think clearer paths to approvals and different processes is very welcome. One of the things that I took away in reading the statement and one of the things that I have observed while being here is there is quite a bit of development by developers and professionals in the city. When I read the code, I understood a lot of what was being requested in terms of providing some boundaries and guidelines around potentially some development by developers in the city. But I felt personally in reading it that as a resident who is considering modifications to my own property, like, are these changes practical for me as a resident who doesn't have access to unlimited resources, who doesn't have access to surveyors and building material experts and planners and things of that nature? That would potentially require me to invest thousands of dollars in exploring the possibilities for my property before even knowing what was possible. Reviewing the proposal, I noticed several standards that rely on this professional judgment using terms like architectural character, compatibility, and high quality materials. As a person that doesn't have experience in building and things like that, not really knowing what those costs would look like. I understand why these concepts exist. And it's important to support the character of the neighborhood. My question is whether applicants having enough objective guidance to know what those terms mean, like I said, in practice at the beginning of the process. When standards become more subjective, applicants naturally rely more heavily on these professionals to interpret them. Like I said, large development companies have these people at their fingertips. Another area that really caught my attention was the new proposed 20% maximum building footprint in several of the residential districts. It's my understanding that this would be a new standard that there previously was not one in place. I would appreciate having a better understanding of how that percentage was selected and how it might impact some of Loveland's older neighborhoods where many homes sit on much smaller lots than in some of the newer subdivisions. Many of these neighborhoods were built decades ago, and the homes simply are not built to modern living standards. Today, families are adapting to those homes for modern life, adding space for aging parents, creating multigenerational homes, or expanding because moving has become so expensive. And frankly, Loveland is a wonderful place to live, so who wants to move? I hope our zoning code continues to encourage residents to reinvest in their neighborhoods and remain in the community they already call home. I am concerned that that 20% limit would deeply prevent their ability to do so. So again, new setback rules, I think there is, I don't know what the previous one was, but I think the setbacks have increased, but that 20% footprint ratio is a new thing, is my understanding. So envision on a smaller lot, someone needing to put an addition. And I did see that there was something in the code. I don't have the section in front of me. Oh, 112708 that was saying if it's an existing lot, they wouldn't have to adhere to the same width and depth standards, but there was no accommodation for that 20%. So finally, for what does like implementing this new code in general, like, what does success look like for the city in five years? Like, how are we going to go back and understand how these changes were implemented, and they were successful for the intended cause that they were put in place for? So again, just some specific questions where how was the 20% maximum building footprint selected? And was there any analysis done on how that would affect some of these older neighborhoods with much smaller lots? I know specifically in my neighborhood in Henry Hanna Farms, we have lots as little as like 0.15, but most of them are like 0.25 acres. And then how were the dimension standards tested against, again, these older neighborhoods with smaller lots? Okay. Was that me getting beeped off? Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. That was the last individual signed up. We have a motion to close the public hearing. I have a comment before we close for a second.

I have a comment before we close. Okay. Could I ask the city solicitor to comment on Mr. Osborne's references to the charter and whether or not there is a violation there? Are you prepared to answer that, Mr. Brown?

I can if council wants me to. I will indicate that I did review the section because I was made aware of it earlier today and I do not see a conflict with the request as written in the proposed amendments.

OK. Thank you. Can we have a motion to close the public hearing, please?

So moved.

Second.

Call the roll, please.

Ms. Hamlin?

Yes.

Mr. Hart? Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Mr. Jernick? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Motion carries 7-0. Mr. Kennedy?

So tonight is the resolution regarding advancing a master plan for the Schildenmaier and the Veterans Memorial. So as everyone knows, the city recently acquired the Schildemeier property, which is approximately four acres, and using Clean Ohio money, it will be dedicated for passive and recreational use. During that process and pretty much about the point in time when we realized that it was likely that this program, that this would be funded, we, staff, and I will take most of this on myself, we felt that this was a great opportunity to look at the Schildemeier property and also to look at the Veterans Memorial. I have certainly heard And I do think that it is to be appreciated that Veterans Memorial is in need of a facelift. It needs some tension. And while these are two vastly different types of plans, one with very limited restrictions outside of its focus on veterans of the community, I can see how they intermingled, and I felt that this was potentially a great opportunity. I also thought that I would compare the group, the crowd, and I don't mean this, and I'm not trying to be slight in any way, but I would prepare, I would compare the group of people that were here the night there was a proposal for housing development on the Schultemeier property to what was here recently for the noise. It was a big crowd. And I felt that we can take down the house and we can mow the grass, or I just thought that within the realm of what CleanOhio permits, what floodplain, floodway, and what, for example, what Claremont County is doing up at the Grail property, there are, while there are restrictions, there are certainly walking trails, overlooks, open-face picnic shelters, and so on and so forth. I also sort of felt that timing-wise, if we say eight months, it would really be more like 10 come spring when the plan would be completed, adopted by council, That would put the city in line to chase some money through. We see a land water conservation fund being a good fit for this. ODNR and the connection to Clean Ohio, they like investing. And I make this assumption myself just from reading the criteria. So with that, we decided also it was time for some fresh eyes from a planning firm. So Chris and I met with a few firms and we really struck it with American Structured Point. We felt that they met the goal of putting together a good plan, fully understanding a piece of property that not only has Clean Ohio restrictions, Little Miami Conservancy restrictions, floodway restrictions, floodplain restrictions, aquifer restrictions, and stormwater restrictions, but also one that would partner with the city for many, many years to come, long after I'm sure I'm gone, as the city begins to implement and can begin to do the construction drawings and so on and so forth. And I will say that there would be individual contracts for each of the let's say there's a $1.5 million walking trail, I'm just literally making this up, that comes out of Veterans Memorial, that maybe it's a veterans walk with various sundry markers along the way that goes up to a pinnacle of an overlook. You know, when the city, while this would certainly provide the city with everything we would need to submit for the grant funding, when it came to construction, there would be a separate contract with separate restrictions. Listening to what Todd said, he was correct. The deliverables, we own them. It is not uncommon. I do know for a fact that the company that did our downtown plan has used that as a marketing tool. They use this as a reference because I still get calls from communities that they're working at. The numbers in the – that's largely on me. We thought it was important that this, of all plans, should have the most public hearings or public listening or public engagements. It's not really a public hearing. Public engagements because you're going to have people that really are just passionate about what they envision happening. should be in Veterans Memorial and those that are very passionate about what they think Schildemeyer property can be and I think from a city standpoint, we also need to recognize that this can be a draw up and over the bridge from the downtown district. So that's why this particular plan has three public engagements plus room for more to be added. I was changing the numbers. They put the language which that last sentence is or up to the cost of the contract was basically because quite frankly, I kept changing the number because we wanted to make sure there was enough money in there. All in total, this would be roughly a planning area of about 5.5 acres. As you will know later, we will be discussing an easement with Little Miami Conservatives. There is a tremendous amount of beginning work that creates what we call the comprehensive existing conditions map, where they're going to look at everything involved with the property and create sort of that base map. That base map will have all of the factors that impact what can be done on it, including deed restrictions and so on and so forth. And that's sort of really where we begin. And then we sort of listen to the residents on what they think that would be nice to have and what can go there. And then there is the first concepts. Those concepts go back to staff. And then the staff then sort of helps weed through those. And then those go back out to the public and which based upon what you said, here's what we think the concepts are. And then it sort of sits stagnant for a while then through the winter and probably well into spring until that full master plan is completed. So yes, this is our first time with this firm. There's some fine tuning on the contract, but I do think we are protected because I don't think until we get into when they're making formal designs that we would need a larger number. So I think that's all I had. I'm open for any questions that anyone would potentially have. This contract would go over the course of two fiscal years, 26 and into 27. Okay.

Thank you. Any comments or questions?

For me, it really comes down to kind of three questions. Is it the right priority, the right consultant investment, is time in the right process? For the right priority, I guess council, you know, you mentioned the strategic goals earlier to help guide where we focus the time and staff capacity. and taxpayer resources. So this project wasn't one of those priorities. I think we did a great job under is it the right investment. Like there was an opportunity when it became available and, you know, I think you did a great job of, you know, working with CleanOhio and trying to when we purchased it and we've approved the teardown. But like for me, is it the right investment now to do this plan? I think we've had plenty of grant opportunities before in the past for these planning type of documents. And it feels off to me when it's not planned in the budget. It's not in the priorities of the kind of sub item projects. I was in the audience when that last meeting happened to help try to preserve it. And the sentiment from a lot of the people, at least that I knew and talked to, it's not obviously conclusive at all. But really they just were worried about the preservation. And so leaving it as, you know, passive green space was a really solid win. And we have it to perpetuity, which means forever, right? So I don't think we need to rush, you know, the plan. I love your fixer mentality and kind of getting in there and working on a plan. I think eventually we'll need a plan. But for me right now, not having in the budget, not having grant dollars, it feels like we could hold, maybe work on the commission, maybe get some of those passive definitions defined a little bit better so that there's not confusion of what we can and cannot do with the property. And then for me, you know, again, we talked about acquiring this for conservation, for passive public use. And so I'd like to continue to kind of look at that. For the advisory board, I think it's smart to start to look and create a committee of staff and having the different, of committees work together on this, but I think there's a lot of work we can do before we put 80 grant, almost 80 grant, it's 75, I don't want to misspeak there, to that. So for me, it's can we confirm like how, you know, we feel it fits within the plan right now with all the other priorities that we have on that list. The funding strategy, if you could talk to the grants and the partnerships that feel could be very possible from both the veterans in the green space

um preservation and then kind of think about how it would fit in there is there's a minimal amount of planning grants my hamilton county has what they call mini grants i will say that most of the success with the funding of all the different elements of nesbit park i think if you call up those particular grant applications through nature works for land water conservation through I would think the vast majority of them do reference per the master plan, you know, we constantly sort of reference that they would be funding something that we like to say, was vetted by the public, we'd like to think of that. That particular plan was very unique because it was during COVID and the students were involved. But I will say from a narratives, from writing the narratives for grant applications, when you can throw in that this was part of a master plan and part of a master plan that was vetted from the public. There's not uncommon for us to be taking pictures at a public open session and store those away and throw those in as a deliver within the grant application to show. And if it was on Facebook, we try to grab those Facebook pages. So there, when it comes to funding bigger applications and the Schroedermeyer property may only have just sort of one big project, I'm not going to kid you, it does benefit to say and reference the master plan. So I don't know if that really answered your question.

okay um any counseling mr hart so um having having been a part of two plans that have been developed over the past eight years or so uh the conference master plan is depart plan those those planes take an extraordinary amount of time to come to fruition um the nisma plan comes to mind as we started in 2020 to get done the 2021 plan before we see the conclusion of that project, we get that all done. Comprehensive master plan, obviously it took almost three years to go through the planning process. And then obviously COVID was a player there, but that's a 10 year project at least. So to go through the things we've outlined in those things. So it feels like now that we have the property, we've acquired it, it seems like, logical next step to get started on the planning which will undoubtedly take half a decade to to complete once we go through all the process and make sure that we're talking to the right stakeholders to make sure that we're getting input all the people who need to get input from along the way in order to get a plan that our community wants that process is just extremely long so it seems like the next logical step once we've acquired the property to get going on

Thank you. Ms. Hamlin?

Yeah, I will say my initial comments about this tonight dealt with the content of the contract similar A couple of the items that Mr. Osborne pointed out, although he went into a lot more detail than what I had. But listening to Ms. Hazelbaker, I don't disagree with her. I think she brings up very valid points that, I mean, this is a property we have in perpetuity. We have forever to come up with a plan. It is not something that was in our goals. It is not something that we budgeted for. And it is something that we could potentially get grant money to fund, at least partially. So it feels very fiscally irresponsible to spend this money right now. So those are my only comments. Thank you. Anyone else?

Mr. Jaron.

I want to thank you, Dave. I think we owe it to our veterans. Our veterans memorial is pretty rough looking. It's pretty rough looking. And this is the next step, and I would hate to stop progress. So I thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else?

The only response I would have, and I certainly understand everyone's point, and obviously everyone has a point of view, but I think what Mr. Kinney was saying to the point of being fiscally responsible, the way that you get a larger grant to further develop is by doing this first step. And so while we're going to spend $73,000, $74,000, excuse me, to prepare a master plan, that master plan is going to open up the door for whatever the development is going to be, whatever is decided by the public. And remember, the whole purpose of this, just like the other master plans that have happened before, is to get public input on what the public sees as the proper outcome for this property and how it connects to Veterans Memorial. And I think Mr. Jarenick's right. The fact that this is connected to Veterans Memorial and the fact that this can do something to help what is really an area that needs a lot of help, I think is important. But I don't think it's fiscally responsible to spend this money in this fashion now because, number one, we got a lot of assistance in buying the property. And secondly, this is the key. This is opening the door to grants to help us do whatever we're going to do with that property down the road. I certainly understand the point, but I don't think this is in any way fiscally responsible. I think it is fiscally responsible to follow the steps that have proven over the years in other master plans and other developments to allow the state to obtain these larger grants to develop the way we have in a way that the public wants us to. So I think that this is appropriate and I certainly support it.

Anyone else? Yes, Vice Mayor.

I appreciate that point Mr. Goodyear because that was one of the points I was going to make was the fact that the plan opens the door for future funding sources and absent that plan we may be kicking those funding sources down the road even further and as we know the grant application process is one of trial and error so Again, this could sit as preserved open green space in perpetuity. We could make that decision. Or we could make a decision to gather public input and see what the community would like. And maybe that's the feedback that they give. Don't touch this, you know, just mow it, tear the house down, keep it pristine. But at least then we would know definitively through this process. So I'm in favor of working with somebody to help us define what that is and I appreciate the fact that that appears to be a collaborative enterprise which involves stakeholders from various committees as well as the public at large and of course those on staff. I also like the fact that you brought up Mr. Kennedy, the yard and company, and like that was sort of the first master plan. I remember, I don't think I was on council at the time when that got kicked off, but that was the downtown master plan and it was very ambitious and it was a, you know, you use that as an example because it was using a new vendor, right, for the first time. And I think that was an ambitious plan. It had a lot of public input. It provided us with a really grand scheme to focus our more specific efforts, which we then did with vendors like KZF for the Nisbet Park Plan or the pocket park design. So I think we've found a methodology that works to provide solid foundations for not just planning but then the implementation of those plans. So I'm really pleased that this is another example where it's very concrete about what the objectives of this project are for this consultant to come and help the public and everyone determine what that's going to be. So I just wanted to bring that up because you set it up as a comparison, but I kind of want to look at it from a contrasting point of view there with what that was the initial phase of going into a large project comprehensive planning mode which we've been in in the last eight years. And this is just another example of that which helps to yield positive results which some of our speakers at both last meeting and this meeting have referenced of being these plans and the vision that has been set forward by this body has yielded great benefit to all who reside here and visit here and has furnished our reputation as one of the jewels of the region. So I don't see any reason why we should tread lightly when we've got a proven track record of executing these. The other thing I just wanted to mention, this is more of a question from a fiduciary standpoint, but you talked about this, cutting across different fiscal years would, and the way that it looks like it's being, the payments would be going, would be on a percentage of completion basis. So would the lump sum be carried across the two fiscal years basically in half or would we budget for FY26? We would do FY26 with the carryover

unencumbered balance we carry into 27. There will be a tremendous amount of work in the beginning where I'm almost afraid the public will wonder what's going on as the base map is put together. I'd say that. And then we would. That was all the one of the more reasons I really felt, Chris and I really felt we needed a public engagement earlier on and not come out with the concepts without getting the public input. So that was added in there. Some numbers across the board may not have all been adjusted. I was just looking at the base number. And then so we felt originally, I'll be honest with you, it was base map, meet with staff, come up with some concepts, show the concepts to the public. That just doesn't feel right. So we asked that it would be base map, meet with staff, and then go to the public with that staff meeting largely where, when, what, how. We typically try to like do those outside of city hall and how do you want to do it and planning for that and really listening to them on what would be the concepts. And these concepts will carry over the course of both properties. That was really the key. I that and then that was the I'm just saying if you did a records request, you'll see that was not in there originally, and it clearly screamed for it. So and then there's still room to add another one, if need be, which would be by would largely probably be in spring. At the rate we're going, we're going to not do a whole lot over the November, December month. But yeah, we'll do PO it'll be distributed for over the course of 26 and 27.

But in terms of hitting our budget, it's going to be sitting in FY26.

It'll fit in FY26. The payment will be, it'll be a carryover balance into 27.

Okay. That was my question, was whether or not it was going to be somehow creatively split across. No, it won't be fiscal years. Okay.

Any further comments, Mr. Hart?

I appreciate the second comment. I feel like instead of, I mean, Mr. Medler, if you wouldn't mind, rather than talk abstractly about the fiscal responsibility of it. I mean, you've won awards over years and years in a row on our budgeting. So, I mean, is this something we can absorb this year even though it was not budgeted before?

you have to do a purchase order for the entire amount upfront because you're making a contract or whatever it is. So you have to prove that you have those funds available over the entire life. But this amount doesn't break the city. If budgets have to be adjusted so that we can appropriate and get the purchase order, we can, that doesn't mean that it's going to be spent that year. That makes sense.

So in short, you feel like this is something we can absorb?

That won't break the city, no.

Any other comments?

May I have a follow-up question? Could you talk to how many of, my understanding is a lot of our planning projects have been granted as well. I understand that they open up other grant dollars, and that's why we do them. But could you also talk to the amount of projects, and if you don't have the answer now, I'm fine with the next meeting, because we weren't able to kind of bring that to light. But how many of our projects have been granted in the past that were the master plans, whether it's the comp maps plan, the NISBA plan?

So the NISBIT master plan has almost been fully funded from grants, almost across the board.

Did you just think about the planning? Oh, sorry, just the planning part, to address the concern around.

Oh, the development of master plan is any of the development master plans based on grant money.

The only master, the only planning money that we've, and I'm, in 12 years and the only master only planning funds we received was early on we received a Hamilton County mini planning grant would have been back in 15 or 16 to do a study over to do a study on a walking path over the West Loveland Bridge. This was be honest with you when I first got here this was Councilmember Phelps was very passionate about a lip or how we could potentially add a walking path. That was, that was through Hamilton County mini planning grant program. And yeah, so I'm just be honest with you. That's the only one I can think of off the top of my hand. I don't know if I'm missing anything.

The only other one that would have been planning since in my time here would be the, uh, the planning document for PFAS.

Yeah, sorry, PFAS. But the comprehensive master plan was paid for by the city, the Nisbet Park master plan, Streetscape master plan, and the downtown plan. And we've done a sub master plan for the mobile station. But the only one I can really remember outside of what Chris just mentioned was we got a mini planning grant. It's easy for me to find the amount for that path. How could you do that? Because we knew whenever I widened in the sidewalks, that was something Council Member Phelps was very passionate about when I got here in 14.

Okay. Any further comments? All right. A few things. One, with regard to the contract, I'm satisfied with the terms of the contract. We have a very experienced solid city solicitor who looked at it, modified some terms, came to terms with the contractor. I'm sure that he has protected our interest. With regards whether or not, This idea of fiscal responsibility, we have to be flexible and we have to pivot. No one knew when we created the budget nearly a year ago that we were going to purchase this property. It was in the back of our minds, certainly has been for years. But whether or not it would come to fruition, we did not know. And that's the first question I asked Mr. Kennedy. Any time we add something like this that has not been budgeted is how do we have the money? We wouldn't be here if we didn't. There are projects and other things that we budget for in a budget that end up not being spent through the course of the year because either the project's delayed or nixed or whatever. So, there is money for this. Having it sit there while we all just sort of look at it and wonder what to do with it, that just doesn't make much sense to me mostly because a couple of reasons. One, I've been saying for many years now that that Veterans Memorial is, A travesty needs to be completely overhauled. Anybody that spent money to memorialize, commemorate a loved one with those bricks is I'm certain not happy with how those have held up. We need to redo that park. I've been saying that long before we, Schildermeyer was even a thought. Now that we have Schildemeier, it's the perfect opportunity to find a way, there would be no reason to redo one and not consider how it would be incorporated into the other. So, to me, I think that this is a priority, if only for veterans. But I also think that that property, the Schultemeyer property is a priority. We don't know what the public wants. I'm not big on ever making decisions from the table because we sit up here and say, well, I've talked to a few people and they say this. That doesn't mean anything to me. This, what we're proposing to do is to have a committee and have multiple public engagement opportunities that the public can tell us actually themselves what they want and what they think is what their ideas are and what they approve of and what they don't. So, I would much prefer to have that, an open opportunity for anybody and everybody to give us their ideas and tell us what they think about this than just talking to some few select people and let's make a decision based on that. And what better way to find out what people want than this? So to me, and the other aspect is with regard to finding a grant for it. We sit up here regularly and sing Mr. Kennedy's praises because he is the grant king and knows exactly how to find grants that other communities can't seem to get their hands on. If there were grants for this, he'd be jumping at them to find them. And he is telling us that there aren't grants for planning of a park there are for things like big projects like pfos that type of thing um for what that one that was that one you're going back probably 2015-16 you're talking about um because that was a a transportation commuter pedestrian type project another big huge project but otherwise for this a park we're actually going to be lucky to get grants for the park itself much less a planning grant and he's telling us that so I don't see a reason to send him on a fool's errand that he already knows and has looked at that that's just not available. So to me, this is a resounding yes on this. We have this property now. This is a golden opportunity to really do something wonderful, not just with that, but with our Veterans Memorial. And to me, this is the way to do it. So I'm certainly in support of this.

Go ahead and read the resolution, please. Resolution authorizing the city manager to execute an agreement with American Structure Point Inc. for the preparation of a master plan for the Shieldmire property and Veterans Memorial. Call the roll, please. Mr. Hart? Yes. Basil Baker?

No.

Mr. Jernick?

Yes.

Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin?

No.

Resolution 61 is adopted by a vote of 5-2.

Mr. Warnage.

Thank you, Mayor. As you know, the City of Loveland Planning and Zoning Commission has been working on the rewrite of the zoning code for a good portion of the last year. Even prior to that, when I first got on board, we had a consultant already under contract, McBride Dale Clarion. And in fact, a representative from McBride Dale is here today. Keegan is here, should you have any questions later on. We're to the point now where you had the public hearing earlier today. We did put this, the whole document as well as all of the supporting material from all the previous Planning and Zoning Commission was up on our website with our public notice. It was readily available. So for a good portion of the last month, hopefully most of the public has been able to consume it and take a good hard look at it. Some of the updates that I'll kind of go high level. I'm not going to go into the whole memo, but I'll certainly answer any questions at the end here. But it is a comprehensive modernization of the zoning regulations. We have updated land use categories, updated definitions and revised administrative procedures. Integration, as you can see, of user friendly tables. The old code was, quite frankly, very tough to read. McBride Dale did a fantastic job of putting that in in better tables better flow charts so that the average citizen which is typically who we have come with zoning requests the typical citizen will have an easier time reading this code stronger emphasis on sustainability design quality landscaping and overall development standards that was a That was kind of the marching orders for PNZ, which also included the infill development and developing that for the residential side, because that is kind of the the mode that we're in now here in the city of Loveland. A couple of the other things, just to go over it, like I said, infill parcel, infill parcels, infill development, that was a big deal. You'll see there's a new definition for that. That was not in the previous code. We actually have a procedure and a review process for infill development, specifically residential development. That's because what we saw and what Planning and Zoning has seen is this developer trying to find a way to develop in an infill situation, but utilizing an SPD process. So this is an attempt to have a defined path for a developer to create that type of development without going through the SPD process. It is, keep in mind with any new portions of this code, you know, this can always be massaged and always be worked out should we see that there are issues with it. But McBride Dale, as I said, they really brought, we did two full sessions basically on infill development and short-term rentals. And I'll talk about that a little bit too. But infill is catching on. It is catching on with many communities. So there are examples out there of how it has worked. and we implemented those into this code. The one thing that was mentioned today was the administrative relief of some of the standards. We took a look at that as a commission and Planning and Zoning looked at it. What our staff's take on that was a lot of times we'll get in something, not a lot, but we get some cases in that are minimal as far as the variance they're asking for. So specifically setbacks or impervious areas and building heights. So we put in here, and this is industry standard. We talked with McBride, Dale, Clary, and there's other communities doing this, giving it an ability for government efficiency so that If a developer or just a private citizen, private resident is trying to get something done, this doesn't slow the process down significantly. When you go to BZA, it does take some time. Those are not regular scheduled meetings, so we have to set those up and get that board together. So that was the impetus to some of those relief standards. and then just the last one um that i'll talk about is the short-term rentals as you know we currently have the moratorium uh for short-term rentals we uh this this board or this council as well as the commission uh we recognized that we had we had to catch up um this is The short-term rental business in Loveland is hot. A lot of people wanna be down here. A lot of people spend, especially with three different venues, wedding venues within a very short distance with no hotels. The Airbnb is the choice of a lot of people. So what we did, we implemented a couple of new things. One of them is, you know, basically as an entity, you can't own more than three short term rentals. So you have to you have to abide by that standard. We've got at no time. Shall there be more or should there be more than 50 short term rentals? um across all zoning districts and then we broke down the other thing we looked at commission looked at is density density was a big one of the other big issues so we took a look at each zoning district and we defined a basically a minimum distance that they have to be apart from each other and as you see looking through those different districts You see the density, you know, it's more dense in the historic district and even the OR district because that is kind of where we see and where I think, based on the commission's decision, is where we want to have a little bit more of the density of Airbnbs and short-term rentals rather than out in the RMD district, which they put a minimum of 500 feet on. You also see we added an annual registration. This is a much higher fee than we had in place before. The impetus for this was we currently do not have a hotel tax on the books here with the city. This is an effort to basically recoup some of that. There's not just the registration, not just the inspections, but also you know, and Chief could probably speak to this. I'm not saying it happens a lot, but I do know there are sometimes more resources needed for short-term rentals just based on, you know, the possible, unfortunately, we all know the possible party or the possible, you know, where they have to make a call to. So those are just, that was kind of some of the reasoning we had behind that. The SPD process, we cleaned that up, made it a lot clearer so that everyone can understand that a lot better because the SPD process has always been kind of a tough process for a lot of developers. Other than that, I'm not gonna, like I said, I'm not gonna go through all of it, but I'll certainly take questions on it. Like I said, planning and zoning put a ton of time, ton of effort into this. Councilman Bateman was on that, is on that commission, so he'll be able to talk to it a little bit. And like I said, Mr. Keegan White is here with McBride Dale Clarion, should you have any other questions that I can't answer.

Vice Mayor, did you want to play in first?

Yeah, sure. I mean, Mr. Weiner did a great job of summarizing what was a big lift and a large document. And I don't know that we've, outside of maybe the charter review, I don't know that we've done something so substantial in the time that I've been on council. It certainly had its fair share of challenges to address, both from a structural cleanup standpoint and, you know, ease of use for all parties. I think that was kind of the overarching goal. But then, you know, as we took a deeper dive, there were issues to address that were kind of cutting edge. And so I think I really appreciate the fact that we were able to incorporate that because this isn't the kind of thing that you want to, I mean, you do want to spend almost two years working on this, but you don't want to keep kind of tacking on new amendments to this or have this something that pops up, a new rewrite every five years or so. I think this is something that we wanted to take our time with and ensure that it would set, clear guidelines and standards for the foreseeable future, which I think had accomplished that goal. So yeah, I think that there were a lot of opportunities to discuss and review as a commission, which we took in stride and did it in batches so that we weren't, you know, snow blind from all of the efforts. And a big shout out to the consultant, McBride Del Clarion, for kind of helping us through that process. So, yeah, I couldn't have said it better than Mr. Weinich, but I'm proud of the work that we did. And I think that, To your point as well, Chris, you said, you know, there may be areas that we need to adjust. And we will only really know that on a case-by-case basis. It's hard to predict the future. But I appreciate the comments around, you know, really it was around infill development and trying to understand what can we do to preserve and protect the integrity of the housing stock that we have in loveland and ensure that we're not going to fall prey to a potential development boom that essentially changes the character of the community i think we wanted to make sure that we are looking at this from a holistic standpoint and celebrating the diversity of the neighborhoods that we have and the characters that each of those neighborhoods contains. And I think that this document does its level best to strike that balance. And I think we've achieved it. But time will tell.

All right. Thank you. Ms. Hamlin?

I spent a great deal of time this weekend reviewing it. And candidly, I found a number of questions. Even just getting through the definitions, I found a number of items that I, Was it the intent? I don't know. But I'll just go through some of these and I'll apologize in advance for the length of this. But I need to go through them to, I guess, make the point that I'm trying to make. I'm just not convinced.

I will remind you that by council rules you have five minutes on one subject.

Yeah, I won't take that long. I'm just not convinced that it is in a place at this point to come before council. And here are some examples. The definition of brewery, micro and macro overlap. They both say 15,000 which so if you're producing 15,000 barrels you need both definitions. Which one wins? The definition of a secondary family dwelling. We say specifically it is for housing for relatives related by blood or marriage. We say nothing about adoption, which is clearly defined as a family in another section of the document. We say nothing about caregivers. Why are caregivers not considered? Daycares are already defined by the Ohio Revised Code. Why are we trying to come up with our own definition? The farmer's market says it goes through November 31st, a date that doesn't even exist. Which one is wrong, the 31 or the November? I don't know. Infill parcels, we reference residential, but there is no mention of commercial. The definition of a kennel is for domesticated animals. By that definition, anyone who owns two cats and two dogs is running a kennel. The definition of a lot says accessible from a public street. Do we have any parcels that are accessible from private streets? I don't know. A permanent occupant is defined as someone who occupies a dwelling unit for more than 30 days. So a seasonal person would be considered a permanent resident. I don't believe that's accurate. A private street is defined as one which provides access to an abutting property. I don't think that's the only definition. What about not dedicated to the city or accepted by or maintained by the city? A residential treatment facility is limited to opioid use. Why? Why have we not considered other disorders and substance abuse issues? A restaurant for fast food is 80% of the business. What does that mean? Is it revenue, transactions, customers, meals? We define that as 50% of revenue for a smoke shop, but we don't do the same for a restaurant. A cabinet sign is defined as something that is temporary and movable. Not entirely true. A cabinet can be permanently mounted. The only thing that's temporary about it is the removable facade. Paid lots. We have two paid lots in the city. There's no mention of that or those allowed. We are granting variances to the zoning admin, which has been brought up multiple times tonight. In my opinion, that places an appeal burden on residents. Do we have an ethical obligation to notify residents or commercial businesses? For an example, painted windows of the entire window more than 50% is prohibited. I can think of two businesses right now who meet that definition. Are they aware that if they change their window, they're violating code? Enforcement is the responsibility of the zoning admin. How is that happening? Is the zoning administrator going out and writing tickets? Probably not. So I'm guessing we're dependent on residents and other businesses to report on one another. That's not everything. That's just almost just from the definition section. There's a lot more. But I guess the point that I'm trying to make is I don't believe that it's complete in its current format to come before council. Thank you.

Anyone else? Cecil Baker.

I'll try to revise and shorten for that. But obviously I appreciate Andy and the commission for the review and the time and the rewrite. There's a lot of things about the making it easier to navigate appreciated the documents online that helped to kind of go through and digest this as well. For me, I'll focus kind of mainly on short-term rentals because I think that was one of the biggest kind of changes on that one. You definitely gave a Floridian split on your should and shall because I think that was my main is right now it says it should be 50-unit limit. I believe it should be a shall if we want to enforce it. So I just want to know if it's a guidance. And then I think a lot when that cap is happening, I like the idea of it because I love Andy's comment around like protecting the neighborhoods, protecting the stock that we have. But for me, I would love to figure out a way to prioritize those permanent residents that are here and that are using this as a funding model to stay in Loveland. I think that three limit, I just would love more information around it. I get it for, I think developers are smart. They're going to make three LLCs and then they can have as many as they want. And then with that, as we release this with that 50 cap, like, is it just who's in line first? You know, how do you, look at that density as they're coming in. Is priority given to like renewal once that year comes up? Like if you're renewing, do you get it first? Or if somebody like sneaks in, what does that look like? I think there's a lot left to review there as well. For the administrative authority, I do have concerns about what that checks and balances looks like. What does that appeal process look like? I think we got a couple good examples in open forum you talked about like the 15 foot versus seven foot variance. So I would love to know like that one now I think would still have to go through planning and zoning because it's over 15%. So what does it look like to give maybe a few examples of which ones now or how many or quantity would maybe be going through administrator? And then I would love the, I hadn't thought about that 20% impact. So I would love a comment on that one as well. In addition, like for the infill, for me, some of those categories were removed on an SPD. I loved that you did all that work on residential infill, because I do think it will reduce the amount of requests on SPDs, but I still would like some guidance on like, what myth does make sense for an SPD? It used to have some categories. And now it seems like, you know, it's really just it can be brought to the commission. So I love guidance there. So, I mean, my goal is just to really make sure our code supports, you know, kind of the residents are here protecting our neighborhoods, but with those clear expectations and standards across the board. So just appreciate. And I have a list of questions, but I'm happy to kind of follow up later.

Thank you. Anyone else?

I appreciate the feedback, and I think it's valuable. Some of this, I think, comes to the, the issue of setting the standard and then understanding once those rules are in place, how those are going to play out. And I think it would be perhaps useful when we revisit this at the next meeting to kind of put that crystal ball in place and understand some of the, of administrative tasks that may need to be set forward in relation to this with regard to the short-term rentals, if we need to do any kind of audit or communication, or again, the administrative relief as an example. I think it would be interesting to try to understand for the community's benefit on how that, granting of variance would be implemented or even challenged, you know, if it were to be by some outside party, you know, considered to be, you know, you know, looking for relief against the relief or something like that. So I think that might be a useful follow-up would just be to try to understand what happens after this. Because I think, you know, the challenge that PNZ had was to establish a clear set of regulations that was comprehensive across the entire zoning code. But that is once established, there's definitely a ripple effect across in different areas and in different tangents. So you did a good job, Mr. Weinertsch, of explaining the changes, but maybe there's an opportunity to discuss kind of how those changes get rolled out.

Yeah. So just real quick to give you an idea of the short-term rental situation. So two years ago, City Council put in, or no, it had to be more because I wasn't here, but City Council put in the short-term rental code, part of the zoning code short-term rental was put in. They were given until, short-term rental owners were given until January of 2026 to register. So if you look at our old code, we've got inspections, we've got all that's in there. January 2026 hit, we didn't get anybody registering. What we knew we were going to do was go out and do the audit. So we tackled that, we got the audit done, and we knew we had about 30 some short-term rentals out there based on the audit we can do, right? So we can come up with the information that we can find. We were about to send out letters. The moratorium, basically we put the moratorium in place. So to answer your question, there are currently, well, not to answer your, but there are no short-term rentals that are currently registered in the city of Lowe. So in my opinion, and we can talk through this and we can talk at a staff level and I can bring more information next week, but I think it's a blank slate for us. And I think we're comfortable at a staff level to be able to handle this. So when this becomes a, if this would get passed as an ordinance, we know that there's, we think there's less than the 50 that we're proposing. So we think we can probably accommodate everyone that we think is out there. So they're probably gonna come in, get registered. And then, you know, as far as, as they register, we've got mapping systems, we put them on a map, you know, person one comes in, I put them on the map, person two comes in, they don't, they're too close. Unfortunately, their application is denied. That's how I envision it going. Now, I can talk more about it next week as I talk internally to give you more feedback on that. But that's the beauty of staff being part of the Planning and Zoning Commission is I would have spoke up and said, staff can't handle this. This isn't going to work. So we feel comfortable with short-term rentals. And what I can do for administrative relief, I think the easiest way to do that is to give you examples of each one. of what would come before us. And I was basically, you know, this is what 10% means. This is what 20% means. And keep in mind, if you look at the old code and you look at this new code, yes, they look different, right? But there's a tremendous amount that has not been changed either. One, you know, and if we can talk after, I'd like to talk, but there is some, even the 20%, that was a carry over from the existing. um that was still that and it's it's worked fine we haven't had any issues with anything so we really didn't want to touch anything that we knew we didn't have issues with But again, there's avenues. You go for a variance should that be an issue. So there are avenues. There are avenues to get around some of this stuff when it makes sense. But I can bring those two things back to you.

I would appreciate that. And just to close my commentary on this tonight, I love how you talked about accommodations. And I think for Ms. Alexander, we've got... a very accommodating building and zoning department. And for particular issues that residents might have with their property to come and discuss, I think we get rave reviews across the board about how helpful and clear and communicative we are on those case-by-case basis. So I have a lot of confidence that that administrative relief is just going to roll right into that same customer service model that Mr. Kennedy has created over the years. Again, just a good example of that being kind of the hallmark of our department.

And that was a large portion of the idea on that administrative relief was how do we make specifically, you know, yeah, we love developers, but specifically our residents, right? So our residents, how do we make their lives easier, but still within the realm of our code, but how do we make their lives easier?

Anyone else? Okay, I just want to thank Planning and Zoning, thank Brad, Dale, Claire, Ann for your efforts and staff. This truly, this started easily three years ago when Corey was here, is when this whole process began and really in earnest the last couple of years. But this was a major undertaking. And I appreciate what you said, Mr. Weiner, because that's exactly right. Most of it is a carryover. A lot of it that is new are things like the short-term rental that just wasn't a thing when this was first created. And then we're just trying to sort of get ahead of that, even though we're behind it a little. do our best to meet changing needs. But also, I think a major push for this, it was to make it more resident friendly. That's always been a goal. We certainly are not about trying to limit what a property owner can do with their property, but we also have to be mindful of what their property interests are of the people around them so that thus the balance but i i think that um and it's not a perfect document i appreciate um comments of various council members uh raising issues and as for as an example of the micro and macro i mean that type of thing yeah that's a mistake i mean if you have some some things like that on a on a list that you could give to staff and we could See, they don't require us to, it's not a policy decision. We all want this to be a good document. It's never going to be perfect. But if you have things like that, Ms. Hamlin, give that to staff. You might be able to incorporate some of those into a red line version next time and at least start it correctly.

That's correct. So if I provide a red line version of those minor changes that we can do in between, all it would take is a three-fourths majority to basically, you know, to take that on, to change what P&Z gave you, you know, to change it, it just takes three-quarters. If we're all in agreement on that, it's easy.

Right. If there's something, things like that, that are essentially Scrivener's errors or something that was overlooked. So, certainly would welcome those to try to make this better. But, and while we have spent years on this and want it to be perfect and a standalone and not require any further revision, that is not going to happen. There will be revisions and that's okay. That's, we will, a little bit of trial and error, we'll do our best, but we're not, We're not so thick headed that we can't pivot when we need to do so. All right. Go ahead and do the first reading, please.

Ordinance submitting the codified ordinances of the City of Loveland, Ohio, Part 11, Planning and Zoning Code. Thank you.

Mr. Kennan.

So tonight is a request for a public hearing for the sale of an easement on the Schildmeier property to the Little Miami Conservancy. As I mentioned, you know, this came up for what it's worth and full transparency, Little Miami Conservancy approached the city about this as an option. And it did, I will say at that point in time, the city was very in depth into the application and quickly realized that this would be extremely beneficial to the application. Because while Clean Ohio deed requirements that are inherent with what we signed and what is recorded puts certain levels of restriction on it. This puts another layer of restrictions on the property's most sensitive area, that 100-foot stretch. And I'll be honest with you, again, there's very little in this easement that we're receiving $100,000 for that inhibits anything that we would not have been permitted to do anyways. No way would the city have been able to go down there, cut a bunch of trees and do any grading or be planning electrical poles or anything. That is a hands-off area by the sheer nature of the Little Miami Conservancy. And even more so because of the city's relationship with Little Miami Conservancy, which when Chris and I just met the new executive director, it was one of the first things she said was, that she hopes to continue what has been built since the Eric Partee days. And that being said, we are beneficiary from the fact that they had some funding from a previous grant. This fell into that, that $100,000 allows them an area to do muscle relief, muscle releases. They think that was one of the things they immediately caught on. I had no idea what a scour was until, Jason pointed out to us what a scour is, that next time you're bored on Google Maps, go to this area and look at how Abandoned Creek has been hitting this property over the years when it comes out. That has created a scour of no trees. They would like to replant that, redirect that, build that up and save that scour. That being said, this was one of the avenues that we were able to use, along with the Schulte Meyers taking $100,000, that we were able to meet the 25% with only putting in 13.64%. The only holdup again was there was a new executive director, Ginger Clark. She immediately said that they're all on board. They were just waiting for her to get in. So with the city charter, which, you know, you could say that easements don't follow in this, but I think it's very good that the city uses easements and still throws that in 107.01 and allows the public to know what we're up to when it comes to this. So if council would set the public hearing for August 11th, we will have a ordinance for a first reading at that day. Then as we approach the second reading, we will go ahead and schedule the closing with them. We've gotten, Chris got more formal exhibits that will be part of the conservation easement, a little fancier than what you see on my map. Those have been all recorded. And meanwhile, the home should be, I believe K9 is finishing up. The home will be raised here relatively soon. So that's sort of an update on that.

Thank you. Any comments or questions? All right. Someone care to make the motion?

Sure. I'll move for you to set a public hearing for August 11, 2026 . Second. Call the roll, please.

Ms. Hazel Baker? Yes. Mr. Jernig? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes.

Hamlin?

Yes. Mr. Hart? Yes. Motion carries 7-0.

All right. The last thing is to create the Veterans Memorial and Riverfront Advisory Ad Hoc Committee and affirm appointments to that. At staff suggestion, we put two members of the Veterans Committee and two members of Parks and Recreation on that. committee and then a member at large but someone that uh jim grethel who was obviously very interested in historic preservation and uh just seemed like a good fit for that that property um so i i don't think i need to belabor why we're doing this we talked about this plenty earlier on does anybody have any questions miss hammer yeah um so during my first visit on council i raised concerns about the way committee appointments are made and those concerns remain

As a council member, prior to the packet being issued on Friday, I was not aware that a committee was even being formed. But more importantly, that the community was not made aware. And I find it disappointing that we encourage residents to become involved. Yet when this meaningful opportunity presented itself, they weren't solicited to apply. And so out of respect for the residents in this community and the importance of transparent appointments, I will be voting no on these.

Any further comment? I just have a question. Yes, Hazel Baker.

I just have a few questions on if the Schildemeyer family was consulted to see if they wanted to be a part of the commission. And then given the nature of the property, was there any consideration given to like having the tree environment committee, maybe even the representative from Little Miami Conservancy on this commission as well?

As I said, I think because it's a veteran's memorial that we're dealing with, I wanted members of that committee, I wanted members of Parks and Rec because it is a park. There will be plenty of opportunity for anyone else to provide input, thus hiring the contractor, the consultant to work with this committee and have multiple opportunities for input from anyone else that cares to give it. And all will be welcome. Anyone else? All right. So what I'm looking for is a motion to approve the establishment of the Veterans Memorial and Riverfront Advisory Committee, Ad Hoc Committee and affirmation of the appointments that are listed on the memo.

I'll move to approve the creation of the Ad Hoc Committee inclusive of the appointments contained within the memo.

Second.

Call the roll, please. Mr. Chernick? Yes. Mayor Bailey? Yes. Vice Mayor Bateman? Yes. Mr. Goodyear? Yes. Ms. Hamlin? No. Mr. Hart? No. Ms. Hazel Baker? May I clarify?

I'm sorry. I honestly don't. Is this for the committee and the members as well? No.

Thank you. Motion carries with a vote of five to two.

Thank you. Okay. Let's see. Announcements. Eligible Loveland residents and small businesses should be receiving a letter from Direct Energy regarding the city's electric aggregation program. I apparently want to assure everyone that this mailing is legitimate and was sent on behalf of the city of Loveland. So that is true. We did do some social media as well. One understood. If you do receive the letter, you should know you are eligible to be automatically enrolled in the city's voter approved electric aggregation program unless you choose to opt out. If you want to participate in the program, you don't need to do anything. If you wish to participate, do not wish to participate, you have to opt out by July 31st, which is rapidly approaching, by returning the opt-out form included with the letter or by calling Direct Energy. Customers who are currently under contract with another electric supplier will not receive this letter and will not be automatically enrolled. Tickets are now on sale for the mayor's gala, which will be, is it gala or gala? Both are acceptable. I don't know. I should know. Which will be held on September 12th. This is to celebrate the Loveland's 100th and 50th anniversary while supporting future community projects and tickets can be purchased through the city's website. Finally, there will be a celebration of life for former councilman Kent Blair this Saturday, August 1st at 1 p.m. here at City Hall. As you know, Kent dedicated many years of service to our community and we invite anyone and everyone to attend and honor his life and contributions to the city are there any other announcements if not i do have fun facts july 9 1958 the purchase of the loveland water system we purchased the lovely water system from cincinnati gas and electric That's a smart move. 1975, July 23rd, established a farmer's market on city property. July 13th, 1976, construction of a bikeway pedestrian way. Are you talking about the bike truck? Where are you talking? Where is that? Come on. 1909. She just throws this stuff out. No, this is great. July 26, 1988, we required developers to install underground conduit for cable television. That's awesome. July 27, 1999, bronze cycling sculpture designated as a millennium project. Do we have that? Where is that?

SHE MAKES THIS STUFF UP.

OH, THAT ONE. I GOT YOU. YES, WE DO HAVE THAT. VERY GOOD. JULY 28, 2009, WE ESTABLISHED A RESIDENT CURATORSHIP AGREEMENT FOR THE WHITE PILLARS HOMESTEAD HOME, WHICH TURNED OUT TO WORK OUT VERY WELL, ACTUALLY, TO PRESERVE THAT HOME. OKAY. THAT IS IT. DO WE HAVE A MOTION TO ADJOURN? I'LL MAKE THAT MOTION. Call the roll, please.

It's Mayor Bailey. I mean, Mayor Bailey. Yes. It's Mayor Bateman. Yes. Mr. Goodyear. Yes. Sam Lynn. Yes. Mr. Hart. Yes. Ms. Hazel Baker. Yes. Yes. Motion carries seven to zero.