City Council - Regular Meeting

I move to accept the minutes as provided.

This 501c3 does excellent work for our city and is such good role modeling for our children.

I just want to say thank you for all of the work that you have done over the years. I know I've gotten to go on the walks and see you there. I love seeing all of the good works that comes from the Mighty Vincent Project. And it is a real honor that that is in our community and spreading that love and kindness that you do. Thank you.

So I love this sentence in here that Mighty Vincent envisions a world in which being a good Samaritan is the default response. I mean, that is just so important today in this world and it's kind of a mindset that we all need to adopt.

We're really grateful for all the people in this community that show up, they volunteer, they donate, and they continue to support us.

Jacob, maybe you need to think about going into police or fire or EMS. We could use a person of your caliber.

Pick up your new big things. I'm sure your parents and family are so proud of you and keep up the good work for our community. So glad to have you here tonight.

I'll just say you all have done so much good work in Hudson. I do have a favorite. When my oldest was an infant, I was very afraid to take her in a pool and I didn't want to. And my husband said he wanted to run for council. And I said, I want a splash pad. And he made that campaign promise to me and had no idea how he was going to keep that campaign promise. worked with the city manager. He said, go talk to Kiwanis. They love the ideas you all were in. And he was very excited when that splash pad had that groundbreaking. So my family, whenever we see it, we think of that and we love the space

Yeah, I just wanted to thank everyone. The mayor said it perfectly. You know, the Hudson Kiwanis Club serves as a shining example of what can be achieved when neighbors unite for a common purpose. So thank you guys and look forward to working with you.

I have one question for each of them. Since next is up here, I would like to ask if you could, for myself to some degree, but the audience at large, why would a developer opt to choose going with this conservation approach? plan versus just the standard use by rights regular and you had a nice grid up there that kind of compared and contrast them. But why am I as a developer choosing to go for this conservation over just say standard?

Thank you. And if I could have Mr. Cicero. Thank you. In your opening statement, you talked about what kicked this process off. Could you opine about that a bit more? I believe you said our city solicitor reached out to you about the risk. Could you talk about that process, how you were contacted?

Mr. Cicero, could you explain for the audience more about what you mean about the constitutional claim?

I have a question. I think Delaney, it's for you.

So you showed that table, and you don't need to bring it back up, that shows examples of how the open space conservation subdivision compels better designs. And you talked about things about how it requires open space and it has larger setbacks. And can you just talk about that? So in our code, that is conditional use, is that correct? And then the other use, which would be not the open space conservation, is a use by right. So what would that mean if it doesn't get approved to do this open space conservation and resorts to the other one, which is a use by right? What does that essentially do

Quick question, Delaney. So in our code and what you've seen, there's no maximum lot size, correct? And what about square footage for houses? Is that something that some municipalities have had in their code?

Thank you. I have one final question for the planning. Next team. You're well credentialed. You have a large breadth of experience in many cities and all over the state. You have taken plenty of time to evaluate our land development code. This plan that has been submitted via the settlement, do you see any reason, any grounds on which, via our zoning, that this plan should be changed, altered, or denied?

I'm just wondering if you could clarify, um, especially for the audience, what's the difference between a permitted or a use by right and a conditional use and between those two examples.

Skyler Sutton, 2243 Ravenna Street. With me is my attorney, Mark Stockman. When you were sworn into office, you took an oath to abide by and uphold the Ohio revised code, Hudson's codified ordinances and the charter of the city of Hudson. The settlement agreement proposed by you tonight contains multiple violations of both state and local law. The terms raise serious questions about the council's authority to approve the agreement and about whether doing so would be consistent with the oath you took. Section 3C of the settlement does not merely establish a process for plan review. It actually

I suppose now that we had confirmed there were no more comments, we have an opportunity.

Thank you. I'll just keep this very brief. I am not a lawyer, and I don't pretend to be one. I think even a well-versed lawyer would not give an opinion after hearing some legal thoughts for the very first time, so I plan to confer with City Solicitor and take this feedback. This is absolutely a public hearing and I do want to hear that feedback. I don't have a lot to give back yet at this time. The only thing I would maybe ask, and Tom, I know we don't have Brad here, I do believe you did some amount of work on the stormwater. You're somewhat familiar on that. Do you have any comment on the s

Thank you. Similar to the last round, I don't intend to address items specifically around this. I do want to just say thank you to everyone who came here today. During this process, we've largely relied on our legal advice from the city solicitor and their opinions and their legal opinions. This is kind of the first public opportunity for us to hear people from the other side, people who listen and who live in the area and want to give a differing legal opinion for us to hold this up against. And I appreciate that. I appreciate the research that everyone has done and the time everyone has take

Yeah, just a comment. I also want to say I appreciate the residents who took the time to come before Council and share their concerns. I apologize if I'm not addressing everyone by name this evening. But I understand that when a development is proposed, especially near your home, there can be real concerns. Kim, I hear you about the water and drainage concerns, and Mrs. Buchanan, your privacy and traffic concerns, as well as the concerns brought up regarding the wells in the area. Ms. Jones, I've appreciated your dialect of both public comments. I take your request very seriously, and you made

Oh, sorry. I'd also like to thank everybody for being here tonight. hearing different perspectives, different sort of awareness of concerns is very helpful for us to continue to kind of evaluate it, get more information, make decisions. One thing I do wanna just really kind of maybe try to get us to move past is this discussion about some of the council members getting campaign donations from one of the developers or owners. So just a couple prepared comments here. There's been this narrative out there that These council members Reza Victor Remo and Weinstein should be disqualified from discus

Um, yeah, I'll just, uh, read it earlier with present bird said, um, I'll just be clear that there's no donation that has any bearing on how I vote on this matter or any other matter. I will base my vote on the merits of this settlement, what our land development code outlines and what I've heard, um, residents like you all, uh, say tonight. Uh, I also appreciate you coming here. I appreciate you. hearing your perspectives, hearing your concerns. I think that we have worked really hard to prove that we value what residents say and are listening to residents and we will absolutely take your con

Thank you. In light of President Byrd's statement, I would just mirror what Councilwoman Weinstein said. This is in no way affecting my approach to this. I think I've done my best to prove that I take every piece of legislation before this council at its merits. Yes, I suck. Excuse me, I should prepare these things. I did seek a legal opinion that more than gave me every confidence that this was no conflict of interest and therefore I do not intend to revoke those residents who voted for me of their voice here on council and recuse myself from this matter. I will not be, so thank you.

Sorry, I'm making you get some steps in. Sir, I'm just wondering if you could answer or talk a little bit to, you mentioned that our code has significant inconsistencies and there's too much discretion and inconsistency with the Planning Commission. Can you mention some specifics about that, if you can? And also, why are you asking for the process that you are, rather than why does your client not want to go back to the Planning Commission?

I'm thinking about how to word this as plainly as possible. You mentioned in your presentation takings. Takings has been brought up here a number of times by residents. I believe the general point being made was takings needs to be 100%. What is your take on that?

Thank you. I just have one other statement. I don't feel you meant maybe necessarily this way when you were saying, you know, don't listen to X, don't listen to Y, listen to who you, we were elected by the residents and we absolutely will listen to the residents. That's my, and I didn't mean that. I know you did not, but I want to make that clear that that is my job.

So you mentioned you could get us a list or explanation in writing of additional discrepancies.

So I'm wondering if in asking for this or working through this settlement, did you review our processes and the authority of council to actually make this settlement?

Yes, I just wanted to make a statement. Maybe some didn't realize this, but the point of the planning next was to provide an independent review as a third party to focus on a more granular level, our code and the newly proposed plan and remove any emotional bias. So that was kind of the exact intent of that. I just wanted to kind of clarify that.

This is a very different subject. There was an incident at Acme where an elderly person fell and the EMS came very quickly and a resident called me and said it was amazing how well they handled the situation, their empathy, and I wanted to make that public announcement about what a wonderful EMS team we have.

Thank you. Two comments. One, the other day I had the opportunity to tour the renovations that I've undergone so far at the fire department. It is looking fantastic. The fire department has kind of been able to move into their new section. The EMS is now in the kind of holding area that the fire department was in as their area is now torn up. But things are coming along nicely. I'm very excited for everyone to get the new space. I'm especially excited One item of note was that we will have now two locker rooms, full-size men's, but most importantly, a full-size women's locker room. The EMS has

I was at the Greys on the Green today. I got to see a lot of residents out there today. It was very nice to have that meetup, and I heard from a couple residents that they really enjoyed it and would like to see it continue. Just a reminder, the Hired in Hudson is tomorrow, 9 to 3 at City Hall on Tareks, a great way to connect with local Hudson businesses. I was also at the Planning Commission meeting last night. They discussed interest in collaborating with the Environmental Awareness Committee on the work regarding ecologically valuable land. I thought that would be a good mashup between the

This seems like a while ago, but it was just Friday when we had the 9-11 commemoration and the Veterans Commission did an amazing job of scheduling a service with some very powerful speakers. And then we did the stair climb up and down the football stadium. Some folks that we saw, some firemen we saw in full gear climbing all those steps in the heat. It was... It was very, very powerful to participate in that. And then Saturday was the trike and bike celebration bike extravaganza in Hudson Park Estates where they raised I think close to $30,000 for pediatric cancer. So that was really a great

I just want to say I was at the Architectural Historic Review Board last Wednesday, and they did not pass the plan that Planning Commission just passed. They did not agree with what Planning Commission had put together, so the developer is in because he's getting two different opinions on what that plan should look like. So it is something that we may have to look at in the future, how we can get those boards to come together in some way to help the developer put together a plan that works.

I move to go past 2300, but no longer than necessary.

We have no appointments tonight, but the deadline for applications has been extended to Friday, September 25th, 2026 for the Cemetery Board Environmental Awareness Committee Planning Commission meeting. Board of Zoning and Building Appeals, and the HCTV Advisory Committee.

I move this to a date certain of November 10th.

Councilor Brzezic. My understanding is the postponement is to give staff enough time to consolidate the feedback. I'd just like to push back a little bit. This was already a postponed date. Is it possible we could consolidate that information in time for I believe the 27th, October 27th would be a regular council meeting? That's a workshop. That's a workshop. Apologies. Okay.

The clerk felt that this was the best date, the November 10th.

Yes, I move to enter into executive session pursuant to Hudson Codified Ordinance 220.05B3 and 5 to discuss pending court action and matters that are required to be kept confidential by law. Invited to this executive session are Dr. Bird, Mr. Brezovic, Mrs. DeRamo. Dr. Goetz, Dr. Weinstein, Mr. White, the mayor, the city solicitor, attorney Mike Cicero, the community development director, the assistant city manager, and the city manager.