City Commission - Regular Meeting

Welcome to the December 8th, 2025 meeting of the Stashi City Commission. We'll have an invocation offered by Commissioner Coun followed by the pledge of allegiance. [snorts] Dear Lord, we come to you today humbly um giving you thanks for yet another day in the land of the living. We pray that you continue to give us wisdom to guide, to direct, and to provide all of our wisdom that we can to make sure that we do the very best for the citizens of Sanduski. Please continue to follow us and guide our footsteps so we may continue to do what's right for Sanduski. Amen.

Amen. 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. Mr. Buyers, you call the role. Yes, Mr. President. Mr. Crrael here. Miss Fargo. Mr. Wington here. Mr. Brady here. Mr. Murray here. Mr. Pali here. Mr. Coons here. Commissioners, may I have a motion to excuse Commissioner Vargo? So moved. Second.

A motion and a second discussion. Hearing no objection. That motion will be approved and Commissioner Vargo is excused. Commissioners, you have before the minutes of our meeting of November the 24th, 2025. What is your pleasure? Mr. Chairman, Commissioner, I move that we accept the minutes of the November 24th meeting as presented. Second.

It's been a motion and a second discussion. Not objection. That motion be approved. And hearing no objection, those minutes are approved. Tonight we have a public hearing on transient occupancy overlay district amendment. This hearing will be conducted by our chief planner, Aaron Blair. And as this is a public hearing, we will entertain questions or comments from both the audience and from commission at the conclusion of Mr. Blair's presentation. Miss Blair, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Commission President Brady. This is a complex topic and zoning is a complex mechanism for regulation. So, I brought a a slide deck to talk about this uh proposed amendment in front of you today or subject to the public hearing. First off, a little bit of background because we're talking about a zoning overlay district. I want to make sure people understand what that is. So, our zoning code has specific regulations. Say a residential zoning area. An overlay district kind of it lays right on top of that in our zoning code. It can add or modify specific land use rules but the underlying zoning of that area remains unchanged. That means how you can use the land, the setbacks, etc. So just an overall uh definition of a zoning overlay. Next, for a little background, we have one existing transient rental occupancy district. So we have one overlay district in the city that is known as the Cove District. It's here on our zoning map, but it shows up. It's It's a little bit hard to see because like I mentioned, all of that underlying zoning stays the same. So, if I were to outline it and just show it all in one block, you can see that white outline there. That is the shape of our Cove District zoning overlay district. It was created originally to drive economic revitalization into the Cove District. And if you take that, I wanted to just kind of eliminate all that background noise so you can really see the shape of that zoning district. It's primarily residential land use underneath. So single family residential, two family residential zoning districts. They the legislators at the time wrote the zoning overlay district in order to maintain the existing character of the neighborhood. It's those uh residential zoning underneath. So that transient rental overlay district allows that commercial use, the transient rental use in a residential district, but the underlying zoning remains unchanged. And you can see the zoning diagram here where it shows uh

the single family residential is the primary land use in the cove and then two family residential uh there's one couple parcels of other land uses in that area. On the other hand, we also allow transient rental in commercial districts because transient rental is a commercial use. It's allowed in six zoning districts in the city. Those are all our business and commercial districts. So the screenshot you see here is a little bit of a zoom in. There's a mixture. All of it's green because we have a combined map that makes it really easy for folks to see online. Uh if it's green, it allows it. If it's not green, it doesn't. And that's a way that we've tried to make it really easy for people to understand where transit rental is allowed. This is our number one phone call in the planning division. So we've done a lot of work to help it be uh as clear as we can for folks. So, our downtown business and roadside business and different districts that are commercial areas do allow transit rental in addition to the overlay district. I mentioned we do have consistent pressure to allow transit rental at more residential properties and that pressure is is one of the conditions that led to the current moratorum we have on any kind of expansion for transit rental in the city. Before the moratorum, there were several properties that changed their zoning to allow transient rental. So, there's uh an example on the top of the right on this slide. It shows a resoning process that property owners went through to expand the overlay district on East Washington Street. And another example is a property owner went through a reszoning to reszone to residential business on Perry Street in order to enable transit rental. And it was really that expansion of the commercial land use in our residential areas that led us to put a pause on transit rental in the city and talk about how to change and uh update our

policies. So to answer that we have created a policy shift uh as directed by the city manager when the moratorum lifts and it right now it's in place until May um and it's up to the city commission whether that lifts before then whether it's extended or whether it lifts according to the current timeline when that moratorum lists lifts and we get requests from a property owner that want to allow transit rental at a residential property it will not be processed as a reszoning. What we we will do instead is we will direct those cases through a use variance application heard by the zoning appeals. So when a single parcel an owner of a parcel says I want to do transit rental we won't bring that through as a reszoning. We would bring that through as a use variance application. And the use variance process has a really high burden of proof. I don't expect you all to read this slide, but every single point that's of this slide is in our code and all of those points have to be addressed in order to argue that a property is appropriate for a use variance. I highlighted three of those. The first highlighted one is the property. It asks the question whether a property will yield a reasonable return or whether there can be a beneficial use of the property without the variance. The second one asks whether the granting of the variance will be contrary to the general purpose, intent and objective of the zoning code or other adopted plans of the city. The third one highlighted asks if the strict application of the zoning code that the variance is requested will constitute an unnecessary hardship upon the property owner or the applicant. And for example, in those conversations, I'll say first variances are evaluated on a case-byase basis. We can't say all of them will go one direction or another. Um but staff will provide training to the board of those members

so they're well equipped to understand these cases and to eval evaluate these cases. But on those three points, first the granting of a use variance for transit rental is likely to be contrary to our adopted strategic plan of the city because our strategic plan emphasizes strengthening neighborhoods and preservation of long-term housing. So that'll be a very difficult argument to argue from a property owner's perspective. Also, any denial of a request for transient rental use of a r residential property, it's not expected to create unnecessary hardship for property owners because they can use that property for residential living. And again, residential properties have a clear economically viable use, which is long-term residential living. So that's just an example of the burden of proof that those property owners will be asked to bring forward as a use variance case application. Okay. So that is a clear path for how we'll consider single family parcels moving forward um once the moratorum is no longer um pausing the requests for transit rental. But the question remains if we get requests for new transit rental overlay districts. We had several property owners in the past in 2022 2023 asking for new overlay districts. Again, we just have the one. It's the Cove. That's what I talked about at the beginning of this presentation. What if we get requests for more? There is language in the zoning code and it says only planning commission or city commission can initiate the conversation to create a new transit rental overlay district. And there are specific conditions laid out in our code. One, [clears throat] it has to be deemed appropriate in the interest of the general welfare of the city. That it is to be created to spur investment in a declining geographic area with the goal of increasing property values and maintaining homes in that area. And that be located in areas that are in close proximity to commercial and retail. [clears throat]

And when we were asked in in the past to evaluate these questions, something came up over and over, which is what is a declining geographic area? How do we define a declining geographic area? It is not defined in our code. It is not defined in our comprehensive plan. It can mean a lot of things. It could open up a broad argument without clear interpretation. So the proposed amendment that's that we're discussing today is to allow the city to define declining geographic area with a future planning process. So if we have a comprehensive plan update, if we have a neighbor plan or other formally adopted plan by the city, we could in conversation with public engagement with planning commission, city commission, city leaners choose to define a specific area of the city as declining and appropriate for a new overlay district. But without that formal process, without that formally adopted process, there is no mechanism to create any new transient rental overlay districts. So in a sense this clarifies our code. It gives us a very clear process to follow. But it also extends and creates public engagement planning commission review city commission review and authority before any new transit rental overlay district were to ever be created in the city if there is ever a new one. So to reiterate that the proposed l amendment language is here in that second bullet point. So we would be adding to be created to spur investment in in a geog de declining geographic area as defined in the comprehension plan or a similar formally adopted planning document of the city. And again that's not currently in any adopted planning document of the city. So the proposed amendment would allow the city to adopt legislation for the creation of a new overlay district only if that area had first been defined and recommended in a plan. And at their November 24th, 2025 meeting, the planning commission recommended that city commission adopt the amended language. That concludes my

presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions. Questions or comments from the public regarding this public hearing. Mr. Dy, come to the microphone, please. [clears throat] Sue Dhy, 10163rd Street, Sunduski. How many hearings will be held on this issue or will it be decided today? That's it.

Okay. So what would happen if nothing was done and there was um this was not permitted but to be considered when circumstances justified it's now necessary for a change. And I bring that up because we have a housing shortage. So, anything that would be conducive to displacing a permanent residential uh housing unit for a transient unit is only going to um feed the high cost of residential living and also limit the availability for residents to actually live here full-time. And so, so I guess my question is what if what if we did not allow this? And when the time is right, the a generation from now when when um that does free up when having more transient housing does not jeopardize somebody who want who's in need of affordable permanent residential living. Could could it be decided at that time? Because right now we have a housing crisis. So, anything that would feed the um problem of bringing more permanent housing out of the city of Sunduski is something that I hope you as commissioners will not support.

Thank you, Mr. Dy. Additional comments or questions from the public?

Westpool 1939 East Oate. First, I have a question. these slides up here. Uh, is this the same presentation that was at the planning commission meeting? I just don't remember these slides. No, they're not.

They're not the same. Okay. We can start with the what the planning commission voted on this. So, my opinion is this. I agree with the two planning commission members. It was a split vote who voted no on this proposal. They each presented sound reason for rejecting the change and adding the words as defined in the comprehensive plan or similar formula adopted planning document of the city is just it's a meaningless change. I say this because first the comprehensive plan has always been used to justify transit the transient rental overlay. I have uh [clears throat] for the purpose the June 25th initial overlay ordinance and I won't read it unless you doubt my occupancy but essentially at the end it says therefore the comprehensive plan is utilized by staff as a factor when evaluating the proposed amendment. So the change after 3 years of conversation adds absolutely it does absolutely nothing for us. Second, [clears throat] there there really is no definition of a declining geographic area. Uh I would submit to you just for conversation sake that at the time that we uh approved the Cove area, it was not declining. If you want to go back to the '9s, it was a declining area with lots of problems. But Matt Rof and and uh John Arnold took care of that. In fact, the city sued them for doing it. So, the Cove has been going on an upward scale forever, and it was an ideal place to have res for residential folks to buy to build and fix houses. If you flipped them and sold them to residents, we'd have residents there as opposed to uh Airbnbs. Um, second, that's uh what we have now is is just that make it you make what is or is not a declining area. you make it up as

we go along with no real criteria or measurement or whatever you can get four people to vote for. I don't think that's a good way to do business. Changing the change dealing with overlay to a variance by individual property, it's a question of how you look at it. I listened to the presentation and it sounds good on paper. Uh, I would suggest if you go back to the air the sections that were done in yellow, it would suggest that any residential area by definition is ineligible for an overlay and I she'd have to bring it back up and I could point it out and I didn't want to debate the individual points but the fact of the matter is the purpose of the zoning it could never meet the the purpose of the zoning is for it to be residential. So therefore, by one of the sections on your on on on this new criteria, you can't even have a conversation about it. So it makes no sense to pass this in that regard. Now, in addition to that, consider and this was this came up at the planning commission meeting by one of the two folks who voted on it uh voted no that in actuality uh by uh historically changing it to a variance it's almost automatically gets approved and easiest thing to do if you want to check is just look at the numbers variances people just don't have a reason to say yeah this is to say no and it gets passed through almost all the time. I would suggest that [snorts] additionally uh that format uh narrows the public input. Why? Because variances only require 300 ft of distance for people that are notified of what you're doing. When you do an entire overlay district, it involves the entire neighborhood. They all find out and have an interest in it. So by narrowing it down and historically

the way it works at a variance that we come up with a you can look at the records and see that this is not this is not going to be as tough as it appeared. Now what I'm suggesting lastly I believe we are suffering from unintended consequences. Working families cannot compete in a bidding war for a home with out of town investors expecting quick returns and large profits. Sunduski needs to grow residents and home ownerships. We have over 171 transit rentals in Sunduski. I would say that's plenty for the goal of attracting tourists. Encourage you to vote this down. Allow the next commission to take a look at this and to determine our course forward. If we engage input beyond staff and a couple of commissioners, it won't take long to come up with another conclusion. I would suggest that we are not do we I don't see any advantage anywhere of adding more transient housing. For every transient house you lose, we we add it takes it off the residential market, changes the demand supply curve, runs up the prices. we have a uh community that is uh financially less uh uh [clears throat] doing less well than the than the surrounding communities. So consequently, what we've done is we've just driven up the prices price of houses uh artificially even though real estate prices have gone up everywhere. They've gone out exponentially here to where the people that live here can't afford to buy a home. So I hope you vote no. Give these folks an opportunity to look at this. They're going to have to live with this. It doesn't matter whether you pass this today or a month from now. It'll be spring and summer before it matters at all before you have to apply this. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. P. Additional comments from the public regarding this issue. Comments from commission. Questions or comments from commission regarding this uh public hearing? Mr. President, might I ask you, it's kind of a procedural question. Do you want to have a conversation about this now or at the time that the legislation comes up for vote? Entirely up to you. It's a public hearing. You can you can make your you can make your statement now if you like. I I I don't know. I mean, do do we is this an opportunity for us to engage in questions? I I take this opportunity now.

Okay. All right. Well, then if I may. Um, I have so many questions about this. Um, I'm not sure why we need to vote on it today. Um, for example, and why this doesn't go to the new commission. Um, it is the new commission, and I'm I'm echoing uh comments that have already been made publicly, but it is the new commission that will need to deal with this. It's a new commission that will need to deal with this kind of dangling uncertain language about declining economic area. Uh I to me that's I I'm not an attorney, but that that scares me when you have language like that that hangs out there. Um, and uh, yes, we might be able to close that that loophole or that open door at some point in some way, but until that time, I think we we leave ourselves very much open. Um, so that concerns me as well. Um, I guess the what the the main point that I'm trying to make in in these comments is is there some urgency for us to do this now as opposed to allowing the new commission to to be able to consider this and weigh in on this. Um, other comments that I have, I am not comfortable with this going to the BCA. Um, perfectly good people that serve on that committee, but in effect, it it um eliminates

the city commission elected officials from the process. And you might say, "Well, no, you you you can be perfectly engaged now. We're asking you now to pass this legislation." True, but going forward, uh, any decision the BCA makes, the appeal is not to this body. It's to the court and we're in effect left out of it. Now, it's been suggested to me, a matter of fact, uh it was suggested to me just before this meeting began that, well, the court will just return it to us to to look at to consider. Um I I don't know that that's true. You're furrowing your bra, Mr. Hastings. Um I don't I'm not at all sure that that's a guarantee in any way. Uh perhaps the court could. I don't know. the court has, you know, jurisdiction in many ways and powers that we probably uh don't, but um I don't know why we set ourselves up for that. I think that elected officials need to be part of the the decision process here. Um I own a transient rental. I'm familiar with the process. Um, I deal with the the the the blessings and the challenges that go along with ownership of transient rentals. Um, but transient rentals just as a general topic concerns me in this regard. I [clears throat] I think that transient rental in zoning areas that are already uh identified the commercial uh the six uh zoning areas that we can have um

transient rentals in is just fine. But um I recently participated and and some of the people here in the room were were in attendance. Uh I recently participated in a um a public hearing about transient rentals. Now this happened to be about uh house uh you can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but I think it's House Bill 160 uh which basically was to strip local government of their ability to control transient rentals in their community. Um, and one of the takeaways from that was a very interesting statistic about our neighbor Port Clinton. Port Clinton is in many regards similar to the city of Sunduski. We're both waterfront communities. We both our economies are built on, you know, uh, visitors coming in and spending their money with us and and, uh, we welcome all of that. Um, but the transient rental business in Port Clinton, and I can be corrected on this, but that business has all but taken over Port Clinton. Port Clinton has somewhere north of 30% of all of their housing units are now transient rentals. [clears throat] Mr. Tucker, you were there. You heard the same thing I did. Okay, good. Um, what that has done is it has dramatically driven the average cost of a home in Fort Clinton up. Ju it it's it's just been stunning what has happened. And if you happen to own a home and you're looking to sell, that's a good thing. But it is a dramatic

barrier to entry for individuals of moderate income, moderate means to be able to afford a home. If the home if there's even homes available on the market, because that's the other side of transient rentals is that they're businesses. They're operated as businesses. They're they're not in the regular cycle of home ownership such that they become available for uh purchase as a private home [clears throat] because they're so expensive. Um, so there's I have a lot of concerns um about transient rentals in general and I have a number of concerns about this particular proposal. Um, as I've I've already indicated some of my concerns. Um, and I may bring up some others uh as uh our conversation here this uh proceeds. But I I I I think in the best interests of what is good for the citizens of Sunduski, what is good for the supply of affordable housing in Sunduski, we need to take a timeout. This is not a good time to consider this and I'm not sure it's the right solution. Um, I have made my feelings known. Um, uh, this past week I made my feelings known in a meeting that that, um, Richard and I had with with, uh, the city manager. Um, that I'm not sure that

overlay districts are even a good idea. Period. End of statement. Because I think in some regards if you if you really look at what we're doing with an overlay district, it defeats the underlying zoning. It is it is allowing exceptions to the underlying zoning. I guess one of the qu So yes, I'm I'm open to a conversation about just getting rid of overlay districts. Okay. Not just getting rid of the one at the Cove, but getting rid of even the possibility of them citywide. The other question that I have and and I don't know what the answer to this is, but I think it's a question that needs to be asked. If there is a neighborhood such as the Cove District that wants to be able to have transient rental, why do they not propose that we just change the zoning? Not propose that we have an overlay district, but change the the underlying zoning. go from an R2 or an R1 to a more commercial zoning. To me, that seems the direct path to the to the underlying question as opposed to this indirect path that is or that are overlay districts. Just some of my thoughts,

additional comments or questions,

the chair, Mr. wrote briefly um because I agree with everything that uh Commissioner Crarael said and I also agree with what was said by others who stood at the podium. Um I want to draw your attention quickly to one thing that was really really important and that was and because I watched the planning commission meeting that was this particular presentation may have helped in that particular planning commission meeting uh and maybe there would have been one more vote maybe even two that went to the other side but it was a 3-2 vote. The question that I have is, you know, when we start talking about um, you know, we possibly can do this in areas that are economically depressed or distressed, one of the things that I I really would like to know, and maybe we need the numbers on this. I've heard about pressure coming from property owners. I'm always asking, well, who are the property owners? Do they already live in the area? Are the property owners from Ohio even or do they live in New York City, Baltimore, and these other places in Cleveland? That's what I want to know because pressure can come from anywhere. But if pressure is coming from the residents that live in the neighborhoods, okay, I'm listening. But if the pressure is coming from outside our city, uh, I don't have a whole lot of stock in that. So, I'm in the same place that I was before I was on the city commission and I'll be in that same place from now until the cow comes home, right? Um, we talk about maintaining the existing character of the district, right? Well, you know, the folks who actually have these transient rentals, these Airbnbs, of course, they want to they want to keep them up, but how does that really benefit our community? And how does it benefit when we start talking about distressed communities, right? I remember a gentleman coming in here and you know I was staunchly opposed to what he was talking about even though he's from Sanduski. He doesn't live in

Sandusky any longer but he has property and his property is located in Sunnyside right across from the east end and on the east end they're able to actually have some Airbnbs. Tell me if I'm wrong. If I say anything that's incorrect, please correct me. Right. And he's saying, "Well, you got him right across the street. Why can't I have him over here?" But again, he's from Sanduski, but he lives in Pennsylvania. Right. And so if you want the properties, the Airbnbs, well, at least get the properties that in in those zones that are already zoned for Airbnbs. It's that simple for me. I'm going to be rolling with the people that can't find homes right now. They can't find apartments right now. I know these people. They can't find places to live. So when we begin to entertain even the conversation about having some additional Airbnbs, I'm going to be staunchly opposed to it. each and every time. That's all I have to say.

Additional comments or questions? I I would just ask uh Miss Blair on the the question that Mr. Coons raised. I mean, Mr. Crarable raised about changing the zoning. Uh h is is that uh an option rather than doing the overlay districts? should originally they should it they uh thought about changing the zoning down there.

That's a good question and there's a lot it o opens up a lot more considerations. Um [clears throat] and I want to say from go our purpose is to follow our adopted strategic plan and protect long-term housing in the city. And the brainstorming and the the conversations we've had and the solutions we were working on is to preserve long-term housing in the city of Sunduski. and we have a wave of pressure like I mentioned of people wanting to do Airbnb because they perceive that it's going to be a good money maker or drive up property values or whatever. Um when you when you think about a reasonzoning, a resoning is a more permanent change and it allows more land uses. So um RB for example allows multif family housing. The setbacks are different. It allows different businesses. So if you take a residential property and reszone it to more commercial, you're also you're not just opening it up for transient rental, you're opening up for the whole list of land uses that would be allowed in that district and it would be a change of the setback requirements, the height requirements, etc. in whatever district you propose to change it to. Um whereas the overlay district allows only that one specific use that's written into the overlay district. So that's one example of the reasoning consideration. I think it's important to note too that it was brought up the comprehensive plan was was used to justify reszonings to transient rental which is true in our comprehens in our current comprehensive plan. It says both we should preserve long-term housing and it says we should promote hospitality uses in our city. Our strategic plan, however, very clearly says preserve long-term housing. And that's a much more recent document that's been more recently pointed to. When you take a property through res a re reszoning that code says look at the comprehensive plan what does the comprehensive plan say? When you look when you take a property through a variance process it says what are the adopted plans say? So we really gives us a good argument to say that our strategic plan says we should preserve

long-term housing and we should not not recommend use variances for Airbnb in most cases. Additional comments or questions? Mr. President,

Mr. If if I if I could point out uh to uh Miss Blair's um comment here, if we were to go the route of just saying, look, if you want to do, you know, a transient rental, an Airbnb, VRBO, whatever, um you you have to change the zoning because of the because of what that implies in terms of changes and setbacks and, you know, additional uh you know u uh density of of housing and and all of those types of uh uh considerations. It would make it even harder to have uh transient rental because the residents would therefore have to confront that and realize that by ch by requesting a zoning change they are requesting not a small thing they are requesting a very big thing that will affect them. So I go back to my point I think that is a good solution to the current problem.

Mr. Chairman, I think I think we did have a a group that came in and wanted a zoning change to allow for transient rental. And one of the issues why we voted no was because it would allow all these other uses. Like you could put a gas station there and it was a residential area and I always think ahead what 10, 15 years down the road. I mean, that might be all right now, but you may have uh some sort of uh car operation in a backyard button up to a residential area. Yep.

As far as Mr. Pool and the planning commission, uh we didn't have any slides. We just discussed it. So, there weren't any slides. It wasn't like we didn't know what we were voting on. Uh, and the two people that voted against it, every single time transient housing came to the planning commission, they voted for it. So, I'm not so sure they they're against this. They they have their reasons. I'm not so sure what they are. And as far as the language, the new commission doing the language, I I thought it read on that slide where the new commission would would do that vague language, right? You said you were going to work with the with the commission and a couple of people from the commission. Was that on the slide

for the geographic the geographic area? That would be if if we're conducting planning process and it becomes part of the conversation at that point. So that'd be public engagement, city commission engagement,

planning commission engagement at the time of that conversation happening in the city, which seems like it's not likely because everything we have so far and what we hear from residents all the time is we should preserve long-term housing. Yeah. One of the issues with the overlay district was I think that people that just wanted to do one house would come in and they do the whole block. Now this allows for one house. And as far as uh doing an overlay district, you'd have to do a whole new study for that neighborhood. I mean, that's going to be a complex pro process. And uh Mr. Coons the the gentleman you talk about from Philadelphia that wants to go transient. This would allow he could come in with uh and and request a variance to take that house to transient. So that would solve his problem. But I just think that there's there's a number of checks and balances in this that uh and and it also falls back on the the the committee. You know, the committee has to say no. I I voted I I'm the only planning commission member that voted no on every single transient housing application that came to us. So committee has a big part in it.

Mhm. Mr. Chairman, I'm done. Mr. Chairman, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt Commissioner Charles. No, Mr. I'm done, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. So, a little bit history on this and I would say that so far we have the we have this discussion 100% backwards and let me explain why. Um we were confronted with a lot of pressure to um reduce the amount of transit rental in the city and we had at the time a disagreement with the planning commission as commissioner Mali has pointed out uh a lot of times the applications came up and the planning commission allowed those to occur. We have we can only re reverse a decision by the planning commission by a vote of six or seven votes. Six. Seven. We need

six. Six. Okay. S we we need Well, but if we have seven, we still have six. So I was accurate. We have six or seven oppos [laughter] we cannot re we well as we cannot reverse the decision of the planning commission. So we have found over the years we are virtually powerless to reverse the a decision of the planning commission. I applaud the sta the staff's decision to migrate this process to BZA. It's a much tougher standard. Again we still need um members of the BCA who are going to enforce the laws that have been written. Um and but it's a tougher standard. I think that they know that and we've we've much curtailed that. We put in place a moratorum that we've now adopted twice. Nothing is going to happen in terms of an expansion of uh transient rental unless that moratorum is lifted by the next commission or if it's not extended by the next commission. What the legislation in front of us does is it tightens the existing opportunity to allow an overlay district. This is actually a restrictive piece of legislation. It is not an enabling piece of legislation. If the if the moratorum expires, we're faced with the same thing we were before, which is vague definition that's in the stat that's in the ordinance. Uh this makes it a lot harder to squeeze through that um that option. And if the next commission wants to completely eliminate um any future overlay districts, that's the next commission's option. But if nothing happens and the mortorium expires then it's it remains easier as it does now under existing legislation to adopt an overlay district. So this I I don't much care whether this is something that we

pass or not as long as the moratorum remains in place. But if the moratorium is lifted, I would like to have the overlay district be more restrictive in its language and its application than it is today. Mr. President, Mr. Crable, if I might, um, I would concur with Mr. Murray in that, uh, depending on whatever happens with this particular proposed piece of the legislation that if it is defeated, at least the the moratorum remains. Uh is that contemplated in this or is the moratorum expected to

well the expire moratorum will expire on its own terms in a few months. How when I think April okay so so there would be time for for the new commission to to it. Yeah. No the new commission that was my point right. Further comments or questions Mr. President? Last one.

Mr. Couple of things because I wanted to make sure I clarified this. Um, as it relates to Commissioner Pali, I never said that I wanted the individual to actually have that uh, permission to do the Airbnb. So, I wanted [clears throat] to be clear on that. The other thing that's been said by multiple people who have spoken, whether they're here or whether they came from the audience, is that why now? And I say it's not the best time to actually make this decision less than three weeks before we have new commissioners that come on. And I believe that new commissioners should have the opportunity because that's a long-term decision. Even though I understand what Commissioner Murray is saying, I think that all of these decisions, whether we're talking about this transient rental overlay, whether they're talking about the moratorum, they should play a role. And so that's where I'm standing. I wanted to make sure I clarified statements that were made because they they didn't characterize what I said um correctly. M

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Just to respond to Mr. Coons, um you didn't say that and and I agree with you, but I do remember when that gentleman from Philadelphia was here, he said he was closed out of the process. So my point is the variance would allow him to use the process. If there are no further comments, uh I will declare this public hearing closed. Thank you, Mr. PL. Any residents with comments regarding tonight's agenda? I'd ask that you step to the podium and give us your name and address and your agenda comment. commented out.

Commissioners, you have before you several communications from staff recommending various pieces of legislation. Can I have a motion to accept those communications? So move second. Second. And a motion and a second discussion. Without objection, that motion will be approved. And hearing no objection, that motion's approved.

Commissioners, we have 13 items on the consent agenda this evening. Any of you wish to move any of these items to a regular agenda? For the second time in my memory, the uh person who created the agenda is going to move uh a uh non-aggenda a consent agenda item to the regular agenda. I'm going to ask Miss Meyers uh if you will move item M to the regular agenda. The purpose of that is uh the feel-good story in there. I'd like Mr. doors act to share with us what that is when we get to that piece of legislation. And uh again a rather unusual move. I am going to exercise my presidential powers and I am going to uh [clears throat] remove item two on the regular agenda from tonight's agenda and it will reappear at a later commission meeting. Mr. Myers, will you present the consent agenda? Less item M.

Yes, Mr. President. Item A, permission to particip participate in internet sales calendar year 2026. Item B, approval of third amendment to Welcome Home Ohio program agreement. Item C, approval to accept five parcels back into the land reutilization program. Item D, approval of amended side lot disposition program for land reutilization program. Item E, approval of sale of 20 land bank parcels to Welcome Home Ohio Great Lakes. Item F, approval of sale of landbake property at 1428 McKinley Street. Item G, approval of amendment to CDBG fiscal year 2025 le program. Item H, approval of one-year extension and agreement amendment with Progressive Cleaning. Item I, approval of transportation contract with Cedar Point. Item J, approval of calendar year 2026 consulting contract with George Polus. Item K, approval of calendar year 2026 consulting contract with Robert Statatler. Item L, permission to dispose of unneeded and obsolete equipment. Commissioners, having heard these ordinances resolutions, what is your pleasure?

Mr. Chairman, Mr. Murray, I move for the approval of the single resolution and the multiple ordinances in A through L of the consent agenda pursuant to section 14 of the city's charter. Second. A motion and a second discussion. I'd like to acknowledge uh the uh uh fact that uh in item F uh the resident who will be purchasing that property in McKinley Street, Miss Devana New is with us tonight. She's right there in the [laughter] center living by me. Thank Thank you for being here. Thank you for taking a chance on our city. Absolutely. And on that property, Mr. Chairman, two two doors down. Mr. Two doors down for me.

Mr. Watington is your neighbor. Ron neighbors. [laughter] We don't we don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I always got cold beer in the garage. [laughter] And he does shovel snow down that way. Yeah. Thanks. [laughter] Oh man. Mr. Assy commission on that motion. Yes, Mr. President. Mr. Crabel. I. Mr. Wington. Yes. Mr. Brady. Yes. Mr. Murray. Yes. Mr. Pali. Yes. Mr. Coun. Yes. And now on the resolution and the ordinances. Mr. Crarabel. Hi. Mr. Wington. Yes. Mr. Brady. Yes. Mr. Murray. Yes. Mr. Vali. Yes. Mr. Coons. Yes.

Those ordinances and a resolution are passed. Congratulations. Mr. President, if I might in the motion that Mr. Murray made, he said the one resolution and other ordinances. There are two resolutions. Scrim. Does that is that a problem? Not for me. It's not. Okay. [laughter] Just want to be A through L. So, thank you. Good. I just want to be sure. Thank you.

Mr. Mars, will you present the regular agenda item M now for us? It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to accept grant funds from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency through the drinking water assistance fund program in the amount of $500,000 for the replacement of lead and galvanized water lines within the city of Sunduski authorizing the city manager to execute any grant agreements and to expend the funds consistent with the grant agreement and declaring this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, how would you like to proceed? Mr. Chairman,

Mr. I move adoption of this ordinance on the suspension of the rules in full accordance with section 14 of city charter. Second. It's been a motion and a second. Mr. Orzac, would you give us this feel-good story? Yeah, thank you, Mr. President. Um, so, uh, Mr. Snider had contacted me and uh I thought he was a April Fool's joke, but he said that the Ohio EPA had contacted the city. They had a phone call um a couple weeks ago now and they wanted to uh give us half a million dollars to replace uh lead and galvanized lines. Uh there's no strings attached. The uh there's no match.

Um the public works uh under Mr. Snider and Megan Stie and the folks that are going to be doing the work are pretty excited because they'll be able to put together a uh RFP and um go through a process on how to do this um for future uh applications that will uh definitely need funding for um in the future. So, uh they anticipate 100 or so [laughter] lines will be able to be replaced with uh that money. It includes replacing the lines and restoration of the property. So, we're uh you know, very grateful for the Ohio EPA. We're only one of four cities that uh received um a half million dollars for each city. So, um we should feel uh pretty thankful and blessed that the money came this way. So, appreciate Mr. Snyder and his team um for uh going to be doing some uh hard work here. So, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Orzac. Mr. Snider, you're following in the footsteps of your predecessor uh bringing cash through the door. Thank you. [laughter] Yes. You got about $80 million to go. Additional comments or questions, commissioners? Mr. Bars, you pull the commission on that ordinance, please. Mr. Crrabel, I. Mr. Wington, yes. Mr. Brady, yes. Mr. Murray, yes. Mr. Pali, yes. Mr. Coons, yes. And now in the ordinance, Mr. Crabel, yes. Mr. Wington, Mr. Brady, yes. Mr. Murray, yes. Mr. Pajali. Yes. Mr. Coons. Yes. An ordinance is passed. M. Myers, you present item number one.

It is requested an ordinance be passed authorizing and directing the city manager to enter into a contract with Great Lakes Demolition Company applied Ohio for [snorts] the Cleveland Road Safety Improvement Project and declaring that this ordinance shall take immediate effect in accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Commissioners, having heard this ordinance, what is your pleasure, Mr. President? Mr. I would move approval of item one uh the ordinance there under uh in full accordance with section 14 of the city charter. Second. Got a motion on the second discussion. Mr. Snider, this is the end of the line or the beginning of the line I should say as far as roundabout goes. Is it? Yeah.

Any I know we've got a good contractor, same contractor that uh performed couple projects for us. Streetscape being the most recent I think. Uh any idea on start dates, finish dates, completion dates? Uh well, what they're telling us is uh if we would have gave them the okay, they would start next week, but um as soon as possible, they want to get in before weather sets and get as much done as they can. They're eager. So, um this is this is what they do. This is their fourth or fifth roundabout. um not counting the intersection widenings and the the other work, but yeah, they're uh uh attuned at this. Great news. Great news. Yeah. Uh

Mr. Mars, you pull the commission on that motion. Mr. Crrael, I. Mr. Wington, yes. Mr. Brady, yes. Mr. Murray, yes. Mr. Pali, yes. Mr. Coons, yes. And now on the ordinance. Mr. Crabel, I. Mr. Wington, Mr. Brady, yes. Mr. Murray, yes. Mr. Vali. Yes. Mr. Coun. Yes. That ordinance has passed. M. Mr. Chairman. Uh, I just want to note that this is a a great price on this project. Now, from day one, this was a $5 million project. So, uh, kudos to uh, coming in at 3.7. Good job. Mr. Horsac, would you present your city manager's report?

Good evening, commissioners, audience, and staff. I have a $1,500 donation from Family Health Services um from for the police department. They'd like to thank family services for their support. If I get a motion to accept that donation. So moved. Second. And a motion and a second discussion. Without objection, the motion will be approved. He hearing no objection. That motion is approved. Our thanks for the $1,500. Uh Parks and Record would like to thank Cameo for donating eight pizzas for Mills out of school. We get a motion to accept that donation. Some moved. Second. A motion and a second. Discussion. Without objection, that motion will be approved. Hearing no objection, that motion is approved.

And uh Sesi Parks and Recck would like to thank Elizabeth Mootz and leadership Erie County for their work on the Cookie House. The Cookie House is an iconic structure in Washington Park for the holiday season. Specifically, we would like to thank Bill Sarter, Dale Sarter, Steve Sarter, Tim Sarter, and Ron Schweinfer. They installed the handicap accessible ramp, built new door frames, and a new floor. Susan Zy and Darlene Wood spent several hours repainting the design on the interior walls. We'd also like to thank the Myer Foundation, Whiteman Weber Charitable Foundation for their monetary contributions as well as Sunduski Paint for donating the paint. Get a motion to accept all that inkind donation. So move second.

A motion and a second discussion without objection. That motion is approved. Hearing no objection, that motion is approved with our thanks. The place looks brand new.

Yeah, it's great. And the hippopotonus hippopotonamuses are all painted. They look good, too. A general reminder for property owners of vacant dwellings. If your dwelling is expected to remain vacant and unoccupied during the winter months, we highly recommend that you contact the city to turn off your water. This will help prevent your water lines from freezing and breaking, which could lead to costly repairs. Customer accounting can be reached at 419-627-5893 to schedule a disconnection. public works. We with frigid temperatures setting in, we'd like to remind residents of a few extra precautionary steps to take to avoid frozen water lines inside and outside the house, including setting thermostats at 55° minimum, insulating exposed pipes, and letting the cold water faucet trickle continuously during extreme cold weather. And a reminder, uh residents um rely on walking and transit uh as their primary way to get around. And without a clear path, it is especially difficult. Property owners are required to clear their sidewalks and adjacent sidewalk ramps during or immediately following winter storms. We strongly urge residents to assist their neighbors who may not be physically capable of removing snow. Uh property owners who handle snow removal of parking lots and driveways are reminded not to push snow into the street or opposing tree lawn. Motorists are asked to pay close attention to snow emergency routes throughout the city in the event of heavy snowfall. A parking ban may be implemented and any vehicle parked on these streets may be ticketed or towed. Information and updates as the season season progresses. Visit www.c city of sunduski.com/ snow. And leaf collection is still going on. Um there's [clears throat] a map that can be uh looked at on city of sunduski.commap for your dates on your area. The Welcome Ohio program experienced great success this year. Seven homes saw

the start of construction this year. Three have been completed and are now occupied by their new owners. The remaining homes will be completed in the coming months with an additional two homes breaking ground in the same time span. As new lots are added to the inventory for housing development, we welcome inquiries from potential buyers at www.c cityofski.com/welcomehome. Two new art box projects have been completed on Hayesav. One is titled Smell the Flowers by Jordan Evans located at the corner of Pierce Street and the second is Free Yourself by Janiah Apprentice on the corner of West Osborne. For more information on the Artbox program, visit public arts page on the city website. and Seski Park and Rex would like to ask for permission to apply for the USA Midwestern or Midwest Northwestern Ohio diversity grant. The grant has awards up to $1,000. If awarded, we will use the money to purchase age appropriate tennis equipment for children ages 5 to 10. Get a motion to uh allow us to apply for that grant.

Some move second. Motion and a second discussion. Mr. Bars, you pull the commission on that motion. Mr. Mr. Crrael. Hi. Mr. Wington. Mr. Brady. Yes. Mr. Murray. Yes. Mr. Bali. Yes. Mr. Coons. Yes. That motion has passed. Concludes my report. I'm happy to take any questions, comments or questions for the city manager. Commissioners. If not, we'll move to items of old business. Any items of old business? Mr. Chairman, Mr. like to thank everybody that stopped at Karen Share this weekend. We did uh really good. I think close to 6,000 was what I heard. So that's not bad. Very nice. It's nice. Good time.

Additional items. Old business. This is only a week old, but I I think it's important that we acknowledge we're we're coming off a a good Thanksgiving and headed toward a good Christmas. We hope. But I I uh had an opportunity to view uh the uh preparation of meals at at Holy Angels's uh uh community hall uh on Thanksgiving, actually the night before Thanksgiving. And uh it occurred to me that we have so many people in this community that uh that that reach out to people in need. Uh there's I I I'm gonna miss so many people, but there's there's two that stuck stood out because I I know both of them. That's Gary Ferber and and Terry Diesel. Uh but there there were, you know, 25 or 30 people working that crowd and it was a crowd and uh it wasn't happening just there, but it was happening literally all over the city and a lot of different places. We are so blessed with so many people uh just like Mr. Ferber, Mr. so that give their time and uh and break into their own holiday to do to do those kind of things. [clears throat] So I think it's important that any chance we get uh we can acknowledge them we're a better city because of people like that.

Yeah. Uh thanks thanks to all of them. Any additional items of old business? Items of new business. Any items of new business? I have some housekeeping issue here. I need to ask for a motion to schedule a public hearing for January 12th, 2026 for the 2026 budget appropriations. So move second. And a motion and a second. Discussion. Mires you pull the commission on that motion. Mr. Crabel. I. Mr. Wington. Mr. Brady. Yes. Mr. Murray. Yes. Mr. Bali. Yes. Mr. Coons.

Yes. That motion is passed. Additional items of new business. Now we'll move to comments from residents on any item that pertains to city business. You step to the podium and share with us your name and address and your thoughts. We'll be glad to hear them. And I'd ask you to keep your comments to five minutes. Good evening. Good evening.

My name is Sean Amson. I reside at 1730 Harrison Street here in St. Dusty. Uh, in the past I've had um business with the city regarding the land bank as well as a beautifification program. Um, today my concern is this. Um, on my street we don't have any curbs, any sidewalks, any drainage system, no street lights. All the adjacent streets east of me at the very least have sidewalks and curbs. Um the people that I've inquired to down here uh more or less have have stated that their hands are unduly tied so to speak without the help of the commission. So I would hope at your convenience that you could look into this matter um cuz rainwater just sits in front of my house because it has nowhere to go. And being that the city has partnered uh I'm not sure that company name with those new houses, it's obviously going to affect them too because they're on the same street. Thank you. We got we got this gentleman's address, do we? We have your address.

1730 Harrison Street. 1730 Harrison Street. Great.