WARD 3 NEWSLETTER June, 2018 Councilman Jeremy Zelwin Phone: (440)

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1 WARD 3 NEWSLETTER June, 2018 Councilman Jeremy Zelwin Phone: (440) jzelwin@solonohio.org There has been a lot of activity in the City since I wrote my last newsletter back in January. The following is an update of what is happening around the City and within Ward 3: Proposed Winery and Housing Project on Bainbridge Road Recently a property developer submitted plans to build a multi-use development on 103 acres of land off of Bainbridge Road, known as Lake Luczek (39350 Bainbridge Road), which abuts the Thornbury subdivision. The current plan includes a winery, small commercial shops, townhomes, condominiums, and a boutiquetype hotel, with rooms above the retail and villas. Currently this land is zoned R-1-D for single-family homes. Rob Frankland, the City s Planning Director, estimates homes could fit on this property. In order for the Winery Project to be built, the City would need to create a new zoning classification. Since this project would require a zoning change, there is a process that the developer needs to follow before the project could begin, which includes requiring residents to vote on the re-zoning of the land. The first step is to present the plan to City Council, who would refer it to the Planning Commission for review (which occurred at the May 21, 2018 meeting). The Planning Commission would review the proposal and have an opportunity to ask questions and provide input to the plan. The Planning Commission would also schedule public hearings for residents to provide input and voice their opinions regarding the project. The Planning Commission may also request a traffic study, which would need to be reviewed by the Safety and Public Properties Committee, and input from the Public Works Committee. Following receiving all requested input and hearing resident input during the public hearings, the Planning Commission may recommend updates to the project based on their review and feedback from residents. The Planning Commission would determine whether to recommend placing the rezoning on the ballot and refer the project back to the Council for further review. City Council would then follow a similar review process, where the developer would present the detailed plan and public hearings would be scheduled. This process could last the whole summer, if not longer. Based on information the City received from the developer, he would like this re-zoning item to be on the November ballot. In order for that to happen, all public hearings and approvals (both Planning Commission and City Council) would need to occur by the August 6 th City Council meeting. In addition to the City review process, the Developer has also mentioned he would like to hear concerns directly from the residents. The developer has created a website

2 ( where people can register for updates and upcoming events. There is also an area on the homepage where people can provide feedback on the proposed development. It is important for residents to provide their feedback and input to the Planning Commission and the City in regards to this project. Bike and walking trail development On Monday April 23 rd, the Mayor hosted his first Town Hall meeting to discuss bike and walking path developments throughout the City. For this meeting, the Mayor had a panel of experts, which included members from Cleveland Metroparks, Portage County Park System and Chagrin Falls among others. Rob Frankland, the City s Planning Director, gave a presentation about existing trails in Solon and then discussed two trail systems the Mayor is looking to develop. Both of these trails, if developed, would go through parts of Ward 3. The first trail that was discussed was the Norfolk Southern trail. This trail would be on the old Norfolk Southern rail line, which would start on the border of Solon and Aurora (near Grantwood Golf Course) and travel through the middle of the City and end near the Harper and Bainbridge Road intersection. The trail would also go right through the center of town behind City Hall and over SOM Center Road on the existing railroad bridge. This trail would take years to develop as the City still needs to work with the Norfolk Southern Railroad to have them vacate their railroad easements. If this trail is fully developed, it could take you from Solon all the way to Youngstown on trails that are either already in development, or are planning to be developed over the next several years. The other trail project that was discussed was the proposed Solon to Chagrin Falls trail. This trail would start at Carter Lumber on SOM Center Road and go through Solon on the old railroad lines and connect into Chagrin Falls a couple blocks from the center of town. This trail project would be around two miles long in the City of Solon and is estimated to cost around $1 million. To date, the City of Solon has received $300,000 from the State Capital Budget to help pay for the trail. In addition, the City has applied for a grant providing up to $500,000 that would pay for part of the capital construction costs. The Mayor indicated at the Town Hall meeting, this project could begin construction as soon as While this project could start as early as next year, it is in the very early development stages and no detailed engineering or design work has been conducted. One of the challenges with this trail is how close it would be to some of the homes in the Ward. There are some houses that would be within 20 feet of the trail. With the trail coming that close to homes, it is important that the Administration work with these home owners to address the concerns, specifically around safety and privacy. I have brought the Mayor to several meetings to listen directly to residents so he can hear firsthand what their concerns are. I have asked and will continue to ask the City to work directly with residents that abut the proposed trail and listen to their concerns and work with them to identify potential solutions. Some questions that need to be addressed by the City are: Is there the potential for alternate routes so fewer houses are affected? Can the City guarantee that there will be no parking lot on Liberty Road near the Chagrin Highlands entrance?

3 If screening and fencing is required, what will this look like and where would it be placed on the trail? What are the on-going maintenance costs for the City after the initial capital investment? What is the plan for the Police and Fire Departments to keep residents safe? The City must engage with the residents directly and work collaboratively with them to come up with reasonable solutions that work for those directly impacted. Swagelok Global Headquarters Recently, Swagelok announced their intention of sending out a request for proposal (RFP) to municipalities within a mile radius of Solon to build a new global headquarters and innovation center. The City of Solon is currently working to respond to the RFP and City Council has voted to support the City s Administration and include any and all incentives to keep the Swagelok Headquarters in Solon. This project would include $30 million to $50 million of investment and be home to 300 to 500 jobs. Swagelok is currently the largest employer in Solon and there are no plans to move any of the existing manufacturing facilities from Solon. Chagrin Valley Islamic Center The Chagrin Valley Islamic Center was originally approved by the Planning Commission and City Council in May Since that time, the CVIC has been working on finalizing engineering plans so they can get building permits issued. When they filed the plans with the City, it was noted by the Engineering Department that modifications needed to be made to the site plan to meet storm water requirements. The CVIC went back and filed a modification to their site plan that reduced the number of parking spaces to 113 spaces and increased the size of the storm water plans. These modifications resulted in no additional variances, but did require additional approval from the Planning Commission and City Council. The site plan modifications were unanimously approved by City Council on April 16, Many of the concerns regarding the project are related to the additional traffic that may be generated by the CVIC. The CVIC hired an engineering firm to conduct a traffic study on their property based on guidance provided by the City. I have provided a copy of the traffic study on a recent NextDoor.com post that was conducted on behalf of the CVIC as well as the memo providing GPD s (Solon s traffic engineering firm) results of their independent review which validates the traffic study. Based on the peak time usage of the facility, which is Fridays between 1:00 P.M. and 2:00 P.M., it was noted that the CVIC would not materially impact the traffic flow and GPD agreed with this observation. Omni Senior Living Project On May 8 th, the City voted to approve the rezoning of a 5.4 acre parcel off Bainbridge Road from "C-1: Historic Business" and "C-2: Restricted Commercial" to "R-3-A: Senior Citizen Residential" zoning. With the citywide voters approving, as well as Ward 6, Omni will be able to begin construction on a $30 million, 150 unit senior housing development. Omni will still need to work with the Planning Commission to get full site plan approval before beginning construction. This project will include a four-story, 90 unit independent living facility, a 3-story building providing 42 assisted living and 18 memory care units. Albano Property The owner of a 9.8 acre property located on the west side of Flanders Drive, and situated immediately to the south of both the Norfolk Southern railroad right of way and the

4 Thornbury subdivision border, has recently approached the City to propose a subdivision and single family residential development on this land. At this time, the property owner is requesting higher density levels than are currently permitted under the zoning code. In specific, while the zoning code would potentially allow up to nine new one-acre residential lots on this site, the property owner is requesting the creation of as many as thirty-five new lots. Should the property owner determine to proceed with this request, the holding of public hearings before City Council and Planning Commission will be required, as well as the granting of numerous variances from the requirements of the Zoning Code. By ordinance, all adjacent property owners located within four hundred feet of the property will be notified by the Clerk's Office should a subdivision application be submitted. Other Zoning and Planning Department Related Items Arby s has been working with the City to update and remodel the store located on SOM Center Road. This update will include a new exterior and updates to the interior of the building. Rose Italian Kitchen recently opened at the old Paco s Tacos location. This is a welcome addition to the City as they have added a patio to the building and updated the interior. City Council has approved plans submitted by Chick-fil-A to build a restaurant at the old Panini s property. Plans include demolishing the building and creating a new building and a two-lane drive-thru. This approval allows Chick-fil-A to proceed with their project. There will be a couple additional re-zoning items on the November ballot. One item will be to rezone a portion of the existing I-2 Industrial Manufacturing Zone on Old South Miles Road and certain parcels on Aurora Road to a new I-3 Auto Service Zone in the zoning ordinance. Additionally, there will be a request to amend the permitted uses in the I-2 district to include smaller scale medical use. The Planning Commission has been working to identify a specific portion of Bainbridge Road where this re-zoning would occur, if approved by voters. St. Luke Evangelist Church has recently engaged with the City to have some administrative work sessions around a plan to build a church on the corner of Chagrin River Road and Franklin Road. They own a five-acre parcel where they are proposing to build a church that could hold around 100 people. This land is currently zoned to allow a religious building on the property. To date, St. Luke Evangelist Church has not presented a plan to the Planning Commission. In 2012, the City approved plans for the Neptune Oval Subdivision which would be west of the Miles Road and Brainard Road intersection. This subdivision would sit on a 22-acre site and consist of 13 one-acre lots. While this plan was originally approved in 2012, there has been no work done on the project and the Council approved an extension to the preliminary plat to allow construction to begin. The Planning Director recommended the Finance Committee waive the competitive bidding requirement for SAFEbuilt, Ohio, LLC to provide a full-time Chief Building Official for the City. The City posted this job opening and received three applications for the job, none of which were deemed to meet the City s requirements. This contract would amend the City s current contract with SAFEbuilt to provide the City a full-time Chief Building Inspector. Prior to this being approved, the City contracted with SAFEbuilt

5 to provide anywhere from one to four hours of work a day. There have been times where businesses needed a city inspector to review a project and they were not available. This issue should now be resolved with the Chief Building Inspector providing full-time services and being on-call to Solon residents and businesses. If at some point in the future a full-time candidate becomes available, the City has the ability to terminate the contract with SAFEbuilt Ohio with a 30 day notice. In April, City Council also voted to approve a new ordinance to codify variance notification requirements. I am pleased to report that the City has adopted the procedures to notify all properties within 100 foot radius of any variance that is being requested. This is an enhancement of the notification procedures, where the City used to notify only adjacent properties. Peggy Weil-Dorfman, the City s Economic Development Manager is going to be retiring in June. Peggy has worked with the City for 32 years and has done a great job in her role working with the industrial and commercial businesses in the City. I want to acknowledge and thank Peggy for all the work and great things she has done to help move the City forward. Service Department Update The Solon Service Department hosted their annual Earth Day celebration on April 29 th. At this event they sold 3,100 bags of mulch, collected three full gay lords of E-scrap and shredded five tons of documents from Solon residents. This spring the Solon Service Department will be planting 52 trees for their annual program and they are working with the Engineering Department to put together tree bids for Miles Road, Wintergreen Drive and High Point Drive. The Sewer Division is continuing their retention basin inspection and will be repainting fire hydrants on Ledge Hill Drive and SOM Center Road. Home Days Solon Home Days will be held on Friday, July 13 th through Sunday, July 15 th. The festival s theme will be Around the World and will be held in the front parking lot of the Solon Community Park at 6679 SOM Center Road. There will be a Kiwanis Club Pancake Breakfast, a Community 5k Run and One Mile Walk on Saturday, July 14 th. The Home Days parade is on Sunday, July 15 th, tentatively scheduled for 1:00 P.M. Ohio Open Checkbook The City of Solon recently joined the State of Ohio s Open Checkbook program. This program adds a layer of transparency and the City has made their financial data from 2015 through the current year available to the State to publish on a web portal. Information will be updated on a quarterly basis. This portal has the ability to provide information on all disbursements made by the City in an easy to use interface. It is best to navigate the Open Checkbook site using the views on the left side of the page as this can give you access to pre-configured reports with one click. You can access the Ohio Open Checkbook information at Please see the last page of this newsletter for the Revenue by Source and Expenditure by Category for the 2018 budget year. I would like to close this letter thanking the residents of Solon for passing the Solon School Levy this year. As we all know, the Solon Schools are a big piece of the foundation of the City and I would like to thank residents for their support. If you have any questions regarding this newsletter or anything happening within the City, please feel free to contact me. I am also continuing to post updates on my Facebook Page and NextDoor.com. Thank you, Jeremy

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