Minutes of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission/Solid Waste Policy Committee
April 20, 2006
ATTENDANCE
Attachment A lists the attendance at this meeting, at which the following matters were
discussed.
MINUTES
On a motion by Mayor Blomquist, seconded by Mr. Shannon, the minutes of the December 8, 2005
meeting were approved.
SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT POLICY COMMITTEE AGENDA Pat Holland, District Director, asked for approval of Resolution 060420-A, adopting the Amended Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Management Plan for the Cuyahoga County Solid Waste Management District. On a motion by Mr. Shannon, seconded by Mr. Smock, the plan was unanimously adopted.
Mr. Holland explained that as part of the ratification process, copies of the plan will be delivered to all of the communities and the District will hold a series of meetings with City Councils by County Planning Commission region. Mr. Holland reported that a 10-minute video has been produced to provide an overview of the District's programs, which the CPC then viewed.
RESOLUTIONS
Personnel
Paul Alsenas reported that there were two personnel actions for consideration. The first action
was to fill a Gund Foundation funded position to assist the CPC in the design and implementation
of an organizational structure to move the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative (CVI) forward. The second
action was to hire a summer intern.
On a motion by Mayor Kelley, seconded by Mr. Hayes, Resolution 060420-B was unanimously approved.
General
On a motion by Mayor Blomquist, seconded by Mayor Eileen Patton, Resolution 060420-C,
authorizing a contract for planning services with the Cuyahoga County Department of Development,
was unanimously approved.
On a motion by Mayor Gorden, seconded by Mayor Kelley, Resolution 060420-D, authorizing a contractual arrangement for planning services with the City of North Royalton, was unanimously approved.
Olmsted Township
On a motion by Mayor Blomquist, seconded by Mayor Eileen Patton, the reapproval of the
preliminary plans for Gates Village of Woodgate Farms subdivision was unanimously approved.
On a motion by Mayor Blomquist, seconded by Mayor Kelley, a one-year extension of the approval of the preliminary layout for Phase 2 of Galway Bay Subdivision until April 20, 2007, was unanimously approved.
COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL ISSUES
Mayor Longo reported that the City of Garfield Heights had just completed the third update of
its master plan, which focused on the social aspects of Garfield Heights. The plan update, done
by the Cobalt Group, found that the City had three critical issues to contend with: recreation,
school quality and housing, with housing being the most integral because it impacts everything
that happens in a community.
Mayor Longo explained that the condition of a community's housing impacts on the quality of the schools, the type of economic development that a community attracts and the resident's quality of life. The local housing issue is compounded by what is or is not going on in the State of Ohio in terms of foreclosures and predatory lending. To keep on top of a community's housing stock Mayor Longo stated that a community needs to have a well-funded and well-staffed housing department which can being taxing on community's resources and also puts a strain on homeowners who have invested in the community.
Mayor Longo explained that he called Mr. Alsenas to discuss this issue and to see what the County Planning Commission can do to address this major issue.
Mr. Alsenas thanked Mayor Longo for bringing attention to this important issue and reported that since he first spoke with Mayor Longo he has had conversations with Patti Choby of the Cobalt Group, the County's Development Director Paul Oyaski, Tom Breckinridge of The Plain Dealer and Tom Bier of Cleveland State University.
Mr. Alsenas stated the in the last decade the civic community has focused on our position in the national economy and trying to make it more competitive. One of the positives that we have used is our "good" housing stock; however, he opined that maybe we haven't really looked at the issue effectively. He noted a recent Plain Dealer article which stated that people continue to move from Cuyahoga County into outlying communities and counties and that sixty percent of the people cite an inability to get the desired "housing package" - new home, land, etc., in Cuyahoga County.
Mr. Alsenas reported that the CPC just completed the City of Brooklyn's Master Plan which found that ten percent of the residents said that they would move out of Brooklyn in the next five years because the type of housing they want is not available, that aging residents have problems with keeping up on the maintenance of their homes as their incomes decline and homes that do not sell at the price the owner wants will most likely become rental property or vacant.
Mr. Alsenas stated that housing and its components: supply, age, type, occupants (age of, family composition and income) is interwoven with market factors such as supply and demand, interest rates and the recent elimination of down payments which allow almost anyone to obtain ownership, community factors such as the quality of the schools, neighborhood vitality, amenities, parks, recreation, safety, even the climate which impacts on how much we pay for heating and cooling our homes, the local economy and planning issues. It is a systemic system that if ignored the ramifications could be enormous: housing problems impact the local and county tax base, the quality of schools since they rely on property taxes to operate and overall community health.
Mr. Alsenas agreed with Mayor Longo that it was time to begin a conversation about this important community asset and the purpose of this discussion was to get some observations from the CPC members.
Mayor Longo stated that Garfield Heights participated in the Cleveland Foundation's Elder Friendly Community project and the assessment showed loud and clear that housing is the number one issue. He asked Ms. Patti Choby, a principal with the Cobalt Group, to discuss her recent findings.
Ms. Choby explained that in addition to the Garfield Heights study, she has also been working with the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Workforce Investment Board and with the Defense Finance and Accountability Service Center (DFAS) and said that housing is just as an important as job creation and retention, and that people use housing in terms of its affordability, accessibility and quality as a deciding factor in whether they stay in or move to Cuyahoga County. She stated that through these recent projects it has been found that the County's housing market may not be as positive a factor as we thought it was - we don't have the depth or breadth of new housing (either for sale or rental) that people are looking for and our housing is considered homogeneous although we have a variety of prices.
Mayor Longo agreed that this issue is not on everyone's radar screen but is floating underneath affecting every community. He asked if there was a way to apply for a foundation grant to identify the problem(s) and determine a plan of action.
Mayor Eileen Patton noted that providing new housing in older communities is a key to keeping current residents from moving out of our communities or the county.
Mr. Paul Herdeg from the County Development Department noted that although the county is making great progress in speeding up the foreclosure process on vacant homes it will pose a major new problem for communities - what to do with these houses in a weak market. He noted a report by George Zeller which stated that the City of Cleveland had a net gain in median family household income because the new housing that the City has built in the past ten years has attracted people with higher incomes.
Mr. Alsenas stated that because the Commission works at both the local and regional level it can define a strategy or approach at a meaningful scale. This may be a study or convening a group of county agencies, municipal officials, non-profits, real estate professionals and developers similar to what we did on the brownfields issue. Mr. Alsenas stated that the staff will craft specific action steps and bring them back to you at the next meeting for policy direction and then approach the foundations for possible funding.
Mayor Gorden noted that he has a unique situation occurring in Beachwood; people are buying up the 1950 and 1960 houses located on half acre lots, tearing them down and consolidating the lots to build new $500,000 homes.
NEW BUSINESS
The Commission discussed the criteria for the new Ohio Department of Development's Job Ready
Site Program and how the minimum acreage limits shuts out urban areas from the program.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No public comment.
Upon unanimous approval, Commissioner Dimora adjourned the meeting.
Attachment A
Cuyahoga County Planning Commission/Solid Waste Policy Committee
February 9, 2006 ATTENDANCE RECORD
| Member | Present |
|---|---|
| Ms. Virginia Aveni | No |
| Mayor Robert Blomquist | Yes |
| Mr. Robert Brown for Mayor Jackson | No |
| Commissioner Jimmy Dimora | Yes |
| Mayor Merle Gorden | Yes |
| Commissioner Timothy Hagan | Yes - represented by Mr. Hayes |
| Mayor Jerry Hruby | No |
| Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones | Yes |
| Mr. Jack Licate | No |
| Mayor Thomas Longo | Yes |
| Mayor Eileen Patton | Yes |
| Mayor Kenneth Patton | No |
| Mayor Edward Kelley | Yes |
| Others: Paul Alsenas, Patti Choby, John DeMuth, Paul Herdeg, Kristin Hopkins, Patrick Holland, Claire Kilbane, Patrick Smock | |
