Minutes of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission/Solid Waste Policy Committee
November 16, 2006
ATTENDANCE
Attachment A lists the attendance at this meeting, at which the following matters were
discussed.
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Mr. Patrick Smock, alternate for Commissioner Dimora,
chair of the Planning Commission and Solid Waste Policy Committee.
MINUTES
On a motion by Mayor Ken Patton, seconded by Mayor Kelley, the minutes of the September
14, 2006 meeting were unanimously approved.
COMMUNITY AND REGIONAL ISSUES
Cuyahoga County Housing Dynamics
Mr. Alsenas presented the major community issue for discussion, the housing situation in
Cuyahoga County and how it relates to economic development. Mr. Alsenas stated that he
was going to present a few slides that would provide an overview of the 620,000 housing
units in Cuyahoga County in terms of location, median age, values and occupancy.
Mr. Alsenas stated that the major problem in the county, occupancy, is an effect of what started in the 1980's as the baby boomers began to have families and began to buy and/or build housing units in the suburbs. But at the same time, a slow decline in the county's population began which resulted in housing vacancies and fewer people to buy these units. As a result, sellers are chasing fewer buyers and the county has about 70,000 vacant units.
Mr. Alsenas introduced Ms. Patti Choby of the Cobalt Group who had just completed work for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) and its plan to move employees to the Cleveland office. Ms. Choby worked on the relocation aspect of the move which involved attracting workers from offices that were closing to move to the Northeast Ohio region.
Ms. Choby explained that a complete analysis of this project, "A Case Study: How Saving the Defense Finance and Accounting Services in Cleveland has served to Align and Elevate Workforce Investment, Housing and Education Activities with Northeast Ohio's Regional Economic Agenda" the "White Paper", is included in the agenda and was done at the suggestion of Commissioner Jones.
Ms. Choby stated that one of the many lessons learned was that the region's belief that our housing was a key competitive advantage is not true. DFAS workers found the region had too many older homes, high property taxes and high mortgage rates. In fact, Cuyahoga County residents are paying about $1,000 - $1,300 per month which can be a tremendous burden on some people.
So the question becomes - What is housing's true position in our regional economy? Ms. Choby stated that we have some of the highest mortgage loan rates and foreclosures filings in the country. The study found that there is one foreclosure filing for every 122 residents in Cuyahoga County which is higher than the other central urban counties in Ohio and in the Northeast Ohio region.
Ms. Choby stated that four major lessons were learned that exemplify why we have to change our thinking:
- Individual consumer- there is a need for a website for people who are considering moving here that would provide them with all of the information they need such as housing, education, jobs for trailing spouses, etc.;
- The regional competiviness of our housing may be a fallacy due to our cost of living (older homes, high real estate taxes, quality of schools and public transportation etc.). Budget issues matter;
- The county does not have a coherent regional image or message. Many people didn't know that Cleveland was part of Northeast Ohio or that it was located on the shores of one of the Great Lakes. The region needs to sell itself better in terms of its amenities, diverse cultures, etc.; and
- We need to integrate economic development, schools, transportation, housing, education and not address them in separate silos by different organizations. All of these issues are inter-related and as the White Paper suggests that it starts with housing.
Ms. Choby explained the next steps that will be taken:
- To assist the workforce investment system in understanding through this experience - how to continue to grow its mission; and
- To improve communications with people who are considering relocating here and developing a sophisticated website.
In wrapping up, Ms. Choby stated that the DFAS report illustrated what the county and/or region, is doing well and is not doing well, how interconnected all of the major issues are to each other, that economic development is the outgrowth of business and personal income growth, that community leaders need new ideas, and that housing is key to a region's attractiveness and that the way the area is organized around housing and housing issues is outdated and does not work.
Mayor Ken Patton requested that the slides and other information provided today be sent to the Cuyahoga County Mayors and Managers Association for further discussion. Mr. Shannon suggested that the information be sent to the First Ring Suburbs Consortium.
Mayor Eileen Patton stated that housing impacts all of us and that perhaps by comprehensively addressing housing it would help to reframe the school funding issue.
Mr. Alsenas stated that the staff wanted to briefly discuss the state policy agenda because of the new state leadership.
Mr. Shannon spoke about the recent collaborations taking place between northeast Ohio counties and communities. Mr. Shannon reported that a group of elected officials from around the region have been meeting to find common themes and determine the legislative priorities for cities and counties.
RESOLUTIONS
General
On a motion by Mayor Kelley, seconded by Mayor Ken Patton, Resolution No. 061116-A,
authorizing a contractual arrangement for planning services with the Village of Orange,
was unanimously approved.
On a motion by Mr. Cantor, seconded by Mayor Ken Patton, Resolution No. 061116-B, authorizing the execution of an agreement with Spatial Insights, Inc. for the web-based Brownfields Geographic System in an amount not to exceed $34,300.00, was unanimously approved.
On a motion by Mayor Ken Patton, seconded by Mayor Kelley, Resolution No. 061116-C, approving an amendment to the amount and the term of the contract with Currere, Inc. for consulting services to assist in the formation of Cuyahoga Valley Organization, was unanimously approved.
On a motion by Mayor Eileen Patton, seconded by Mayor Ken Patton, Resolution No. 061116-D, approving a contract with thunder:tech for the design of the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative website, was unanimously approved.
Olmsted Township
On a motion by Mayor Kelley, seconded by Mayor Ken Patton Resolution No. 061116-E,
approving the Final Easement Plat for Arbors at Olmsted, Phases 1 and 2, located in
Olmsted Township, was unanimously approved.
On a motion by Mayor Ken Patton, seconded by Mayor Kelley, Resolution No. 061116-F, approving the Final Plat for Galway Bay Subdivision, Phase 2, located in Olmsted Township, was unanimously approved.
SOLID WASTE DISTRICT REPORT
Mr. Holland reported that the Plan Update has been approved by the Director of the Ohio
Environmental Protection Agency.
Mr. Holland reported on a new issue that has come to the forefront regarding recycling. He reported that on November 4, 2006, the Stark/Tuscarawas/Wayne Solid Waste Policy Committee, which hosts three large landfills that receive about 60% of Cuyahoga County waste, adopted a rule that requires any county bringing waste to one of these landfills to meet the recycling standards that the Stark/Tuscarawas/Wayne district is achieving or they will not be permitted to use these landfills.
Mr. Holland stated that this policy is a result of the complaints public officials in these counties have been getting from residents that live around the landfills about the number of waste-hauling trucks that are using county roads and creating traffic congestion, noise and poor road conditions. Mr. Holland stated that if the Stark/Tuscarawas/Wayne District pursues enforcement that the National Solid Waste Association may sue and more than likely win in court. Mr. Holland explained that he brought this issue up because of the true economic benefits that are achieved through recycling and that the Policy Committee has a responsibility as a client of the Stark/Tuscarawas/Wayne district to be good clients.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Ms. Aveni reported that she attended the National Brownfields Conference in Boston, MA,
where the keynote speaker, Michael Porter, spoke of the importance of cities despite
their problems and burdens.
Mr. Peter Greisinger urged the CPC members to review the booklet that he provided them: "The Vital Center: a Federal State Compact to Renew the Great Lakes Region."
ADJOURNMENT
Mr. Smock adjourned the meeting on motion presented by Mayor Kelley and seconded by
Mayor Ken Patton.
Attachment A
Cuyahoga County Planning Commission/Solid Waste Policy Committee
| November 16, 2006 ATTENDANCE RECORD | |
|---|---|
| Member | Present |
| Mayor Robert Blomquist | No |
| Mr. Robert Brown for Mayor Jackson | Yes - represented by Mr. Cantor |
| Commissioner Jimmy Dimora | Yes - represented by Mr. Smock |
| Mayor Merle Gorden | No |
| Commissioner Timothy Hagan | Yes - represented by Mr. Hayes |
| Mayor Jerry Hruby | No |
| Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones | Yes - represented by Mr. Shannon |
| Mayor Edward Kelley | Yes |
| Mayor Thomas Longo | No |
| Mayor Eileen Patton | Yes |
| Mayor Kenneth Patton | Yes |
| SOLID WASTE POLICY COMMITTEE | |
| Ms. Virginia Aveni | Yes |
| Mr. Jack Licate | No |
| Others: Paul Alsenas, Chris Alvarado, John DeMuth, Patrick Holland, Kristin Hopkins | |
