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Planning Commission – 12-13-2022

Meeting:  December 12, 2022 at 7:30 am Geauga County Administration Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Chardon, OH 44024.  This meeting was in person with no virtual option.

Board Attendance: Present were Dennis Bergansky, Walter (Skip) Claypool, Caterina Cocca-Fulton (chair), James McCaskey, Dan Miller, John Oros and Gary Neola.  Nick Gorris was absent as were Geauga County Commissioners Dvorak, Lennon and Spidalieri.

Staff Attendance:  Linda Crombie, Planning Director, Allyson Kobus, Planner II and Pamela Irizarry, Administrative Assistant

Minutes: The minutes from November 8 2022 were approved. As of 12/18, approved minutes are available online through Oct 25, 2022.

Financial report and approval of expenses - approved

There is a balance of $24,470.45; Expenses were approved.

Director’s Report

• GIS Day at Lakeland was successful.  There were a lot of college students and they were interested in internships.  Ms. Crombie stated that she wanted to add a summer internship in the 2024 budget.  Several members inquired as to why they couldn’t put it in this year.  Ms. Crombie stated that since it was not in the 2023 approved budget they would need to ask the Commissioners for a supplemental amount to cover the expense.  She anticipated that the pay would be $10/hour. No action taken

• Township Association Meeting – Ms. Crombie stated that there was a motivational speaker who presented on friendliness and public service.

• State of Education Partnerships with Superintendents from the County and Auburn Career Center.  There was a brief overview of the importance of career exploration for all grade levels

• 2023 Meeting Dates – These will be posted soon as well as the Directory of public officials

• Activity – 1 new building lot (lot split in Troy Township); Year to date there have been three major commercial projects – two in Middlefield and one in Chesterland.  Mr. McCaskey asked about the updated strip mall in Newbury, which was not included as major new construction because it was a renovation.  He asked (and others concurred) that it would be good for the Board to get a report on all demolitions and remodels as well.  Mr. Claypool spoke about the controversy at Bremecs in Chesterland regarding the brightness of their sign.

• Census Bureau – there is an employment opportunity for anyone interested in a position that would be working on the American Housing Survey.  Pay is $14/hour.

• Staff work for the month:  95 total; 17 lot splits, 76 inquiries.  There were no text amendments.  There were questions answered from Bainbridge, Chester, Claridon (they are looking to update their Land Use Plan); Middlefield (looking for information on the Amish population) and Newbury.

• Reference to the Land Use Plan occurred once in a request from Geauga Soil and Water

Old Business

NOACA/CEDS – The Board reviewed a memorandum (draft is available at the end of this report).  This memorandum will be submitted with a few minor changes to the Board of County Commissioners and asks the Commissioners to withdraw from the NOACA/CEDS planning process.  

• It was stated by Ms. Crombie that at least one other county (Medina) is utilizing their own CEDS.  

• Mr. Claypool said that he wants the Planning Commission to recommend that the County leave NOACA and will be presenting material within the next couple months to the Planning Commission.  He stated that NOACA has started a new initiative in which they focus on climate change and that they are using a UN sub-group for guidance which is a Marxist one.  

The memorandum in question is just for the CEDS at this point.  All voted in favor of sending this memorandum to the Commissioners with a few changes (not listed in the draft below).

Pay Grade Update

There was a long discussion on updating the pay grade for Planner II position and all positions.  Ms. Crombie is working on material to present regarding all possible positions and what paygrade would be recommended.  She stated that the Planning Commission Policy and Procedure Manual uses pay grades rather than pay ranges.  Mr. Claypool objected to the use of pay grades as they are “a union approach” but wanted to use pay ranges, similar to JFS (Job and Family Services).  Ms. Crombie stated that this would necessitate changing the Policy and Procedure Manual and it was suggested that this should be  reviewed at the next meeting.  The discussion of the pay range and/or grade for Planner II (currently being filled by Allyson Kobus) has been ongoing since the summer.  No resolution occurred at this meeting.

Model Zoning 1002.5 – new language for this section was approved by the Board and will be sent to Townships.  The wording will make clear that the Zoning Board of Appeals (BZA) can put conditions on variances but that they must be directly related to the variance. See pg 102: https://co.geauga.oh.us/Portals/0/resources/County%20Documents/planning%20commission/ModelTwpZoningResolution-2022-v2.pdf

Prior language was “reasonably related”.

New Business

County Subdivision Regulations Update – Easements – approved 

Ms. Crombie stated that at present the Planning Commission must review all easements from ODOT, Electrical and Gas (a combined total for these is 72), and conservation and agricultural easements.  

• She stated that the utility easements and ODOT are time consuming and serve no clear planning purpose.  

• Occasionally there are easements granted for private driveways that, in effect, circumvent zoning regulations by giving a landlocked property the ability to have access.  

• She stated that these should be blocked by the Zoning board (except Middlefield Township which has no zoning).  

• Mr. Claypool offered an opinion that all conservation easements should be denied.  (Observer Note:  In a follow up conversation with Ms. Crombie, this observer was able to confirm that the Planning Commission has no authority to block or deny a conservation easement.) 

At the next meeting conservation easements for the past month (8-9) will be reviewed. 

Geauga County General Plan Review – Ms. Crombie stated that a major review will occur in 2026 but that it is their intention to keep updating.  No vote taken but the following changes will be made:

• Urbanize areas should be urban clusters

• The wording describing the total number of conservation easements and comparing to the size of townships was confusing and will be updated.

• A description in the Amish section should refer to scooters and not bicycles

• The Economic Development Plan page needs to be updated.

Credit Card Request – Board approved the use of credit cards

Housing Inventory Update – Ms. Crombie stated that staff is working on this as time permits.  They have had conversations with city of Chardon, which has an apartment list and have been generating information through a review of the auditor’s listing of duplex/triplex and assisted living

I
nfo Sheet Series Update – a new Info sheet regarding lot splits was presented and is almost complete.  The Board complemented staff on the work and looked forward to seeing this finalized and posted.

Model Zoning Section 401.0(A) – There was a long discussion about this section and how it needs to be updated to be in line with the Ohio 11th District Court ruling in Jones v. Auburn Twp. Bd. of Zoning Appeals, 2012-Ohio-6124.  The language in question is that any use not listed shall be prohibited.  See Model Zoning page 34. 

The case holding was clear that a Zoning Board cannot use the language (which is currently in the Model Zoning) that states that “if use is not listed it is prohibited”.  There can be no blanket prohibition.  If a use is prohibited it has to be listed or language such as “substantially similar in impact to a prohibited use” must be used.  The Board will continue to work on this section.

Biden 30 x 30 Plan – Mr. Claypool alerted members to the Biden 30x30 plan which he stated would allow the taking of 30% of all private property.  The details of this Executive order can be found here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/biden-commits-to-30-by-2030-conservation-executive-orders

This is a paragraph from the article: Currently, the federal government owns about 640 million acres of land, about 28 percent of all the land in the U.S. But most of it isn’t managed in a way that meets the 30 by 30 standard, in part because resources are regularly extracted from a lot of it. Fossil fuels extracted from federal lands and U.S. waters contribute nearly a quarter of the country’s carbon dioxide emissions. Biden’s executive order also places a moratorium on all new federal oil and gas leases; existing leases are not expected to be impacted. But a drilling ban alone is not enough to convert land into a biodiversity haven, advocates say.

Chair resigns – Ms. Caterina Cocca-Fulton (chair), announced that she is stepping down from the chair position as of January 1st.  She did decide to ask the Commissioners to re-appoint her to a term on the Planning Commission.  Observer Note:  According to Ms. Crombie there are three positions that are up for re-appointment (or new appointment).  Ms Cocca-Fulton, Mr. McCaskey and Mr. Neola.

Draft Memorandum: As referenced earlier in this Observer Report, the Board approved sending this memorandum to the County Commissioners, with minor edits:

Draft Memorandum regarding NOACA/CEDS

11/3/2022

To: Ralph Spidalieri

Tim Lennon

Jim Dvorak

From: Geauga County Planning Commission

Subject: Geauga County Economic Development and NOACA/CEDS

Dear County Commissioners,

At the October 13th Geauga County Planning Commission meeting there was a discussion about the NOACA Community & Economic Development initiative and its impacts on Geauga County. Based on this discussion a motion was made to ask the County Commissioners to end any and all involvement with the NOACA led CEDS initiative. And, to limit all government led initiatives to the Geauga County economic development office. The motion passed unanimously with one abstention.

As discussed, the primary reasons for Geauga County to lead all economic development activity separate of the NOACA/CEDS has do to with the potential harm that may result from any ongoing alignment with the NOACA policies as documented in the “Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy 2023-2028.” The following outlines a few of the many detrimental factors that were considered:

• NOACA is primarily a transportation planning organization and claims responsibility for air quality and walter quality planning. Its charter was narrowly tailored, but we believe it is overreaching its charter. Further, Geauga County has an Economic Development department.

• the NOACA/CEDS organization is controlled by Cleveland and Cuyahoga County by virtue of the number of seats held on the board.

• We believe that NOACA/CEDS board does NOT understand rural communities’ values, but focuses on Cleveland/Cuyahoga centric priorities and solutions. Its planning bias is Urban focused.

• The cultures of Geauga County and Cuyahoga County are different, and our goals and objectives are very different.

• The key economic drivers and underlining principles are very different for Geauga County and NOACA/CEDS.

• The NOACA/CEDS efforts are counter to the best interest of Geauga County because it pushes urban based approaches or principles throughout the region which is against Geauga County General Plan (2021).

• Many of the organizations serving as resources for the strategies developed have questionable records of success and do not align with Geauga County objectives.

• The data and metrics in the strategy document are suspect at best (e.g.; the use of eNEO2050 data).

The Geauga County Planning Commission has broad visibility of Geauga County property and economic development activity. We have a statutory responsibility for protecting the interests of Geauga County residents. In our opinion any ongoing involvement with NOACA/CEDS would be detrimental to the interests of Geauga County Citizens.

Sincerely,

Caterina Cocca-Fulton

Chairman of the Geauga County Planning Commission Board

Next meeting:  January 10, 2023 at 7:30 am.

More Information about the Geauga Planning Commission is available online.

Name of Observer:  Gail Roussey

Reviewer: Shelly Lewis

Submitted 12/16/2022

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