Planning Commission –May 9, 2023
Meeting: The Geauga Planning Commission met in regular session on May 9, 2023 at 7:30 AM at the Geauga County Office Building, 12611 Ravenwood Drive, Chardon, OH 44024. This meeting was in person with no virtual option. The agenda was available online one week prior to the meeting.
Public Comment Policy: no formal policy but in practice, typically allows public comment or questions throughout the meeting at the Chair’s prerogative.
Board Attendance: Present were Commissioners James Dvorak and Chair John Oros as well as members Nick Gorris, Gary Neola, Caterina Cocca-Fulton, Dennis Bergansky, and Dan Miller. Walter (Skip) Claypool and Jim McCaskey were absent as well as Commissioners Lennon and Spidalieri.
Staff Attendance: Linda Crombie, Planning Director, Allyson Kobus, Planner II, and Pamela Irizarry, Administrative Assistant.
Minutes: The minutes from the April 11, 2023 meeting were approved. As of May 12, 2023 minutes are available online through April 11, 2023.
Financial Report and Approval of Expenses
Expenses year to date have been $62,999.68, This month they were $881.94 for membership, travel, copier, expert IT for Microsoft 365 updates. They had to open a new account for IT as the prior account was depleted. Balance in the General Fund is $140,950.32.
Director’s Report
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Lot Splits - 3 in April. Year to date there have been 5 minor lot splits, 13 large lot splits with 1 over 20 acres. There were 5 minor subdivisions year-to-date.
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The staff attended cybersecurity training which centered mainly on finances, payroll and HR
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The Website was tweaked. ADP is to add more links so that it is easier for residents to find things.
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Claridon Land Use Update - The Director will attend the next meeting on May 15th. Important to talk with trustees and the resident committee.
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Geauga Township Association - Staff attended and there was a speaker from Women Safe. The Association voted to have a booth at the Geauga County Fair and staff will be at one of the time slots.
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2024 Solar Eclipse - there is a link on the website now
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Legislative Update - HB33 - introduced, not passed yet, concerns hazardous material mitigation. There is a stipulation that in order to receive grant money for this the property impacted has to be restricted as open space in perpetuity. Observer Note: This is a large finance bill see analysis.
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Conservation Easements - 2 in April, both in Munson Township - one on Fowler’s Mill (35 acres, no building lots will remain) and one on Wilson Mills, east of Chester Twp (49 acres) there is a 6-½ acre building site and the potential of a 12-½ acre lot split if desired at a future date.
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Work Summary - Referred to the General Plan 4 times; Russell Amendment (see below)
Other Business - none
Major Subdivisions
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Tall Timbers Replat - Sublots 8,9, 10 & 11 in Bainbridge township will be increased as a landlocked property adjacent is being included in the sublots. There are no new sublots. One of the owners was present but there were no questions for him from the board. APPROVED.
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Punderson’s Lake Replat - Sublots 151, 152, 153, 154 in Newbury Township are being consolidated to create lot 151R. There are no new building lots. APPROVED.
Township Zoning Amendments - Bainbridge Township - Text Amendment Z 2023-01 Initiated April 25, 2023 by the Zoning Commission
This discussion was long and involved a lot of aspects of this Amendment. The Amendment was APPROVED with suggestions.
Chief discussion areas were:
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Conditional Uses - These get extinguished with the sale of the property. They also can end if the property owner doesn’t know and come back for a renewal Ms. Coco-Fulton expressed a preference to put the burden on the township to come back to the property owner and ask for a review, rather than to require the property owner to come back to the township. Mr. Gorris thought that with a time limit (2,3,4 or 5 years) it could give the township a chance to look at how the property is being used and whether the property owner is abiding by the conditional use. This issue will be raised with Bainbridge Township with the suggestion of considering no time limit.
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There were several places where the Director suggested (and Board agreed) style and formatting changes, putting things in alphabetical or more logical order.
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It was suggested that in the section on Cluster Development there should be setbacks listed.
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Permitted use (for public schools) was contrasted with conditional use (for parochial and private schools). It was suggested that they should be the same and Bainbridge should consult their attorney.
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Section that allowed adult and child day care in the professional office district mandated fixed hours, which appears to be contrary to a recent court case. It was suggested that this be reviewed by the Bainbridge attorney
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Outdoor dining section they added specifications about how far apart the tables should be, but staff felt (and Board concurred) that this is not a zoning issue but a health and safety issue
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Off Street parking - language is too vague
Correspondence - none
Old Business
Budget - Final Draft - The Director reported that due to the raises that were approved at the prior meeting, the budget for 2024 had to be adjusted. The total budget for 2024 is now $240,000.
Info Sheets - “What Do I need for a new home?”
Staff have been working on Info Sheets that can be available to Geauga residents and posted on the website. This one goes through the four major steps that are necessary if a property owner wants to build a new home. The four pieces of the puzzle listed in the Info Sheet are Zoning, Building Inspections (mechanical, electrical, plumbing, etc) Soil and Water and either Geauga Public Health or Water Resources. In particular it was stressed that building should not begin until zoning is approved, but residents don’t always know that and/or want to get started for various reasons.
Meeting adjourned at 8:31 am
Public Comment - not on the Agenda, none solicited or given.
Next meeting: June 13, 2023 at 7:30 am.
More Information about the Geauga Planning Commission is available online.
Name of Observer: Gail Roussey
Reviewer: Shelly Lewis
Submitted: 5/13/2023
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