Planning Commission –June 13, 2023
Meeting: The Geauga Planning Commission met in regular session on June 13, 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, public comment could be permitted at the Chair’s prerogative.
Board Attendance: Present were Chair John Oros as well as members Dennis Bergansky, Walter (Skip) Claypool, Caterina Cocca-Fulton, Jim McCaskey,(5 minutes late), Dan Miller, and Gary Neola. Nick Gorris was absent as well as Commissioners Dvorak, Lennon and Spidalieri.
Staff Attendance: Linda Crombie, Planning Director, Allyson Kobus, Planner II, and Pamela Irizarry, Administrative Assistant.
Minutes: The minutes from the May 9, 2023 meeting were approved. As of June 13, 2023 minutes are available online through May 9, 2023.
Financial Report and Approval of Expenses
Expenses year to date have been $84,734.51. Balance in the General Fund is $119,215.49
Director’s Report
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Lot Splits - 5 in May. Year to date there have been 7 minor lot splits, 14 large lot splits with 2 over 20 acres. The five in May were Chardon, Claridon, and large lot splits in Middlefield, Troy and Bainbridge.
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Claridon Land Use Plan Update - The Director has attended meetings. The staff is committed to help with this land Use Plan Update. There was a general discussion about assisting townships with a description that there might be levels of need - low (just prepare maps and minor oversight), medium (prepare maps and more extensive guidance),and High (attend meetings, extensive oversight). Whether the staff could assist would b e based on the level of need and staff availability. It appears that Claridon will be medium-high, but the staff has the time right now to assist, Claridon is still working on getting a citizen committee organized.
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HB 501 - passed last year, concerns solar (under 50 megawatts) and would permit townships to regulate. There is now language in Model Zoning which staff will use to change Geauga Model Zoning.
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2020 Census - More information is coming in regarding age data. One of the goals of the Comprehensive Land Use Plan was to determine senior housing needs. Ms. Crombie met with the Director for Office on Aging. Staff reached out to the Ohio Department of Development for help with projections for individual townships/municipalities. Mr. Claypool led a lengthy discussion about projections and questioned their validity. Ms. Crombie said that they don’t want to do the projections and if the Ohio Department of Development is unable to provide them, they will turn it back to the Office on Aging.
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Bainbridge Township has started a Land Use Plan update. They sent out an RFP (Request for Proposals) for a consultant to assist with their effort. Mr. Neola questions whether this was something that the Planning staff could or should undertake. Ms. Coco-Fulton said it could generate income. Ms. Crombie said that they don’t have a scaled rate for services and would have to adopt a policy. In the past this work has been done with no charge.
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Ohio Township Association - They put out a document for providing funding for townships/municipalities that are updating their Land Use Plan. Mr.Claypool offered an opinion that townships are flush with money and don’t need any more money.
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Commercial Construction in May - 1 in Auburn and 1 in Middlefield. At the next meeting there will be a map for all commercial construction for the year so far.
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Northeast Ohio Planning and Zoning Workshop - Crombie and Korbu attend the workshop.
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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. There was some discussion of several other elements introduced into this bill but not clear how the Ohio Senate will proceed. They concern Zoning change petitions, which had a requirement of 8% of voters signing and the amendment would make that 25%. The second one was a Residential Development property tax exemption which would be available for up to 8 years and as currently written would be if the developer put in improvements in sidewalks, sever and/or water.
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GIS Group - Korvus presented on ArcGis which is a cloud based program which looks like a website that citizens can utilize to get information on ongoing issues. After the particular project is complete the information is taken down. Mr. Claypool cautioned that they needed to be careful about records retention. Ms. Korbus said that the material doesn’t disappear, it is still accessible to staff as needed.
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Ms. Crombie said that the logo has been used in email correspondence.
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Work Summary - Referred to the General Plan 3 times;
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GIS symposium - 2 days virtual with ODOT, and Lakeland. It concerned reforestation and restoration.
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Crombie said that she received a request from the Northeast Farm Bureau (Ashtabula, Lake Geauga, Trumbull) for a letter of support for a grant to provide education regarding broadband. Ms. Crombie said that increasing rural broadband was in the Comprehensive Land Use Update. Mr. Claypool objected because he said the beneficiaries would be for-profit companies. Mr. Oros and Mr. Neola agreed with him. Ms. Fulton said she thought education would be beneficial. There was no vote.
Reviewer Comment: During their June 15, 2023 Meeting, the County Commissioners approved and executed a letter of support for the Northeast Counties Farm Bureau (Ashtabula, Lake, Geauga and Trumbull) for a grant application through Broadband Ohio and the Ohio Department of Development.
Claypool said that NOACA is going to re-open public input on the proposed climate change initiative and that they have hired a consultant to assist with public engagement. In his opinion, NOACA will tell the consultant what they want to hear and the consultant will produce that result. Mr. Claypool announced that he made a presentation on this topic to the Lake County Commissioners. His preference is to form a new planning agency and leave NOACA. He reported that there were 50 people at the NOACA meeting. He said that due to their appearance at these meetings two changes in public comment have been made. Individuals can now comment on Agenda items and non-Agenda items. Comments can now be up to 3 minutes. Mr.Claypool made a comment that NOACA hired a consultant for $1.7 million to track traffic in and out of Cleveland. He expressed skepticism about this project and how it would be accomplished. He also stated that Medina and Lorain County officials are now standing up and asking that the “other side of climate change” be presented.
Mr. Claypool stated that, “There has been no data presented to show that climate change exists. When you look at the data, it falls apart.”
Other Business - none
Major Subdivisions - none
Township Zoning Amendments to be reviewed - none
Correspondence -
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Geauga Growth Partnership - Ms. Kim Leininger, Director, spoke about Geauga Growth Partnership. Ms. Crombie introduced her by talking about the INFO sheets. Ms. Leininger talked about the mission of her non-profit to encourage business development and to listen to the concerns of business owners. She said that they typically visit 50 business owners a year but this year they are on track to visit 75. She said that there is a lot of confusion about zoning laws and her suggestion to Ms. Crombie and the Board was that Geauga Growth Partnership could produce a series of short videos about the zoning process for businesses. Mr. Claypool asked if the organization could help mediate between business owners and zoning boards. She said that she does see that as a potential role. Mr. Oros said that he thought it was good to collaborate.
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Quarterly Postage Report - The County and Planning Commission are both spending a lot less on postage.
Old Business
INFO Sheet - Approvals for 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. Ms. Crombie has asked various groups like Soil and Water and Water Resources to review and make any suggestions they think are necessary. She is waiting to hear back from Water Resources.
New Business
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Executive Session - Performance Evaluations (8:39 - 9:20 am)
No action taken following the Executive Session. Ms. Coca-Fulton left the meeting. There was still a quorum present,
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Subdivision Regulations Update (Article 1 - General Provisions)
Ms. Crombie stated that last year they had talked about updating these regulations which haven’t been updated since 2010. She will have a red line version for the Board to consider, but at this meeting she wanted to discuss just the first section, General Provisions. One part of this is the Thoroughfare Plan which hasn’t been updated since 1989. Here is a link to the current Subdivision Regulations. The current Thoroughfare Plan lists roads by category of arterial, collector and local. Crombie said they could add any of the following: Type of Material, Weight limit, Location of highway departments, Definition of infrastructure terminology, inset maps of densely populated areas, major waterways and major trails. It was decided not to include weight limit, and to add buggy lanes. Mr. Claypool asked that they include “federalized highways” as these have funding implications. He also thought that NOACA would have such a map.
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INFO Sheet - Text/Map Amendments - This INFO sheet will provide subtitles and more understandable language than the Ohio Model regarding the 16 steps of the process. The language will also be tailored to Geauga County. The Prosecutor’s office has reviewed the draft and had a few suggestions that have been incorporated into the INFO sheet. Neola said this looked very helpful. There was no vote on this.
Meeting adjourned at 9:43 am
Public Comment - not on the Agenda, none solicited or given.
Next meeting: July 11, 2023 at 7:30 am.
More Information about the Geauga Planning Commission is available online.
Name of Observer: Gail Roussey
Reviewer: Shelly Lewis
Submitted: 6/15/2023
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