Planning Commission – January 9, 2024
Meeting: The Geauga Planning Commission met in Regular Session on January 9, 2024 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. Observer Note: The website presents the minutes and meeting dates, and the agenda is included in that section.
Public Comment Policy: No formal policy but in practice, public comment could be permitted at the Chair’s prerogative. However, this does not happen. No public comment is solicited or offered.
Board Attendance: Present were Chair Pro-tem Nick Gorris (later voted in as the Chair), as well as Members Dennis Bergansky, Walter (Skip) Claypool, Jim McCaskey, and Gary Neola. Caterina Cocca-Fulton, Dan Millerand, and Commissioners Timothy Lennon, James Dvorak and Ralph Spidalieri were all absent. There is one vacancy on the Board. Information on how to apply can be found here.
Staff Attendance: Linda Crombie, Planning Director, Allyson Kobus, Planner II. Pamela Irizarry, Administrative Assistant was absent.
Others Attending: Shortly before the meeting ended, one member of the public came in. No members of the press were present.
Minutes - Minutes are available online here Scroll down until the section on Minutes and Agendas.
Pledge of Allegiance, Roll Call
Election of Officers - all elected unanimously
Approval of Minutes - Minutes for December 12, 2023 meeting were approved.
Approval of Agenda/Addendum Items - Approved with the following changes: Chester Township Text Amendment removed at the request of Chester Township; 2024 Meeting Calendar and holiday schedule were added at the request of the Director.
Financial Report and Approval of Expenses - Approved
Beginning Balance: $243,710
Director announced that at the February meeting, there will be a complete report of 2023 expenses.
$774.86 was carried over to pay for supplies purchased in 2023.
Director’s Report
Two new buildable commercial projects for February - in Thompson and Parkman.
Director Crombie stated that she would present a complete report of 2023 commercial building projects at the February meeting.
Director announced the open position on the Planning Commission and that the application is available on the Commissioner’s website.
Director worked with Claridon Township on their Land Use Plan for only three hours in December. Observer Note: The amount of time staff has spent on assisting Claridon Township with their Land Use Plan Update has been a topic of discussion at prior meetings. Typically the staff would have spent more time on this endeavor.
Director met with the Soil and Water district and townships for a planning session.
Director met with Thompson Township Trustees regarding what services could be provided by the Geauga Planning Department. They will get started in the third quarter of 2024.
Director attended the Township Association meeting and attended on-line training through the Ohio Attorney General’s office.
Work Summary:
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19 lots splits
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Referred to the General Plan three times in December
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Two significant additions - one in Burton township and the courthouse in Chardon
Other Business: None
Major subdivisions to be Reviewed - None
Township Zoning Amendments to be Reviewed:
Munson Township; Map Amendment 2023-02; Initiated December 13, 2023 by the Zoning Commission. There were seven parcels, currently zoned institutional; they want to rezone to R-1. There are private septic and wells. Approved.
Bainbridge Township Text Amendment Z-2023-2; Initiated December 26, 2023 by Zoning Commission. This was approved with suggested changes and recommendation to refer to APA (Assistant Prosecuting Attorney).
The following issues were noted:
First Paragraph of Text Amendment - Director recommends this be referred to their APA (Assistant Prosecuting Attorney), because the word “morals” is no longer included in ORC. This Amendment cited “For health, safety and Morals”
The second section that the Director recommended should be reviewed was the section regarding Conditional Use. The question raised was whether the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) can revoke a conditional use. Director stated that the proper way to do this is have the Zoning Inspector issue a notice of violation and then file for an injunction. Recommend referral to APA for review.
Third section regarding added alternates for the Zoning Commission was fine.
Correspondence - None
Old Business - None
New Business
Mileage Reimbursement - approved to raise to new IRS approved rate of $0.67/mile
Department Accomplishments and Goals
2023 Accomplishments
1. County Subdivision Regulations Update; Reviewed Articles I, II, and III. The Thoroughfare Plan Map was updated.
2. County Model Zoning Resolution Update; Reviewed draft of small solar facilities.
3. County Land Use Map Update; Decided upon changes to methodology.
4. Housing Inventory; Decided to assign this project to the intern in 2024.
5. Series of Information Sheets
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How Do I Split My Property? (April)
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What Approvals Do I Need for a New Home? (July)
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How Do I File A Zoning Amendment? (July)
6. Conservation Easement mapping; Updated map with four (4) new easements.
7. Continued use and advancement of Graphic Information Systems (GIS); ArcOnline and ArcPro used extensively this year to perform GIS functions.
8. Directory of Public Officials; Made updates based upon all new public officials, retirees, etc.
9. Township Land Use Plan; Claridon Township update started in May.
10. Planning Commission Webpage Update - Made ongoing updates as needed to the newly formatted website.
11. Census Data; Analysis of additional population data released in September.
12. Staff Training - Staff attended numerous work related and general employee training.
13. Standard Operating Procedures Manual - Significant work performed on sections related to financials.
14. Interdepartmental Collaboration - Continue to assist and collaborate with other county offices including Geauga Public Health and the Department of Water Resources.
15. Credit Card - Started process to apply for credit card.
16. Housekeeping/Inventory - Various inventories were prepared for the previous year (2022) of all assets (furniture, supplies, etc.)
17. 2023 Northeast Ohio Planning and Zoning Workshop - Attended the workshop held in Kent (Portage County) and staff assisted with audio/visual during several presentations.
18. New Compensation Plan/Salary Schedule - The Commission implemented changes to the new Classification and Compensation Plan/Salary Schedule.
19. Guide to Updating a Township Land Use Plan - A draft guide was created that will assist townships with understanding the ‘in the weeds” detail of performing a significant update of their land use plan.
Items #17 and #18 were not planned goals for 2023 but were added later.
2024 Goals
1. County Subdivision Regulations Update - Complete edits to the Subdivision Regulations, hold required public hearings, and produce a final document.
2. County Model Zoning Resolution Update - Continue review of the Model Zoning Resolution for statutory updates, additional sections, deletions, re-wording, or formatting related issues.
3. County Land Use Map Update - Update the map based upon 2023 imagery implementing the new methodology.
4. Housing Inventory - Intern to work on the Housing Inventory and other assigned tasks.
5. Info Sheet Series - Work on creating at least two new info sheets from the following topics. Topics, as listed by the Director could be:
a. What is a Land Use Plan?
b. Agriculture (ORC 519.02, 519.21, agritourism)
c. Zoning: Permitted Uses, Accessory Uses, Prohibited Uses, Conditional Uses, Non-conforming Uses.
d. Role of various forms of township government (responsibilities of Trustees, ZC, BZA, Zoning Inspector, etc.)
e. Difference between property zoning and property taxes (incorporate zoning map and property class codes). Example: “commercial” property class code (assigned by the Auditor for taxation purposes) does not mean the property is zoned commercial.
Note: The Director said that she will concentrate on at least two of these. Mr. McCaskey said that he was interested in the Agritourism question.
f. Create a listing of the many different local, state and federal plans organized by topic to show just how many groups prepare plans to guide certain issues: county general plan, township land use plans, municipal plans, NOACA plans, farmland preservation plans, park plans, infrastructure plans, ODOT Drive Ohio plan, ODOT Amish Safety Study, etc. and how they impact local communities. The Director titled this potential Update as “Plans! Plans! Plans!”
g. Alternative energy (wind and solar)
6. Conservation Easement mapping and analysis
a. Continue to map any new conservation easements.
b. Perform analysis of changes in property taxes owed and assessed value for a sampling of properties containing a conservation or agricultural easement.
7. Create the Planning Commission’s 2025-2029 Five-Year Goal Timeline - The 2020-2024 Five-Year Goal Timeline will need to be updated for the next five years.
8. Guide to Updating a Township Land Use Plan - Complete the above-referenced document to assist townships who may want to update their land use plan.
9. Standard Operating Procedures Manual - Continue work on the SOP Manual for presentation of a draft in early 2024.
10. Directory of Public Officials - Update accordingly based upon results of November 2023 election, retirements, etc.
11. Policy and Procedure Manual - Rewrite of the current Policy and Procedure Manual so it is in a viable Word document for future.
12. Implement New Procedure to Assign Application Numbers - Instead of multiple application numbers being assigned to a lot split/consolidation project, one project number will be assigned to simplify data entry.
13. GIS (Geographic Information System) - Explore the free version of the Community Analyst software and determine if purchasing a yearly subscription/license is warranted.
Note: The Director said this will be presented at the February or March meeting.
14. Collaborate with Geauga Growth Partnership - Begin work on the zoning video series with Geauga Growth Partnership to assist local businesses.
15. Township Land Use Plan - Continue to assist Claridon Township and begin assisting Thompson Township.
16. Safety Team - Continued participation in the County’s Safety Team to discuss various safety measures
and resources to provide a safe and hazard free work environment.
17. Census of Agriculture (2022) - Analyze the 2022 Census of Agriculture data (to be released in February 2024).
18. Staff Training - Staff will continue to attend relevant seminars, webinars, and/or meetings.
19. Interdepartmental Collaboration - Assist and collaborate with various offices, when necessary, based upon staff time.
20. 2024 Northeast Ohio Planning and Zoning Workshop - Assist with the preparation of the above-referenced workshop as time permits. This is the smaller, local workshop that each county hosts every five years or so and is geared toward planning and zoning personnel from Geauga, Lake, Ashtabula, Trumbull, Portage, and Mahoning counties.
Establish Regular Meeting Dates
The board approved continuing the regular meeting day and time as the second Tuesday @ 7:30 am with one change in November. Meeting date will be November 14 (Thursday) due to the Veteran's Day holiday on Monday.
Meeting adjourned (8:31 am)
Next meeting: February 13 , 2024 at 7:30 am.
More Information about the Geauga Planning Commission is available online.
Observer: Gail Roussey
Editor: Anne Ondrey
Reviewer: Sarah McGlone
Submitted: 1/11/2024
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