02/21/1995 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Council Minutes of 2/21/95 ,,,~; have to make a decision by the end of February whether or not to fund the total cost of the ~~> moundmg. The consensus of the meeting was that there could possibly be funding for the moundmg and more time was needed to investigate. Mr. Nashar wrote a letter to Marty Gallito, the Chief Deputy Engineer for Cuyahoga County, requesting an extension of time on the decision until May of 1995. Because this is a safety issue, Mr. Nashar stated he is hopeful that a solution to resolve this problem can be found. In response to a question from Mayor Boyle, Mr. Nashar said that Congressman Hoke's representative has suggested the fundmg might be provided by the Metro Parks. Mayor Boyle said that he found it difficult to believe that the Cleveland Metro Parks would pay far mounding within the limits of the City of North Olmsted. Mayor Boyle explained that the administration has been researching poss~'ble funding for quite some time and had not received any advice from the Congressman's office on any type of fiindmg. He further explained that the federal legislation that could possibly provide the fiindmg had been interpreted by the Ohio Department of Transportation to not include moundmg unless it was used to abate noise. ODOT concluded that the noise barriers would provide sufficient noise abatement and refused to fund the cost of the moundmg. Former Congresswoman Oakar had felt that the law could have been re-interpreted, but Congressman Hoke said it could not. Other fiindmg sources, such as Issue 2 and CDBG, are either not available or do not apply to this area. Mayor Boyle said he felt Metro Parks would not fund this project and he disliked the fact that empty promises were being made to the residents. He has been looking for funding sources for five years and does not know of any source of funds that will put up the mounding, especially in light of ODOT's study that stated the noise barriers would provide sufficient noise abatement. If Council does wait until May to make this decision, it will be after the appropriations have been completed. He also noted that Congressman Hoke had suggested special assessments as a fiindmg method. Mr. Nashar said the residents had rejected this idea as being too costly. Mayor Boyle agreed he did not believe that would be the proper method--it should be funded as a community. Although construction on this project will not begin until 1999, the Mayor explained the timetable for preparation actually begins this year. The land acquisition is a two-year process and must be started by 1995 to be completed in 1998. Therefore, the engineering must be done in 1995. Mounding will require the acquisition of more land, and the County Engineer has to know how much land is needed before the engineering can begin. Mr. Limpert commented that he hoped the Council and administration would look for fitndmg for any available areas. Mayor Boyle replied that the administration had been endeavoring to do that for the past five years. He has concluded that there is no other funding source available, and everyone has suggested that it must be funded by the city or the residents themselves. The Mayor feels the residents are being strung along with false promises and is concerned that the residents on the south side are being ignored. Mr. Nashar said he would like to wait out the ninety day extension to see if funds can be obtained. 5 I