02/18/1997 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 2/18/97 Crocker/Steams extension or to consider advancing the project due to its importance for ;~~~ the people of North Olmsted and the surrounding communities. The committee vote was split with two members recommending passage of the legislation and one member against. Since this meeting, the ordinance has been amended by deleting the request for advancement of the project. However, Mr. McKay was unsure if the legislation was amended to remove the verbiage referring to the benefit to surrounding communities. Mr. O'Grady commented that it had been decided to remove that verbiage during this evening's caucus. Mr. Limpert stated that the legislation could be verbally amended before the vote, and Mr. Gareau agreed. Mr. O'Grady said that the question before Council is verbiage inside the ordinance. We have been told up front that there is no possibility that the project will be moved up on the schedule, therefore, the language dealing with that has been removed The portions of the ordinance that are now being questioned are those relating to the mention of "surrounding communities." Mr. O'Grady said his feeling is either it is right for North Olmsted or it is wrong. If it is right for North Olmsted, there is no damage in the fact that it also happens to be right for surrounding communities. He does not feel it would hurt us to point out that it's also a benefit to our neighbors as well as ourselves. However, if this is a point that would force Council members to not vote for the ordinance, it is not significant and he would not object to removing that verbiage. Mr. Limpert, who is a co-sponsor of the legislation, said he was in complete agreement with Mr. O'Grady. However, because some people do have a problem with the verbiage he suggested that it be removed so that the legislation can be passed unanimously. Mr. Nashar said he had recently been in contact with the County Engineer's office and had been told that the project is still a "go project" and is on schedule to be started in 1999 or 2000. The primary hold-up is the wetlands issue, which NOACA is addressing. Mr. Nashar feels that the project will not be of great benefit to North Olmsted as it will greatly impact the residents who live on Stearns Road and in the Pheasants Walk development. He would prefer that the reference to other communities be removed from the legislation. Mr. O'Grady commented that he felt the Forest Ridge development would benefit from this extension more than any other development in the city. Also, he feels that residents living on other streets such as the Berkshire area, the West Park area, Porter Road, Barton/Bradley and the Hastings area will benefit because of the volume of cut-through traffic in those areas. Mr. O'Grady noted that this issue had gone before the voters on two occasions. Mr. McKay commented that the voters had defeated the proposal the first time but it was passed on the second vote. Mr. Gareau noted that the vote had been an initiated ordinance. Although it can be repealed by a vote of Council, he did not think that Council wished to do so. Mr. Nashar said he was not in favor of expediting the Crocker/Steams extension. The county has said that it is on schedule, and that is how he would like to leave it. He is not against the proposal for the rest of the city. Mr. Musial said that the words in Section 1, "and the citizens of surrounding communities," were out of place and proposed that those words be removed. Mr. Musial made a motion to amend Resolution 97-12 by removing any reference to the benefit to surrounding communities. The legislation will be amended in three areas: 1. In the title the words, "...and all surrounding communities" will be removed; 2. In the second Whereas the words, "...of the western suburbs in Cuyahoga County" will be removed and "E replaced with "...of North Olmsted"; 3. In Section 1 the words, "...and the citizens of 5 ri~_, ... ~~..,. t