08/03/1999 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Council Minutes of 8/3/99 this gentleman who is 83 years old. There are some nice things that happen in North Olmsted. Joe Bouman, 23950 Gessner Road, spoke about his concerns regarding the dangerous and unsightly above-ground retention in his neighborhood. He noted that on W. 231 Street some of the residents have opted to put pipes in their ditches and the city has been good enough to do the labor for free. He follows these issues carefully and does not remember that W. 231` was going to have this treatment as part of the paving. He would like an answer as to how it is being done as it sounds like the solution to the problem on his street which is in the process of being paved. Service Director Bohlmann answered that W. 231` Street was a city funded project, and the enclosure of the ditches was included in that project. The paving of the street is funded under slab repair, and the enclosing of the open ditches is being completed in-house. Gessner Road is a county project, and the city's share is 20% of the cost. The residents on W. 231` are getting their culverts filled or fixed, but the residents on Gessner are going to get their sidewalks repaired. The answer to the question of whether we can look into culverting the ditches on Gessner Road is yes. Part of them were already covered when Woodside Drive was done several years ago. One of the reasons the city hesitated at the time to cover the remaining ditches was because of some serious flooding in that area, which has now been abated. We will not be able to do this project this year, but we can look at it for next year. Leonard James, 5414 Sunset Oval, attended the meeting regarding the Park-n-Ride and feels the general consensus of the residents was that they do not want it in that area. He does not believe anyone did real planning to find the best place. He does not think it is a good idea to put buses up and down Great Northern Boulevard which is already a busy street. He asked that a search be conducted to find another site as he does not believe rezoning Class A Residential property for aPark-n-Ride is a good idea when the city already has an abundance of commercial property that is undeveloped. Mayor Musial commented that RTA did conduct a study of various sites. For example, they looked at Great Northern Shopping Center. The problem there is they could not get an agreement from the owners of the shopping center. He personally had some discussions with the owners of the shopping center a year or so ago about having a tri-level garage built in that area but has not had a favorable response. As mentioned, RTA has looked at other sites and has chosen this area as the most appropriate. He does not believe that Class A housing will go into that area because of its location overlooking the freeway and commercial area. Also, there is the fear that the property owners/developer can take the city to court and put in a commercial structure there. The question is do we prefer to have aPark-n-Ride there whereby we can control it or do we want a commercial structure there? Mr. James said that the residents would rather it not be commercial at all. He hopes that the city will back them up when they say they prefer homes to be built on the site. He does not believe it is a good area for aPark-n-Ride or for a commercial facility. Law Director Gareau stated that, when he recently met with RTA, the issue of the Park-n- Ride came up. One of the criteria that they have established was that it has to be central to the city otherwise people will not use it. So, the area they zeroed in on is around Great Northern Mall. 8 ,~,.~.,