10/02/2001 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 10/2/2001 :, road was not shown. It would have cost about $1 million. The Lorain Road and Claque ~~ Road four-lane intersection will be completed by the county next year. He feels the Wazd 2 residents have been punished for rejecting the "monstrosity" plan, but they were never shown the second plan. And Howard Needles Company, one of the most respected engineering firms in the state, said that this is a good quality, safe solution. Cost for .53 miles of four-lane highway with curbs and grass, less than $2 million. His question is why the people of North Olmsted were never shown this plan? Councilman Limpert said he recalled a meeting at the Community Cabin where there were several proposals presented. Service Director Bohlmann said first and foremost, he did not design this. Howard Needles Company designed all these plans, and that goes back to the early 1990's. There had been several meetings between the Council and the staff of the County Engineer's office. All three of these proposals were submitted and looked at back in the early 1990's. There was a meeting at the Cabin at one time. There had been a number of meetings. It was the belief of the County Engineer's office at that time that this "monstrosity," as Mr. Bouman calls it, was the best way to go. That was their opinion at that time. At that time, our engineering division concurred with that. Yes, it took some homes out, but that was the best way to go to straighten the road out. The lazgest objection he heard back in 1996 was that the homes were going to be taken and that the road was going to be four lanes. Nobody wanrted a four-lane road over there, and nobody wanted to take the houses away. So, consequently, the whole thing was put back to bed and Council basically told the county, no thanks. But this was not an Issue 2 project. 't'his is a separate project that was 80/20 funded by the county at that point in time. The legislation was initially passed in 1987 or 1988 to accept the grant from the county, but it was in 1996 that the project was proposed. The residems who lived on Claque Road objected to it, and Council decided it would not be done. He did not design the project, and he did not hide anything. All these plans have been laying in the City Engineer's office for the better part of 10 years. He has not looked at these plans since 1996. He explained to Council last time why we didn't want to submit it, and he stands on that. We are going to do the intersection first, then we aze going to take a look at the rest of the road. We felt the intersection was the best way to start--e~cactly what Westlake did on Center Ridge Road and Detroit Road. We felt that was the best way of going about that, and then taking another look at these drawings or something similar to it and trying to accommodate what the residents wishes were and in turn trying to accommodate the traffic flow down Claque Road. President Saringer said she recalled the residents did not want afour-lane road. At the time, she asked if the road could be three lanes and was told that it could not because the funds were federal funds and we had to do what the federal government wacrted. Mr. Bohlmann said he believ~l that was correct. As far as the deadline on Issue 2, it has always been his understanding that we have adrop-dead date, and last Friday was that day. If that is not held firm, then he was wrong in saying it. However, it has been his understanding for years that we have a certain date by which the application must be submitted and it cannot be modified or changed after that date. He will find out tomorrow. Councilwoman Kasler said she was concerned at the procedure that took place and the administrative action that took place to submit a proposal without having the approval of Council. If the deadline is not firm, she would like to know that. She asked why the second Claque Road proposal could not have been part of the Issue 2 `'~ application as it adds to a project that we are already doing. Mr. Bohlmann said it was 8