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Council Minutes of 6/18/2x12 <br />relief. Mr. Limpert said he had been out to the property and agreed that the water in Mr. <br />Blum's yard was up midway to their shins as they walked in the yard. Service Director <br />~~ Thomas commemed that it has been determined that the water problem between Mr. <br />Blum's yard and the Root Road neighbor was due to a change in grade from the original <br />time the house was built in the rear of their yard. The city has since communicated and <br />notified the homeowner to change the grade. Mr. Blum said he felt the city dropped the <br />ball in allowing the home to be built at a higher elevation. He wants some relief or he <br />will have to take legal action. President O'Grady noted that he did not believe Council <br />had the expertise to answer these questions regarding a specific property. He does know <br />there are inspections required and there is a maximum elevation for the house. Mr. Blum <br />certainly can pursue the legal avenue. Mr. Garesu said that he had been contacted by the <br />other party in this disagreement and believes that there are a lot of facts not known by all <br />parties. He does not believe Council should get in the middle of this issue as it is an <br />administrative issue. He would hope that the administration could find some means to <br />facilitate a discussion on all the issues so there can be a resolution to the problem. Mayor <br />Musial suggested that, after the Service Director gets all of the facts, that the normal <br />course of action would be to turn it over to the Law Department for their review as to <br />whether there has been a violation of city regulations. Law Director Dubelko said he felt <br />something is being done as the Service Director is gathering all the facts. If he <br />determines, with the assistance of the City Engineer, that any violation of the drainage <br />code has been committed for which the owner is responsible, the owner will have to <br />make the corrections or they will be cited. If it is turned over to the Law Department, an <br />action will be brought in the Rocky River Court. If for some reason it would turn out that <br />a determination cannot be made that there has been a violation of code or not, then Mr. <br />Blum may still have rights as an abutting property owner to consult an attorney to <br />determine if there has been a violation of civil law. Mrs. Kasler conciured that Council <br />cannot do administrative work; however, she is formally requesting that the <br />administration begin to bring all the facts together from both sides of the issue. Mr. <br />Miller said he felt some questions should be addressed: whether or not the homeowner <br />has been notified to discontinue building up his property with more soil and whether he <br />has indeed discontinued doing so and has the city put their stamp of approval on the <br />height of the home? Mr. Blum said he appreciated everything that had been said but <br />wanted to bring up another matter, that being the same homeowner has recently torn <br />down a garage and put up a new much large garage but has not placed gutters on it. Also, <br />there is a sump pump that is discharging onto his property. He wonders what all this will <br />do for his home valuation. Service Director Thomas said putting in a ditch to get rid of <br />the water is going to be dii~cult as the ditch would have be on the Root Road <br />homeowner's property. As far as the process at this point, the resident was notified about <br />the change in grade. Information is being gathered and there will be follow-up on this <br />issue. He thinks it would be a good idea to get the other side of the story so that a <br />decision can be made. President O'Grady said, if someone has violated city ordinances <br />and raised the level of their property, he would prefer that city funds not be used to <br />correct the problem. Mr. Miller noted that the city had provided relief to a homeowner <br />on Chapel Hill while legal action was pending. He would not want the city to drain <br />everybody's back yard at city expense or to waste taxpayers' money (especially when it <br />is the homeowner's fault), but there are times when relief is necessitated as homeowners <br />,,.:. <br />;:,,~;, <br />12 <br />