01/06/2009 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC HEARING NORTH OLMSTED CITY COUNCIL JANUARY 6, 2009 Present: President of Council Kennedy, Council Members Barker, Jones, Kearney, Mahoney, Orlowski, Councilman Gareau arrived at 7:04 p.m. Also Present: Law Director Dubelko, Clerk of Council Seman President of Council Kennedy called the public hearing regarding Ordinance 2008-131 to order at 7:02 p.m. in Council Chambers, 5200 Dover Center Road, North Olmsted, Ohio. Ordinance No. 2008-131 provides for the amendment of Section 1127.04 of the Zoning Code of the City of North Olmsted to provide for voter approval by majority of electors within the Ward of any zoning or rezoning from Single Family to Residential Cluster District. No audience participation. Councilman Orlowski read the following statement: "Ordinance 2008-131 is rather straight forward. It provides the residents a mechanism for proposed rezoning of Single Family Residential to a higher density. I believe Solon, North Royalton, and Strongsville all have Charter amendments involving the rezoning of land. I believe their amendments are more comprehensive than what I am proposing. The major difference is that their conditions are part of a city charter, and what I am proposing is an ordinance. It is much easier to amend or change a city ordinance than a city charter. I believe all three communities aze larger in land mass than North Olmsted and developed at a later timeframe than North Olmsted. There must have been some occurrence in the three aforementioned communities to warrant a charter amendment restricting the rezoning of parcels of land without the approval of the voters. Maybe the residents felt their viewpoint was not being heard by an administration which listens but does not hear the requests of the residents. In many cases, the zoning map of the city is developed more by private land development corporations than city government. North Olmsted has developed by the retail and residential vision of Biskind & Shur who took an airplane ride over North Olmsted in the eazly 1950's with the knowledge of I-480 as the west side connector highway. Today we are a regional shopping district with a population of approximately 30,000 residents, which easily swells to 100,000 people during the Christmas shopping season. This can place a strain on our infrastructure and services. A number of residents requested the ability to vote on the current issue and future issues regarding rezoning which will increase the density of housing units in their neighborhood. As the representative of the residents in Wazd IV, I have proposed an ordinance allowing the residents of an affected ward or wards to vote on a residential rezoning issue. Not one request for buffering, screening, realignment of infrastructure or current use as a 15 or 16 unit single family home development was entertained by the i i