Meeting Notes March 6, 2018

Willoughby City Council Meeting Summary

by Councilman, Ken J. Kary (Ward 2)

Notes:  March 6, 2018

The March 6th Council meeting met with several tasks at hand.  First, there was an EAS to be reviewed by the Environmental Planning Committee.  Next, the Finance and Audit Committee had the daunting task to review the 2018 Budget for the council.  Two resolutions were addressed and voted upon by Council. Finally, there was an active public portion of the meeting.

MARCH 6TH COUNCIL COMMITTEE MEETINGS

·      Environmental Planning Committee

o   Committee Members

•Ken Kary, Chairman

•Bob Harrold

•Dan Anderson

·      EAS # 3-3-18 Review

o   The proposed project is for the land clearing of 7 acres at Permanent Parcel #27B-054-0-00-017-0 Jet Center Place

o   Submitted by Kurt Updegraff, Weston, Inc.

o   The Environmental Planning Committee asked several questions on this EAS and the land clearing. 

There were no wetland concerns for this area where there are wetland concerns for other areas of the airport property.

Weston Inc. purchased this land in hopes of leasing it (they have several possible tenants) This information was not part of the particular EAS, hence it was not pursued (the building will be approximately 120,000 sq.ft).

Weston Inc. is one of Greater Cleveland’s largest privately held industrial property owner and developer, Weston owns a national industrial real estate portfolio of approximately 12 million square feet serving over 550 tenants. For nearly 50 years, it has exhibited experience and expertise in the areas of building ownership, development, acquisitions, facilities management, tenant services, financing, and leasing. 

The project is being “pushed” now due to the concern for the Indiana Bat and nesting concerns.

More to share on the land and building in future publications.

·      Finance and Audit Committee

o   John Tomaselli, Chairman

o   Bob Harrold

o   Ken Kary

·      2018 Operating Budget for the City of Willoughby

o   The 2018 Operating Budget in most impacted by

Wages and Benefits

o   The Budget must be approved by Council by the end of March 2018

o   There has been, over several years, a decrease in employees primarily through retirement.  The non-replacement of those employees has served as one method to curb costs.

o   The largest increase in employees has been in the City Court.  They are projecting an increase of 6 new employees.  The court serves 90,000 citizens of Western Lake County and handles nearly 15,000 cases annually.  It is one of the busiest single judge courts in Ohio.

o   Council will continue to dissect the Budget to assure we are making cuts when necessary yet funding those areas to provide the services necessary for Willoughby to function as the city we all desire. 

NEW BUSINESS

·      Summary of the more significant Ordinances and Resolutions

·      Resolution # 2018-26 - “approved”

o   A resolution authorizing an expenditure in an amount not to exceed $100,000 for engineering costs for the replacement of three (3) Willoughby-Eastlake Water Pollution Control Center Sanitary Sewage Underground Equalization Tanks Mixing and Cleaning Systems.

This is a funding plan to do an "intense" investigation to best solve the replacement of this equipment.  The goal is to not just do what was done in the past, rather find the most economical, long-term solution for the WPCC.

This is a joint venture with Eastlake and Willoughby since Willoughby operates the plant but it is in Eastlake.

·      Resolution # 2018-27 - “approved”

o   A resolution authorizing the Director of Public Service to prepare plans and specifications and to advertise for bids for the 2018 Highway Pavement Lane Marking Project.

 Annual lane marking is the norm.

The city is going out for bids sooner, to secure better bids.

The goal is to get the best product and service for the money.

NOTEWORTHY NEWS

During the public portion of the March 6th Council meeting, several residents from neighboring communities, particularly Kirtland, showed up to speak on the issue of the Skeet Shooting activity taking place at Kirtland Country Club in Willoughby.

The history:

A conditional use permit was issued on July 23, 2015, to allow the country club — located at 39438 Kirtland Road in Willoughby — to have weekend skeet shoots on Saturdays and Sundays from November to March.

But the permit was revoked Oct. 20, 2016, by the Planning Commission during a special meeting after Kirtland City Council members and residents of Kirtland complained about noise.

Willoughby officials were in court March 10 to ask O’Donnell to affirm the city’s decision to ban skeet shooting at the club. Attorneys for the club had previously filed an appeal, calling the city’s decision “illegal, arbitrary and unreasonable.

Dave Anderson, the mayor at this time stated:  “The establishment of a skeet shooting range at Kirtland Country Club has had a negative impact on some residents of Kirtland. Our Planning Commission included wording in the conditional use permit that mandated a review of the permit after the end of the first shooting season. The commissioners were of the understanding that this gave them the ability to revoke or amend the CUP if such problems arose. As it turns out, this wording was not strong enough to survive a legal challenge. It is the opinion of our legal advisers that insufficient grounds exist for an appeal of this decision.

 Country club officials agreed when the conditional use permit was granted that skeet shooting would be reviewed after the first season.

However, they did not agree that the permit could be revoked because of noise issues, according to the judge.

 The judge stated that:

“There is no evidence on the record that the skeet shooting range violated (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), EPA, or state or local noise standards, and the statements of local residents are not sufficient to establish decibel levels,”.

The judge also noted that the Planning Commission failed to perform any formal testing of the decibel levels, while the country club’s expert determined decibel levels were below OSHA and Environmental Protection Agency levels.

At this current point in time, the options seem to be the following:

·      Everyone needs to recognize that this is a “real problem” for the residents of Kirtland and Willoughby.

·      Willoughby City Council has expressed a concern and a willingness to explore all options available to help to solve the noise issue.

·      Willoughby would hope to work with the leadership of Kirtland CC, as well as the residents who are affected by the shooting to resolve the issue.

·      There needs to be a collegial effort to solve the problem.

·      We are all neighbors and we need to

o   Have everyone understand there is an issue

o   Look for solutions

o   Work together to solve the problem

·      There seems to be a different view of the situation by the Club, the residents, and the City of Willoughby.

·      Willoughby will investigate all the options they may have to help resolve the problem.

More on this topic as the City of Willoughby, the residents of Willoughby and Kirtland, and Kirtland Country Club hopefully come to an agreement to mitigate the sound from the Skeet Shooting Program.