The Richfield Township Trustee Meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm on
November 25, 2002.
Roll Call: Trustees: Present Shano Cica-Mraz, Robert Hooper
Absent Laurie Gilmore
Clerk/Treasurer: Mark Uhrich
Others present: Laurie Pinney, Zoning Inspector
Ms. Cica-Mraz made a motion to approve the November 4, 2002 Regular Trustee
meeting minutes and the November 14 Special meeting minutes seconded by Mr.
Hooper; Ms. Gilmore Absent, Mr. Hooper Yes, Ms. Mraz Yes, motion carried
by majority.
Ms. Cica-Mraz made a motion to approve warrant report 7342 to 7405 seconded by
Mr. Hooper; Ms. Gilmore Absent, Mr. Hooper Yes, Ms. Mraz Yes, motion
carried by majority.
Mr. Uhrich told the Trustees that he would not be available to attend the next
regularly scheduled Trustee meeting on December 9, 2002. He asked the Trustees
to consider approving and setting a temporary 2003 appropriation motion at the
next meeting.
Ms. Pinney presented the Zoning report It is the intention of the developer of
Glencairn to go back to the June 2001 approved final subdivision plan. Summit
County continued the hearing on this matter until December 6, 2002 due to the
lack of a quorum. The Zoning Commission's Public Hearing on this matter will be
continued to the December 12 meeting.
The next BZA meeting is set for December 16, 2002 and the Zoning Commission
meeting is set for December 12, 2002.
Ms. Mraz There are two, five year terms of service coming up, one each on the
Zoning Commission Board and the Board of Zoning Appeals. Plus, there is an
alternate position open for each board. Please submit your letter of interest by
December 30, 2002 to the Richfield Township office. Also, there is one, three
year, Board of Rising Valley Park position open.
Ms. Mraz - The hunting season is upon us and as a reminder to everybody,
township residents can discharge guns on their property. This may be annoying to
other residents but there is not much the Township can do. The Police Department
can check into occurrences, but if the property owner is safely discharging the
weapons, then nothing can be done to stop it. The Township cannot limit or
specify the time a gun can or cannot be discharged.
Mr. Ken Bennett, 5150 Hecker, Is there any nuisance laws that we can enforce,
such as some playing loud music, can we apply the same to gun shots?
Ms. Mraz No.
Mr. Charles Brinkman, 3400 Robert Burns Drive, Can Biggar make adjustments to
the area zoned for cluster homes? I see Ryan Homes purchased the property on the
South West corner of Wheatley and Revere roads.
Ms. Pinney Only if it still complies with the overall approved plan. The
property you are referencing is in the Village.
Mr. Brinkman As of 3:58 p.m. on Friday November 22, the property in question
is still listed under Innovative Contractors. There does not appear to be any
transfer back to Glencairn.
Ms. Pinney The plat is in Biggars name.
Ms. Mraz Before we get any further on Glencairn, we want to hear from J & J
Refuse Company. The Township and Village just completed the bidding process for
the communities trash hauling service and J & J is the low bidder and has made
the final effort to come here to answer our questions.
Representatives from J & J are John Lehlbach, Scott Walter, and Wayne Fennimore.
Mr. Walter J & J is part of a 50 year old business family of the Kimbles. We
have a landfill permit and space to operate for the 85 years. We operate 120
trucks with trash and recycle hauling.
Mr. Fennimore First we plan to route your community then start our collection.
Ms. Mraz How do you handle complaints of trash blowing around after the truck
picks it up?
Mr. Fennimore We have different trucks then the current hauler, so that may
make a difference. Also, we offer the use of a 90 gallon trash can that would
minimize animal attacks. We pay our employees hourly with performance bonuses.
We teach our drivers to be well disciplined and take care of their route.
Ms. Mraz How do we know that the recyclables are getting recycled? Where will
our trucks come from?
Mr. Fennimore We process all recyclables at our Canton facility. Richfield
will get its trucks from the Canton facility.
Mr. William Demas, 3290 Gullane Drive, When is the best time to put out the
trash?
Mr. Fennimore We ask that the trash be out by 7:00 a.m.
Ms. Brenda Conroy, 3455 Robert Burns Drive, Sometimes our current hauler picks
up the recyclables with the trash.
Mr. Fennimore We wont do that. Richfield may choose to do the recyclable
program every other week instead of weekly. This usually increases
participation. Also, we do not want to get in trouble with the EPA. We have
separate trucks and sorting facilities.
Mr. Hooper What do most communities you contract with do, weekly or every
other week?
Mr. Fennimore It depends; we have found that participation and set out rate
are higher if done every other week.
Mr. Dave Dickens, 3400 East Glencoe - I live in a community in Florida that
requires mandatory recycling. If we are serious about recycling, we should make
it mandatory.
Ms. Mraz Thanks for questions and thanks to J & J for coming to our meeting.
We are going to move on to the Glencairn report.
Ms. Pinney I received notice that the Summit County Planning Commission (SCPC)
was to review this matter at their November 22 meeting. However, not enough
members were in attendance to hear this matter. So the Glencairn matter is
rescheduled for SCPC on December 6, 2002.
Ms. Mraz The applicants have not been present at the last two meetings. We
recently have received nothing in writing from the applicants. Therefore, we are
going to discontinue this matter. Glencairn has filed a motion with Summit
County Common Pleas court to reverse the BZAs findings and is apparently going
straight to the SCPC. The Zoning Commission cannot continue their Public Hearing
without the Trustees comments on this matter, I see no reason why the Zoning
Commission would continue this matter. The Glencairn residents should go to the
SCPC hearing. The Township needs to verify some of the green space calculations
that Glencairn has given us as well as proceeding with compliance with our
stated issues on the alterations to the development plan requested.
Ms. Mraz made motion to recommend to the Zoning Commission to deny the
Glencairn proposal based on the single entity control issue and questions
regarding the green space, seconded by Mr. Hooper; Ms. Gilmore Absent, Mr.
Hooper Yes, Ms. Mraz Yes, motion carried by majority.
Mr. Charles Brinkman, 3400 Robert Burns Drive, There have been land deed
transfers from Glencairn back to Glencairn. Are they changing the plan to adjust
the number of single family homes? They are transferring without recording the
deed.
Ms. Mraz We can only control and focus on the area that relates to the zoning.
The Glencairn residents need to keep up on these areas that do not relate to the
zoning matters of Richfield Township.
Mr. Mike Caporale, 3367 Revere, Can SCPC overturn the Trustees decision?
Ms. Mraz In order to reach a decision, the Zoning Commission was seeking the
Trustees opinion and comments on this matter. We just issued our opinion. The
applicant could file for a variance.
Ms. Pinney Without township approval it would not go forward to the SCPC.
Mr. Slagter, Richfield Township legal counsel, The Township approved the
alterations to the plan in June 2001. Then it came to our attention that
Glencairn was not the developer of the Turnberry phase. The Zoning Commission
came to the Trustees for an opinion on this matter. As a practical matter the
new developer met the density and size requirements, but it appeared that the
single entity control issue was not followed. The final plat approval was given
directly to SCPC passing by the township, and the SCPC cannot approve this
without Richfields zoning approval.
Mr. Caporale They do not need approval if everything was the way it was in
June 2001?
Ms. Mraz & Ms. Pinney Yes.
Mr. Caporale What about the one acre lots behind Robert Burns, can they change
those from single family housing?
Ms. Pinney No, they must come back to the Township for any changes.
Mr. Dickens The R-4 district was created in 1994, can we change the code to
ensure he meets the original intent of the code?
Ms. Mraz The only R-4 district is the Glencairn development. We could not go
back and modify the code and force Glencairn to comply with a new set of
regulations.
Mr. Brinkman The definitions in HUD require consistency and if a price point
is demonstrated then a second price point that is created may create a second
class of homeowners.
Mr. Demas What board openings are available?
Ms. Mraz One each for the Zoning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals.
Mr. Caporale Can Mr. Biggar stop putting in the second access road?
Ms. Pinney No.
Mr. Caporale As homeowners we should know how many single family and cluster
homes he is going to construct. It affects our re-sale price. What can he do
without trustee approval?
Ms. Mraz He has the ability to make changes in certain phases as long as the
ratio of single family homes does not drop below the approved plan, certain
percentage of green space is maintained, minimum setbacks are kept, etc.
Ms. Conroy, How do we enforce the cluster home restrictions?
Ms. Pinney The way the code was written we cannot regulate the setbacks on
cluster homes or accessory buildings, so if they want to put an above ground
pool up, they can.
Ms. Conroy The character of the community is ruined by some of these changes.
Ms. Mraz There are many land use issues we cannot regulate, we need to keep
our eye out for this type of activity and do our best to control them.
Mr. Slagter When there is a zoning code in place we have standards of review,
but the Township cannot regulate who builds.
Ms. Mraz made a motion to enter in to executive session at 9:10 p.m. to
discuss a pending legal matter seconded by Mr. Hooper; Ms. Gilmore Absent, Mr.
Hooper Yes, Ms. Mraz Yes, motion carried by majority.
Ms. Mraz made a motion to end the executive session at 9:50 p.m., seconded by
Mr. Hooper; Ms. Gilmore Absent, Mr. Hooper Yes, Ms. Mraz Yes, motion
carried by majority.
Ms. Mraz made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:50 p.m. seconded by Mr.
Hooper; Ms. Gilmore Absent, Mr. Hooper Yes, Ms. Mraz Yes, motion carried
by majority.
_______________________ _________________________
Chairwoman Clerk
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