MINUTES OF THE CUYAHOGA COUNTY
PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING

FEBRUARY 13, 2025

CALL TO ORDER
The meeting of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission (County Planning) was called to order by Director Dever at 2:05 p.m. and the roll call showed a quorum was present.

BOARD REAPPOINTMENTS
Executive Director Cierebiej reported that Mayor Gallo and Mayor Orcutt have been reappointed by County Council while Marka Fields, to be appointed as an alternate for Mayor Bibb, was pending Council Approval as of February 11th, 2025. Councilperson Sunny Simon and Councilperson Yvonne Conwell have also been reappointed along with County Council alternates, Joseph Nanni; Laura Black.

ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING
Director Dever noted that this is an organizational meeting. The floor was opened for the nomination of Planning Commission Chair. Councilperson Simon nominated Director Dever to continue his role as Chair. With no other nominations for Board Chairperson, Director Dever accepted the nomination. On a motion by Councilperson Simon, and seconded by Councilperson Conwell, the vote was unanimous to re-elect Director Dever as Chair.

Director Dever continued chairing the meeting and Mayor Burke and Mayor Gallo arrived.

The floor was opened for the nomination of Planning Commission Vice Chair. Councilperson Sunny Simon was nominated by Director Dever to continue as Vice Chair. Councilperson Simon accepted the nomination. With no other nominations for Board Vice Chair, on a motion by Director Dever, seconded by Mayor Gallo, the vote was unanimous to re-elect Councilperson Simon as Vice Chair.

The 2025 meeting schedule was reviewed and on a motion by Mayor Welo and seconded by Mayor Burke, the vote was unanimous to accept the 2025 meeting schedule.

COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
No requests for public comment.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF DECEMBER 12, 2024 MEETING
On a motion by Director Dever, seconded by Mayor Burke the minutes from the December 12, 2024 meeting were duly adopted with a unanimous vote.

INFORMATION ONLY PRESENTATIONS

Executive Director Cierebiej announced that there were no resolutions needing approval as part of today’s Organizational meeting, information only presentations.  Director Cierebiej welcomed County Planning’s new intern, Jalen Starks and introduced Meghan Chaney who presented the Euclid Single-Family Zoning project.

Ms. Chaney started by explaining that this was Phase 2 of the Single-Family Zoning work, which was to implement model code locally. She gave some background on the project on the known challenges of infill development and the need to support updates to local zoning codes to address these issues. A developers’ survey was used in Phase 1 to generate best practices for improving zoning regulations by asking questions on how to make infill more practicable, how to update codified ordinances, and how to track infill housing construction over time.

Part of Phase 2 was to conduct a pilot program with two communities, Euclid and South Euclid, to apply these best practices on in-fill development within each city’s zoning codes In the City of Euclid Pilot project, there were three (3) primary tasks of County Planning and the City staff: The first task was to review findings from Phase 1 and Euclid’s existing code language to identify areas of concern and opportunity. The second task was to identify potential changes within the City’s zoning code to better facilitate the development of infill housing, and the third task was to identify solutions and proposed changes to the City’s single-family zoning districts based on the issues identified during Tasks 1 and 2.

Ms. Chaney concluded that the changes in the City of Euclid resulted in more than 12,000 previously nonconforming lots now conform to the zoning regulations, and that infill on these lots-which would have required several variances under the old zoning code- can now occur in a more streamlined fashion.

Next, Executive Director Cierebiej introduced Paul Triolo to report on the Orange Village Survey. Mr. Triolo reported that the contract was approved in April, 2024 with the community survey opening in June, 2024 and closing in July, 2024. The results of the survey were presented to Village Council in October, 2024.

The Orange Village survey had 432 responses out of the 2,589 adults in the Village, a 16.7% response rate. The draft survey was developed and finalized with some questions from previous Village Community Surveys for continuity and to track progress over time.  The Village was very active with the administration and dissemination of the online survey, and they helped design of the advertising materials to promote the survey, distribute materials and information, and helped monitor survey activity. Once closed, County Planning assembled all of the survey information, tabulated the results, and analyzed the findings which were compiled in a Results Report that included comparisons, methodologies and a detailed analysis of findings.

The survey topics included:

• Introduction
• Quality of Life
• Community Values & Economic Development
• Amenities & Events
• Communication & Services
• Infrastructure & Community Improvements
• Demographics

Mr. Triolo concluded with the key findings from the Orange Village Survey:

• High Quality of Life (96.8%), Amenities & Events (84.9%), and Communication & Services (89.3%) ratings
• The top reason young people (18-44 years) would consider moving is to be able to walk and bike to more places. The top reason seniors (65+) would consider moving is for a retirement-friendly community
• 3% of respondents ranked Sustainability as first or second in terms of priority for community improvement/investment
• The Village’s Playground and Paved Trails are the two most utilized amenities as well as the highest ranked in terms of both quality and importance
• Parks & Natural Spaces (74.6%), Bike Infrastructure (57.7%), and Trail Additions/Improvements (55.5%) were rated the highest in terms of the Village’s Infrastructure and Community Improvement needs
• A willingness to support a Levy for new safety service facilities, operations, and equipment was a ‘Yes’ by 69%
• How respondents prefer to receive news and information from Orange Village with emails and e-newsletters being number one
• Finally, the vision for the future of Orange Village to improve upon and add.

PROPOSED BYLAW AMENDMENTS, DISCUSSION #2

Executive Director Cierebiej reported on the bylaw amendments. She explained that additional edits were needed to clarify ordinances, resolutions, and wording in various sections, along with suggested revisions to the roles and responsibilities of the Chairperson and Executive Director. In addition, edits were needed in the public notices section and the document format itself. Discussion followed and per the Bylaws, a vote on the final version had to take place at the next Board meeting.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

Executive Director Cierebiej opened her report with an update on the Agency’s Strategic Imperatives and Initiatives. In December 2024, Executive Director Cierebiej hosted a second team retreat with 100% participation of the County Planning staff. There was a review of previous goals, accomplishments to date, what still needs to be done, and the need to prioritize the goals.

Executive Director Cierebiej continued her report with an update on the Community Planning Services Program (CPSP) formerly known as the Planning “Grants” program. She reported that ten (10) applications were received and included:

• 5 Master Plans (a maximum of 2 will be awarded)
• 1 Multi-Jurisdictional Corridor Study
• 1 Business District Revitalization Plan
• 1 Parks/Greenspace/Open Space Plan
• 1 Active Transportation Plan
• 1 “Other” Community Plan

The initial reviews are underway with the number of awards likely being limited to 3-4 projects given County Planning’s capacity to accomplish the workload. The awards are slated to be announced by Friday, March 7, 2025.

A full update on the budget and revenues for 2025 will be presented at the next Board meeting. However, Executive Director Cierebiej noted that Budget Year 2024 required additional appropriation to cover salaries and benefits, and it is forecasted that it will be required again in 2025. It is also anticipated there will be operating budget shortfalls based on 2024 actuals (increases in contracts, software & licenses). Additional funding will also be requested for a new County Planning website which was last updated in 2015. Given higher anticipated professional development expenses to meet continuing educational requirements of staff, County Planning will request spending authority on a portion of our 2024 revenues. A total of $220,675 were deposited to the General Fund last year.

Executive Director Cierebiej announced that Healthy Urban Tree Canopy Grant program is changing for PY 2025. The administration allocated funding of $950k in County Planning’s budget, but it will be transitioning back to the Sustainability Department in 2025. However, County Planning will maintain the program funding and administration from PY2023 and PY2024 for active contract commitments.

In conclusion, Executive Director Cierebiej introduced a draft 2025 Work Plan that defines areas of expertise, goals, and activities for the year. This draft is intended to establish activities for each goal, define metrics for those activities in order to measure progress, enable alignment with capacity and approved budget, and create a foundation for quarterly reporting on performance. Given the recent changes to the contracting authority for the Executive Director, she explained that it was important for her to keep the board apprised of planned efforts, and reporting back on progress throughout the year.

OLD BUSINESS
There was no old business.

NEW BUSINESS
There was no new business.

ADJOURN
On a motion by Director Dever, seconded by Councilperson Conwell, the Planning Commission meeting was adjourned at 2:52 p.m.

NEXT MEETING
March 13, 2025 (Tentative)