Minutes of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission

March 10, 2016

CALL TO ORDER
The meeting of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission (CCPC) was called to order by Mr. Kelly with a quorum present.

MINUTES
On a motion by Mayor Procuk, seconded by Mayor Infeld, the minutes of the February 11, 2016 meeting were unanimously approved.

RESOLUTIONS – CONTRACTS OVER $5,000.00
Mr. Kelly acknowledged the arrival of Councilperson Simon and Mr. Collier at the meeting.

On a motion by Mayor Infeld, seconded by Mayor Patton, Resolution No.160310-A, approving a contract with the City of Cleveland’s Department of Community Development,  to perform Environmental Review compliance and provide technical assistance to the Department’s staff was unanimously approved.  Mr. Kelly thanked Director Collier for his collaboration on this project.

Mr. Kelly acknowledged the arrival of Mayor Sellers at the meeting.

RESOLUTIONS – Olmsted Township

Galway Bay Phase 2
Ms. Meghan Chaney presented Resolution No. 160310-B, conditionally approving the Final Plat for Galway Bay Subdivision, Phase 2.  Ms. Chaney explained that the Galway Bay subdivision and Phase 1 of the Preliminary Plan were approved in 2002 and the final plat for Phase 1 and the Phase 2 Preliminary Plan were approved in 2003.  Ms. Chaney reported the final plat for Phase 2 was conditionally approved in 2005, but that development stopped in 2008 because of economic conditions.  Ms.  Chaney noted that all of the infrastructure for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 had been installed, but homes have only been built in Phase 1.

Ms. Chaney stated a developer, William Thomas Homes, had purchased the remainder of Galway Bay, Phase 2 and was committed to completing the subdivision; hence the reason for today’s request to modify the previously approved lot lines so that single-family detached homes could be built, instead of the single-family attached homes that were first proposed.  Ms. Chaney reported that all of the required agency reports had been received and it was the staff’s recommendation to conditionally approve the Final Plat.

Several members asked about the stormwater management for Phase 2 and raised concerns about conditionally approving the Final Plat without a complete recommendation from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) on the sufficiency of the stormwater facilities to both treat and handle stormwater from the completed subdivision.

Ms. Chaney reported that staff had asked the OEPA to review Phase 2 for sufficient handling and treatment of stormwater because OEPA regulations had changed since 2002.  This is reflected in  condition #6 in the resolution.

In response to questions from the Board, Mr. Tom Simon from William Thomas Homes, explained that Galway Bay was a unique situation because all of the infrastructure had been built and installed, including stormwater retention, but development of the homes completely stopped in 2008.  Mr. Simon explained that William Thomas Homes specialized in building affordable cluster homes and after reviewing the 2002 plans realized that the Phase 2 development would not work with single-family attached homes and that the same number of homes could be built as single-family detached homes, which are more in demand.

Trustee Kress stated that the Township had two (2) unfinished subdivisions that had been abandoned in 2008 due to the housing crisis, one of them being Galway Bay and the Trustees wanted to get these subdivisions developed quickly; but not at expense of stormwater management which was an important issue.

The Board members discussed tabling the resolution, upon learning that the request to OEPA had been submitted only a few days before the meeting.

On a motion by Councilperson Simon, seconded by Mayor Procuk, Resolution No. 160310-B, conditionally approving the Final Plat for Galway Bay Subdivision (Phase 2) located in Olmsted Township, was tabled until the staff received a response from the OEPA. The vote to table was unanimous.

Schady Reserve Phase 2
On a Motion by Councilperson Simon, seconded by Mayor Sellers, Resolution No. 160310-C, approving the Preliminary Plan for the Schady Reserve PRD Subdivision (Phase 2) located in Olmsted Township, was unanimously approved.

CHAIR’S REPORT
Mr. Kelly reported that Mayor Cyril Kleem had appeared before the Human Resources, Appointments and Equity Committee as required and that his appointment to the CCPC had been approved by County Council.  Mr. Kelly stated that Mayor Kleem was unable to attend this meeting but would be welcomed at the next meeting.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Mr. Coyne reported on the status of the community master plan projects and announced the next round of master plan grantees, that an analysis of the CCPC’s website showed that the Urban Tree Canopy and County Greenprint reports were popular items.

NEW BUSINESS
Mr. Kelly announced that the next meeting would be held on April 14, 2016 at 2:00p.m. in room 4-407.On a motion by Mr. Collier, seconded by Councilperson Simon the meeting was adjourned.

Attachment A

Cuyahoga County Planning Commission