My notes from last night's council meeting are posted below:
Rezoning
A couple dozen residents attended the meeting to express dissatisfaction with the proposals to rezone the former Brandon Heating and Cooling Building and to allow crematories in funeral homes. I have to tell you, the hardest votes I've had so far have been relating to zoning. There are no clear answers, no clear "right" and "wrong." Council is pressed between property rights of residents and property rights and prospective profits of businesses.
My views on the crematory issue are changing as I have heard from more of the residents. Initially, it was my impression that residents were OK with it, because no one spoke out at the Planning Committee meeting. It turns out, however, the residents were never notified. Only through my web site did some folks learn about the crematory proposal. Hearing these residents express their legitimate concerns has me leaning toward believing that allowing crematories in a residential area is probably not in the best interests of the city as a whole.
Power down
As you know, . Two power lines went down behind our safety building, starting a grass fire. . I want to give special praise to our dispatchers, police and reserve police for stepping up and making intersections safe and addressing residents' other concerns. They did a real bang-up job.
Parade
Fear not, Stow. Kent Road will be ready for . I hope to see everyone out there. It's definitely a fun time. I might also be in thethat morning.
McDonald's
We approved a request to construct a new McDonald's on Kent Road, next to Chipotle. Jim Costello and I inserted an amendment this week to require that the old franchise (on Kent Road, east of Fishcreek) be torn down, so that it is shovel-ready for the next commercial development. We don't need any more vacant buildings. That's for sure.
Engine brakes
Brian Lowdermilk suggested that my Roads and Safety Committee pass legislation to prohibit the use of engine brakes on semi-trailers within the city. . I proposed limiting the legislation to only Fishcreek. My amendment and the amended legislation both passed unanimously.
New fee
The administration proposed a new fee on utility lines. It passed 4-3 (with Lowdermilk, Matt Riehl and I voting "no"). Raising fees and taxes should not be on the menu.
Pay raise
Mayor Drew offered legislation to reorganize the engineering department. The legislation eliminated two positions and gave one position a two-step pay increase. I offered an amendment to strike the pay increase out of the legislation. The amendment passed 4-3 (Riehl, Lowdermilk, D'Antonio and me). The amended legislation passed 4-3. This morning, Mayor Drew notified council that she would be vetoing the entire legislation because of my amendment. She also plans to re-introduce the part of the legislation that did pass. While the power to veto is solely the mayor's prerogative, I don't see a purpose to that action. The bottom line is, we are still in a budget crisis, and I won't support raises with the people's money at this time.
City council will meet next on July 9 for committees. I hope to see a great crowd at the parade.
On the issue of engine brakes, these are a safety factor to assist large vehicles to stops safely. Yes some of them are very noisy, but most are not, and I doubt that they are a daily event on Fishcreek - I could be wrong. However, I think any banning of engine brakes on State highways is not wise as most of those are pre-designed truck routes. Pay raises are not appropriate at this time. What should be a topic is the ridiculous amount of money we are paying for SEWER. Who on earth came up with this exhorbitant rate, and why?
As far as these residents opposed to the funeral home also doing cremations, what were the concerns of the nearby residents AND what substantiated facts and evidence did they bring? Or was it just assumptions and believes they conjured up?
The Jake- Brake noise concern also exists on Darrow Rd in the zone where trucks are coming from the south and approaching Graham Rd. I live there and do hear the noise as the engine brakes are actuated. Your ordinance should be extended to cover Darrow Road, which has much more diesel semi tractors traffic than on Fishcreek, I believe. As an observer at the meeting there was no opportunity for me to speak out on this matter, since I had just learned that the issue was being presented. Comment to Tom Tucker's comment: There is a multitude of data and well documented facts to be found on the Internet rearding crematorium emissions, and a graph was handed to the secretary showing Mercury emission levels, by one of the attendees. There are also studies related to decline in market values of properties located in the proximity of crematories. Enrico Caruso
I'm not interested in a "multitude of data" (generalized et al) that people present that fulfill their agenda. Did these people even bother to talk to the funeral home director to see what THEY would be doing and educate themselves? Or did they automatically get all-worked up. I'll lean towards the latter, as that is typical with most people.