WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE HEARING MINUTES
CITY OF GARFIELD HEIGHTS, OHIO
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
Mayor Thomas Longo opened the hearing at 7:00 p.m. and explained that Councilwoman Janet Farr, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, had asked him to chair the hearing. The Mayor stated that the purpose of the hearing was to discuss Ordinance No. 24-2004 with the owners of the parcels involved and to hear their comments and questions. The title of Ordinance No. 24-2004 reads as follows:
MAYOR LONGO: If you are living there you can sell your house as a residence or you can sell it as commercial. That’s up to you. If you sell it as a residence, it’s residential property and if it’s occupied, it stays residential. The property has to be vacant for six months. If the property is vacant for six months and the zoning changes it loses its U1 or single-family zoning. So again, the property is rezoned, you could sell it either as a residence or as a commercial property. Everybody who wishes to speak tonight will get a chance. This meeting is being tape-recorded and it will all be put into the minutes. If anybody wants copies of the minutes, Barb Molin, over there, is responsible for transcribing everything that takes place here.
I also want you to know that City Council in no way can act on this tonight. This is not a Council Meeting. This is a public hearing and at some point in the future if Council wants to have an additional meeting, if Council doesn’t want to do anything, or leave it alone, they cannot do it at this meeting.
Kevin, do you have anything you want to…? (response from person in audience was inaudible) Does anyone have anything they want to say? Come on up and give your name and address.
The Mayor introduced the officials who were present. They were
Committee Members Present: Janet Farr, Councilwoman of Ward 2
Tracy Mahoney, Councilwoman of Ward 6
Others Present: Noreen
Kuban, Economic Development Director
David Mack, Law Director
Nancy Marincic, President of Council
Debra Sarnowski, Councilwoman of Ward 4
Joseph Suster, Councilman of Ward 5
The Mayor then invited the first resident to begin speaking.
Kevin Nichols, 5904 East 94th Street. If the zoning goes through, and I have a couple of empty lots, will I be able to build a house there, if the case arises?
MAYOR LONGO: Mr. Mack?
LAW DIRECTOR DAVID MACK: No. If they were empty lots then they would change zoning immediately.
MR. NICHOLS: Thanks.
Robert Foster, 5476 East 96th Street. My family has been residing in this town since the turn of the century. I’m not completely opposed to rezoning U4, however I have a problem when I hear that Mr. Snyder has come up and asked for rezoning on property that is not his and it’s like a foregone conclusion that he’s going to buy our property at whatever figure he wants and we should just take it at that. I am uncomfortable …
MAYOR LONGO: That’s between you and Mr. Snyder
MR. FOSTER: Mr. Snyder brought it up here so now it’s no longer just between Mr. Snyder and myself. It’s between the Council here and whoever meets with him. Normally that could possibly be a good thing but this is a non-conforming use. We are all aware of that. I don’t know if the people understood here? You said it exactly correct. In six months if your house is vacant you cannot move back into it and it then becomes whatever it is zoned for in that category. I’m concerned that the possibility exists that once this land rezones--if it doesn’t we have had this thing on the market for three or four years already and we got offers and counter offers, etc., but nothing ever transpired. Mr. Snyder made an offer, which was so low I would not even consider it, and I started seeing a lot of Mr. Snyder here then. We had a meeting last week at the building on Antenucci Blvd. and Mr. Snyder chose to come up here to the meeting rather than go to a meeting that he called. He had his representative there and his representative said they already have people lined up for there. How can they have people lined up? I am not selling to Mr. Snyder at this figure. And he asked for this rezoning. I am concerned. I would rather see the principal that is going to buy the property under an option ask for the rezoning and go through the channels that way. That is why I really went back and forth on this in my mind and I request that this does not go on the ballot. Thank you.
MAYOR LONGO: I just want to make a comment concerning Mr. Foster’s comments that over the years Kevin and his partner have brought several potential buyers to my office and one of the hang-ups that they had was that the property wasn’t zoned and they would be subject to a referendum. That’s a decision you make. Who is signed up to sell? Does Kevin represent them or does Mr. Snyder? The City is not involved in that, so I just want to put that on the record that if you want to sell this as commercial that’s fine and at one time most of the people that signed on with Kevin and Kevin, I don’t know how these things stand, that one of the major hang-ups was a referendum on zoning staring the developer in the face to come forward and make an offer or whatever it took to close the deal. I want to put that on the record.
MR. FOSTER: I do understand that. I also understand that almost anytime anything was up for rezoning in this town it almost always passes. I can’t think of one time that it hasn’t, so it really shouldn’t be that much of a worry for any potential developer. Thank you.
LAW DIRECTOR DAVID MACK: I just want to mention that I was working with Kevin Holdash and his partner Mr. Cooney. They wanted to get it on the ballot but because our primary has changed (it used to be in May and now it’s in March. The State changed the primary) they couldn’t get it on the May or November ballot last year--2003. I asked them if they still represented the people there and they were kind enough to go out and get signatures from everyone that owns property there except four people. And all these folks that lived there signed a statement saying that Kevin Holdash and Kevin Cooney represent them in asking for a zoning change back in May 2003, including Mr. Foster.
MAYOR LONGO: We are trying to work our way through changing the Charter to make our Charter compatible with the new State law for primaries which has been pushed back to March but that does not concern anyone at this meeting. It’s a City matter and it has to be addressed. Anyone else?
Ronald Specht, 9302 South Granger Road. If this passed all the upcoming hurdles that you indicated it has to go through when would be expect to see it on the ballot?
MAYOR LONGO: November.
MR. SPECHT: This coming November?
MAYOR LONGO: If it doesn’t make that then we have to go through the whole process again and we have to change the Charter to get it on for March instead of May.
MR. SPECHT: There is the possibility it would be on this coming November?
MAYOR LONGO: Yes, during the general election for President.
MR. SPECHT: Thank you.
CLWN SARNOWSKI: Is South Granger part of this rezoning?
MAYOR LONGO: Yes. Anyone else?
Peggy Satola, 5508 East 96th Street. I just want to make a statement to say that I believe not everybody agrees with the opinion of Mr. Foster. I myself think that if the rezoning can be done and done in a timely fashion that it would be to the benefit of any developer interested in the property and to the property owners to get this resolved in a timely fashion if someone so desires to purchase the property. That is a big issue. People don’t want it dragged out once something is decided. So the sooner the rezoning is pushed forward and passed it is better for everybody altogether.
CLWN FARR: Is Mr. Holdash here?
MAYOR LONGO: Yes, right here.
CLWN FARR: Could you just explain to me what–I remembered this a couple years ago when you had the property owners sign who were going to go with you. Are you still interested in purchasing these homes and selling them to a developer? Are you the developer or the realtor?
Kevin Holdash, 7323 Brecksville Road, Independence. Me and my partner Kevin Cooney both do commercial real estate, all types of real estate, site acquisitions, etc. We were asked to come in to bring the neighborhood basically together to represent the individual owners to bring the highest and best value to their property. So by listing their property and representing them as a sellers’ representative we group the properties together to find a developer like Mr. Snyder. No, I’m not buying the property and neither is Kevin Cooney.
(Inaudible question
from a resident)
LAW DIRECTOR DAVID MACK: Not being occupied for six months or more by anyone. I mean if you had a house and you rented it to somebody that is occupied.
MAYOR LONGO: Does anyone else have anything they want to say or address? Thank you for coming and if you have any questions we’re still here. The public meeting is adjourned.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:17 p.m.
Approved, Respectfully submitted,
____________________ ____________________
Janet Farr Barbara Molin
Chairman of the Ways
and Means Committee Clerk of Council