Pasted below is a link to a video of the North Canton City Council meeting held on Monday, April 4, 2016.
Description of Video:
April 4, 2016 – North Canton Committee of the Whole meeting:
The video covers a North Canton Committee
of the Whole meeting lasting approximately fifty-four and one half minutes and commences approximately
two minutes before the meeting is called to order.
The announced meeting agenda for
the Committee of the Whole consisted of three items for discussion:
1) Continued
discussion of tabled Ordinance No. 32-2016, establishing a City-wide
Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) and designating a housing officer to
administer the program.
2) Discussion
on the elimination of the Dogwood tag line from City property.
3) City
Engineer Jim Benekos gives a presentation on the East Maple Street Improvements
Project called Westgate at Walsh University.
2:15 minutes into the video until 21:20
minutes, Councilmember Marcia
Kiesling leads discussion as Chairman of Economic Development on the
proposed ordinance to expand the City’s CRA to include virtually the entire
City.
At last
week’s Council meeting, members of Council were stunned to learn that two CRAs
created in 1999 and in 2001 allowed abatement of property taxes on new
construction. Council learned from Director of Permits and Inspection Eric
Bowles that approximately four years ago, a property owner sold off a lot on
Harmon Street and the purchaser of the lot built a brand new home and qualified
for a 100 percent abatement of property taxes on the new home for fifteen years
under the previously designated CRA boundaries.
I do not
know why Director Bowles waited all these years to alert Council to this glaring
loophole created in previous CRA legislation but it appears from the discussion
that Council does not want to allow widespread misuse of the CRA program to
mushroom and allow more new construction to qualify for abatement of property
taxes.
In an effort to thwart further abatement of property taxes
on new construction, Council is omitting areas of the City where large numbers
of new construction would obviously be underway such as in the Sanctuary, Monticello,
and the seven new homes proposed for construction on Summit Avenue.
Word was
also last week leaked last week that Waterside Park will not be developed as
commercial property but will be developed into apartments. Consequently,
Council intends to also exclude Waterside Park from inclusion in the expanded
CRA.
Council is exploring
if isolated scattered lots in the City could also be excluded from tax
abatement on new construction.
21:20 minutes into the video until 27:15
minutes, Ordinance, Rules and Claims Committee member Mark Cerreta leads
discussion on a proposal to eliminate the tag line, Dogwood City, from being
used in the future on City property.
27:15
minutes into the video until 43:40 minutes, Finance and Property Chairman Dan
Griffith introduces City Engineer Jim Benekos who gives a presentation on
planned improvements on East Maple Street in the area of Walsh University that
is called Westgate at Walsh University.
I might add
some background at this point: On February 8, 2016, City Council passed Ordinance
No. 14-2016 appropriating $250,000 for the East Maple Street improvements (Westgate
at Walsh University project). The cost of the project has now increased to
$410,000 and City Council intends to amend the previous legislation for the
higher cost at its next legislative meeting.
The presentation
by City Engineer Benekos was difficult to follow but piecing together remarks
made by Mr. Benekos tonight and last week, it appears that traffic control is
adding $150,000 to the cost of the project.
Councilmember
Mark Cerreta seemed astounded at the increased costs of the project and asked
what the City was getting for the increased costs. Engineer Benekos said the
grassy median was not part of this project nor were sidewalks.
All I could
understand was that the current curb-cut currently in use by Walsh University
is going to be relocated.
With
traffic control such a large cost of the project, I am surprised no member of
Council asked how long East Maple Street would be under construction. No
Councilmember asked!
43:40
minutes into the video, Councilmember Kiesling brings the discussion back to
the CRA discussion until 46:30 minutes.
46:30
minutes into the video, the agenda of the meeting is amended to include a
discussion about upcoming collective bargaining agreements. This discussion
ends at 52:00 minutes.
52:20 minutes into the video, the
meeting is concluded.
The video continues to run until
54:22 minutes as Council adjourns for an Executive Session. Executive
Sessions of City Council are not open to the public, and the video ends.
I will add that the stated purpose
of tonight’s Executive Session was “…to consider the employment of a public
employee.” This is the fifth straight Executive Session held in the last three
months with the stated purpose “…to consider the employment of a public
employee.”
Thank you,
Chuck Osborne
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