Government - http://maxpages.com/minnickward4/MASTER_PLAN_PART

This western sewer extension project makes sense in terms of development and common sense sanitary standards for current property owners. We believe our recommendations are cost effective and protect the sovereignty of the city.
PHASE II

Optional laterals are:

a) Lateral from Case Road east along Center Ridge Road to State Route 83.
b) Lateral from Case Road west to the Elyria Corporation line.
c) Lateral east on Barres Road to Stoney Ridge Road.
d) Lateral from Mills Road south three-quarters of a mile along Stoney Ridge Road.
e) lateral east on Lorain Road to Island Road.
f) Lateral from Center Ridge Road north on-half mile north on Stoney Ridge Road.

Route Alternative

Sewer would proceed from present terminus south on Case Road to approximately 2,000 lineal feet north of Center Ridge Road, then turn west, across Dyke Road and line up with the west boundary line of the Bob Morris property. The route of the sewer interceptor line would then turn south to Center Ridge Road, extending under the Ohio Turnpike overpass and either run parallel to the Rural Water corridor (i.e. defined on the map as Route "B") and follow the north line of the railroad right- of-way or, be extended south to the railroad right-of -way line, (i.e. defined on the map as Route "C") turn east aligned with the railroad right-of-way, and then proceed south to Bender Road and Sugar Ridge Road. The proposed interceptor would then be constructed east along Sugar Ridge Road to State Route 83, south along State Route 83 to the North Ridgeville/Eaton Township line.

There are several advantages to this route:

1. From Dyke Road, to Sugar Ridge Road 95 percent of the route is through bare industrial property.

2. Would open up all industrial property west of Race Road and south of the railroad.

3. Would open up all industrial property west of Race Road and between the Ohio Turnpike and the tracks, mostly owned by Mr. Beckett.

4. Will serve the southwest section of our city or approximately one-eighth of North Ridgeville which the Case Road to Race Road plan would not serve.

5. Would pick up Taylor Woods in both directions.

6. Rural Water corridor already exists, would be less costly to seek expansion of corridor then to acquire new easements.

7. Would save cost of boring under the turnpike.

8. Would provide an immediate source of revenue from 150 homes, Bender Road, Sugar Ridge Road to Maddock area, in addition to Dyke and Case Road.

9. If a tee is provided at Dyke Road, sewer line could serve LCCC owner property north of Dyke Road.

10. Would save having to excavate a deep trench on Center Ridge Road.

A. The plan is for a main interceptor only.

B. Interceptor is to provide T's at each street as crossed.

C. All sewer lines extended for a specific project or development

D. Meters will be installed at City Limits.

E. North Ridgeville will control and own all facilities including French Creek.

This route for a westerly sewer was laid out with very much thought, time and common sense and with no special party or persons in mind, but with emphasis put on industrial and residential areas of our City that presently do not have sewers.

PART THREE: Planning Policies

As a cornerstone to the Master Plan the policies set the direction the city should take in guiding future orderly growth and development

The City of North Ridgeville must reject:

1. Uncontrolled urban sprawl;
2. Development patterns that adversely exceed the capacity limitations of public facilities and services.

The City of North Ridgeville must promote:

A distinct character of development unlike any other city in the metropolitan area.

Standard lot sizes tend to encourage the mechanical rigidity of subdivision development which, when repeated over and over, can produce monotonous residential areas. The image of North Ridgeville should be performed from subdivision design standards that promote variations in lot shapes and sizes, adding interest and form to the wide flat land features that characterize the Lake Erie drainage basin.

The provision of improved community facilities in advance of further growth and development.

Street widening improvements and sanitary sewers are two of the most significant structural elements that will influence and shape North Ridgeville’s future pattern of development. The planning and construction of these public facilities are the most powerful methods for affecting the timing and location of development. A consistently followed policy on the location and timing of sewer and street improvements will have a considerable effect in guiding the location and density at which new development occurs. Recognition of these infrastructure requirements is central to the North Ridgeville Master Plan and the goals of confining high density uses to areas served with centralized sewer facilities and well served highway interchange facilities and major streets that have the capacity to handle increased traffic volumes.

The adoption of not only regulatory measures but direct public investment in capital facilities to support agreed upon planning goals.

Capital budget and improvements programming will insure that public utilities and street widening improvements are constructed to support the agreed upon goals of the plan. The likelihood of achieving the desired qualities in the urban setting are to a greater extent assured if zoning and subdivision requirements are creatively conceived and incorporated into the capital improvements program procedure. In this way the community also takes on the role of guiding and leading, rather than merely restricting development proposals.

Sound design concepts for community development where only the land most appropriate for urban development is used; with the rest remaining in open space, parks, walking/hiking trails, nature preserves or as natural impoundment areas along rivers and drainage courses.

The Master Plan recognizes the suitability restraints of undeveloped land areas for various densities and kinds of urban development. A major physical feature which limits choices for development are large pockets of hydric soils that exist in the western part of the community. Hydric soils present difficulties for development that can be costly to overcome. The water in hydric soils generally uses the surface of the ground in winter and spring. Large scale grading and excavation for small lot subdivision and business developments require that drainage systems be installed to prevent costly and damaging conditions to the city's natural drainage system.

Thus, development projects will evolve, adapting to the changing natural conditions that are found to exist on sites on these areas. A similar type of flexibility will be required of the regulatory process that will govern development.

A regulatory system that will provide a consistent means for implementing the plan policies.

Fundamental to this system is a discretionary review procedure of proposed urban developments at the time they are submitted for review and approval by the City Planning Commission and City Council.

1. Residential Areas

New residential areas should form compact units with a focused center composed of shops, townhouses and garden apartments.

Past experience shows that as suburban communities grow beyond an initial phase of a few thousand families, land is developed in a scattered fashion. Considerable land remains to be developed within or closely linked to existing residential areas. Many of these areas are currently served by public sewer and water facilities and therefore, ought to be developed first before new areas on the edge of the presently built-up areas or beyond are allowed to be subdivided Such a policy establishes the principle of consolidating existing residential areas, thereby making more efficient and economical use of existing municipal services.

The existing water and sewer service area could accommodate more families by a process of in-filling of vacant land thereby achieving more compact neighborhoods. Compactness does not mean overcrowding. It simply means making better use of the existing public investment made in parks, public utility systems and major street improvements. Compactness also allows for a more economic servicing of existing residential areas and reduces the requirements for increased automobile use.

To promote a systematic review of major design considerations, every proposed subdivision shall adhere to the following principles in the platting of all lands within the city:

a) Public areas should be defined clearly and with a purpose. Any activity or passive space for public use should be treated as visual and physical focal points around which building lots and streets are arranged. By taking action during the formative stage of the subdivision review process, the community is presented with the opportunity to protect scenic views, link areas with neighborhoods, formal and informal centers.

b) Use the edge or the core of the subdivision as a focal point. Core areas should serve as centers of gravity to draw people together, such as parklands, bodies of water and neighborhood business centers. Without these attractions the opportunity for residents to interact casually are severely reduced.

c) Use order rather than repetition. Order tends to group elements of the design even when they are identical. Grid type street patterns with shaded trees and front yards bordered by fences or stone walls are some of the elements.

d) Use housing shapes and designs that convey the appearance of a small hamlet and not spreading subdivision development. Houses should generally face their narrow end towards the street or be shaped as a square with hipped roofs. Narrow lot frontages (60 to 70 feet) should be encouraged to achieve compactness and reduce public utility costs. Spacing between buildings on narrow lots is provided by locating garages in the rear yard.

e) Encourage a mix of activities rather than segregated groupings. Carefully thought out performance standards can go far in reducing potential disturbances between homes and nearby small businesses. Churches, day care centers, recreational facilities and home occupations complement residential uses.

f) Encourage walking and bicycling rather than driving. Pathways make it easier for people to get around and reduce dependency on the automobile and expensive street connections between subdivisions.

g) Encourage a range of residents rather than building for one type. A variety of lot sizes and housing types enable people to stay in the same area as their family sizes and housing needs change. Provide independent housing opportunities for young couples.

It is recommended that the residential densities proposed on the plan be maintained for new residential developments but that variations be allowed in lot sizes. By varying lot size, without a change in density, lands are automatically set aside for park and open space purposes (tree stands, wetlands, flood plains, etc.). When a homeowners association exists it would absorb the cost of maintaining the common grounds. When developments are properly designed in context with their surroundings, the planned development pattern offers tremendous advantages over the conventional pattern. These advantages include:

a) greater environmental sensitivity and responsiveness to environmental regulations;

b) protection of neighborhood character within new and existing residential areas by providing open space for common use;

c) availability of reserved sites for active and passive recreational pursuits in advance of increased development;

d) creation of more diverse and architecturally interesting neighborhoods;

e) creation of a friendlier and safer pedestrian environment, including walking, hiking and biking alternatives.

Many tools should be considered in reserving lands for open space: easements, tax concessions, planned development zoning techniques, careful subdivision review, transfer of development rights and outright gifts of land. Another device is the residential process itself. The Ridgefield Homes Development on Root Road in the southeast section of the city provides a good example of the prudent and logical set aside of open space land in connection with a large open space planned development. Foregoing the direct sale of the open space land, the developer benefited from the adjacent land and overall values created by preserving this open land; home buyers are willing to pay a premium for home sites adjacent to open space areas.

Multiple family residential developments often complement shopping centers and should logically be located adjacent to them. Such multiple family developments contain high population densities, purchasing power and traffic generation. Adequate access and sized improvements to major streets should exist prior to establishing new multiple family zones.

2. Business Areas

The Plan provides for the continuation of strip commercial development along the frontage properties on Center Ridge Road. Business zoning should be established at locations outside the service trade area of this strip-commercial area, but only at such time when sufficient residential development exists, generating added buying power to support added commercial space.

New business uses should be encouraged to locate in centers. Region wide business centers should be concentrated in planned developments around the major highway interchange facilities.

New neighborhood shopping centers should be located at the intersection of two major streets, and include enough acreage for:

a) Sufficient off street parking for customers and employees;

b) Sufficient and well located ingress and egress points controlled to prevent traffic tie-ups at intersections.

Major interchange facilities influence where community and regional shopping centers, office/industrial parks and major recreational facilities such as the proposed golf course off of Cook Road, are constructed. The Planned Development sector concept provides owners, investors and developers with a maximum freedom of choice consistent with the overall goals of the plan.

A sufficient retail market population to support the business development.

While regional highway access points may serve as a major business site selection factor, they are not the only criteria influencing the need for more commercial development. Too often the shopping needs of a community are overlooked. According to results obtained from a 1997 survey questionnaire sampling eight percent of the citizens of North Ridgeville, 69 percent of the respondents stated they wanted to see more shopping facilities inside the city limits. Since more commercial zoned land exists than what is being used, the concern focuses on the need for more business development not more business zoning. Types of stores wanted by North Ridgeville residents: discount drug stores, department stores and outlet malls.

To take advantage of the region-wide commercial shopping opportunities available in North Ridgeville a market study should be required in connection with any site plan review of a neighborhood or regionwide shopping center development to determine the current and potential catchment area for shoppers, recent increases in purchasing power and the degree to which existing shopping facilities are unattractive in terms of access, retail mix, appearance and parking.

3. Industrial Areas

Improved accessibility must be provided to the industrial corridor that extends from east to west through the center of the city, calling for the necessity to provide grade separations along the Railroad tracks.

Industrial park developments should have direct and convenient access to highway interchange facilities. Where long distances or indirect routes must be negotiated to get to and from such highway access points opportunities become limited in using what appear to be good sites for industrial purposes.

The industrial corridor, including the Taylor Road Industrial Park, offer possibilities of attracting added industrial/office park development. Attention should therefore be given to the construction of the Westerly Sewer Project and a well coordinated improved major street system that ties the corridor directly to major highway interchange points.

Public investment in industrial land, selected street and utility improvement projects must be initiated to attract private investment to the corridor. These private investments will add significant tax base. The increased tax revenues thus generated, when combined with land sales and other sources of public payback, are sufficient to repay the initial public investment.

To implement this payback approach, the following industrial planning concepts were used as the basis in preparing the industrial land use proposal:

a) To keep congestion to a minimum and provide sufficient turning radii for trucks, industrial districts should be located adjacent to major streets, or to special routes that provide direct access to the metropolitan area-wide highway network.

b) The industrial district should provide adequate space for:

1. Employee parking
2. Truck loading, storage and warehousing
3. Future expansion needs
4. Landscaping

c) In the corridor district an ideal design arrangement should include separate streets for cars and trucks. The streets used by employees would be fronted by parking lots, while streets used by trucks would front onto loading/unloading areas.

d) Industrial districts should include a full complement of public utility systems, including sewer, water, gas, electric and telephone/fiber optic services.

e) Industry is also attaching increased importance today to the advantages employees would enjoy in a community. A good educational system, wide choice of housing, the availability of recreation, day care and entertainment, quality shopping, community activities and cultural opportunities are all factors in the location decision.

It is recommended that an economic development professional be hired by the city to aggressively pursue the retention and expansion of existing businesses and the attraction of new business investment. It is commonly held that 80 percent of a community's job base comes from the retention and expansion of existing industry. But R&E initiatives take a great deal of time and effort, requiring in most cases daily contact or communication with company representatives. To become acquainted with company needs and issues, the city should hire an economic development specialist with the expertise to help existing industry and attract new business investment.

It is proposed that the industrial area in close proximity to the intersection of Center Ridge and Lear Nagle Roads be programmed for adaptive reuse. This site sits between the commercial properties fronting onto Center Ridge Road and predominantly one-family residential areas to the south. The area is considered to be more appropriate for office-service park developments that will effectively "buffer" the one family area to the south from the commercial properties fronting onto Center Ridge Road.

In addition, the industrial area located adjacent to the Interstate 80/480 interchange facilities south of Cook Road appears to have the most potential and to be strategically located for industrial park development.

(Continued on MASTER PLAN PART 4.)

minnickgail@hotmail.com

Page Updated Fri Oct 1, 2004 11:13pm EDT