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

In 1973, Lorain County Regional Planning Commission submitted the Major Thoroughfare Plan.
In 1975, the City of N. Ridgeville adopted that Major Thoroughfare Plan by Resolution 346-75. Said plan has not been revised nor approved and we are, therefore, bound to adhere to it.

In 1993, the Advisory Committee to the Building & Lands Committee of Council submitted the "Through Streets Plan" and was accepted by Planning Commission and Council.
In December, 1998, Council adopted the Master Plan. It states, "a series of new street extensions are also required to improve accessibility within and between different parts of the city. Nine recommendations were made. Mills Road extension was #1. Stewart Lovece was the Chairman of the Transportation Committee that made the decision to extend Mills Road to Case along with members, Jerry Krueger, Service Department Head, Jean Brown, now President of Council, and Tom Sweeney, former Safety Service Director.
All these reports recommend extending Mills Road to Abbe except the Master Plan, which recommends extending Mills Rd. to Case Rd.

Recently we paid city planner, PKG $4,000 to review the Kingston PCD. PKG reported as follows:

1. The traffic generation calculations to be understated to a significant degree.

2. The Mills Road extension from Stoney Ridge to Case was a sound transportation engineering concept which has not been included in the Preliminary Plan for Kingston Place. Eliminating the Mills Rd. connection to Case, as envisioned in the Master Plan, will cause significant amounts of east-west traffic on the main interior road of the PCD not included in the Traffic Report. This will be particularly true at the completion of the commercial development and raises concerns about the advisability of direct access to the main spine road of the single family lots indicated in Phase 2 as well as the proposed offset street access points for the future cluster areas.

3. No projections are made for the increase in regional traffic on key roads such as Case, Stoney Ridge, or Center Ridge. The Traffic Impact Study submitted with the application has already indicated the need to install a 3-phase traffic signal at Stoney Ridge and Center Ridge and install stop sign controls at the internal road intersections.

4. The driveway access to the primary five-acre Neighborhood Business Dist. is too close to Mills Road to meet the State of Ohio Access Management Standards.

5. This project is not in conformance with the recommended low density designation in the Master Plan for this area.

6. The key concern for N. Ridgeville will be the cumulative effects of future development on roads such as Case Road.

PKG's concerns deal with the needs of this particular development, yet there are over 1,000 additional acres that could be developed into PCDs in the northwest quadrant of our city. If the Kingston PCD is approved, we will lose the land for the east-west extension of Mills Road.

Case Rd. and Stoney Ridge were not designed to carry heavy traffic. They are narrow, winding, and dangerous country roads. Why did we hire a city planner if we don't heed the advice given?

All four previous Thoroughfare Plans were sound, reasonable plans for the future and written before this PCD was proposed. Extending Mills Road to Case Rd. just makes good sense for present and future development in the northwest quadrant of our city.
Even though the mayor stated she is in the process of revising the Thoroughfare Plan, there is a procedure for considering the revision before a recommendation is made to council where a vote is taken. That procedure has not yet begun. Further, key city people worked on the road recommendations of the Master Plan. The Master Plan is only one year old yet we are told the Thoroughfare Plans are out of date. If and when the Thoroughfare Plan is revised and approved, will it again be deemed out of date when a developer proposes another PCD in the path of that road?

Section 1226.01 of the Codified Ordinance states, "all proposed subdivisions shall conform to the Official Thoroughfare Plan and any subsequent revisions thereof. Therefore, council must base their decisions on the Thoroughfare Plan presently approved by council by resolution and not on a plan the mayor states is in the process of being revised by Mr. Lovece.

The Kingston PCD insists of 202 acres of land. If we follow the Thoroughfare Plans as set forth and if Mills Road were built between Stoney Ridge and Case Roads, approximately 10 acres would be required. This will take the total acreage of the Kingston PCD down to 192 acres--not enough to qualify it to be re-zoned to PCD classification.
Section 1240.02 and .03 of our Codified Ordinances regarding Purposes and Interpretation of the Zoning Code, was enacted to preserve and promote the public health, convenience, safety and general welfare of our residents and to avoid undue concentrations of population and congestion on the streets.

In December, 1999, we all took the Oath of Office and solemnly swore to uphold the Charter and ordinances of this City. We may like this PCD, but we are bound by that oath to uphold the ordinances we have in place right now. We cannot adopt T 137-99 nor T 6-2000.

minnickgail@hotmail.com

Page Updated Fri Oct 1, 2004 11:15pm EDT