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November 10th 2020 Workshop

cfoster@cfoster.com

Nov 10th, 2020 Workshop and Special Meeting

Council Comments I notified council of the Planning Commission meeting last night. The planning commission, in a 4-3 vote, decided to pass and forward to council a Text Amendment request to Hike & Bike Senior Overlay Zoning District 8 of the Land Development Code. This text amendment is designed almost specifically to permit changing 2 parcels of land from District 8 Industrial/Business Park to District 8: Hike Bike Senior Housing, in anticipation of building a senior housing community. This piece was just the text amendment to the land development code. The entire process will be lengthy as it will come to council. It will be voted on. If it should pass it would then permit the zoning change. Then planning commission would need to recommend the plan submitted by the developers. Several other boards would be involved as well. It is step 1 in the plan to change this from Business Park to residential.

http://hudson.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=23c4c69f-aa34-4e40-9f66-b13ae96e6cd9.pdf

The second item was for 5698 Hudson Drive, roughly 2.5 acre lot which is unoccupied and scheduled for demolition. The zoning is D8, Industrial Business Park and a self-storage facility is a conditional use. This was passed 7-0. http://hudson.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=1cf67ef0-37d3-4e06-bdd8-a8984b70881a.pdf

The last item was for a compatibility review request for an 11-lot single family subdivision located in Zoning District 1 (suburban residential neighborhood) just east of Sapphire Drive on Norton Road. The homes would range from 2,100 to under 3,000sq Feet in size. This was passed 7-0. The plan can be located below.

Discussion Items City Staff has requested a new Public Works facility for some time and are bringing forth ideas on where it could be located.

Staff created a web page to present the options to Council. You can view that here https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/990ece729e0347ab8444f07b5f6db5fb

The estimate for land and building costs for Public works and HPP together would be roughly $16 million. We asked for more information on costs if the building was added to the city hall land so we can compare costs but on the surface staying on Georgetown road makes the best financial sense and will allow us to keep funds available for capital improvements (connectivity, stormwater, roads). The 20yr cost would be roughly sub-$6 million. It might not be consolidated, but it looks like a good financial decision.

Items on the Consent Agenda for November 17th include 1: a resolution allowing staff to auction off personal property, including motor vehicles and other property, which are no longer needed for public use or are obsolete or unfit for the use which they were acquired (read: we are going to government-style ebay stuff we cant use any longer like nearly broken wheel loaders, etc).

2: A resolution authorizing advances of local taxes (annual requirement for summit county).

3: A grant up to $1,500 in funds used for PPE from the Ohio Department of Public Safety Division of Emergency Medical Services.

4: Amend our agreement with Granicus to allow for Hudson Schools to utilize HD streaming services. The schools would reimburse the City for the increased cost.

5: A resolution approving the terms and conditions of a collective bargaining agreement with the teamsters local union No 436 for the years 2021 through 2023 and allowing the city manager to enter said agreement.

6 same as above – Utility Workers Union Local 588.

7: same as above – Ohio Patrolmen’s benevolent association for patrol officers.

8: same as above – Ohio Patrolmen’s benevolent association for Sergeants.

9: same as above – Ohio Patrolmen’s benevolent association for dispatchers.

Council and Staff worked together in a very collaborative way on this. Probably one of my more enjoyable experiences of collaborative work on council. All of our unions were satisfied, as were we as a council and staff, on our first pass of discussions.

Proposed Legislation for November 17th.

20-125: The city manager would like to extend the Voice over IP agreements for Velocity Broadband service providers. This has been a profit driving area of VBB.

20-126: A resolution accepting the city managers recommendation not to implement the growth management allocation system during the calendar year 2021.

20-142: A second reading of the resolution to accept the 5 year plan.

20-143: An ordinance to make appropriations for current expenses and other expenditures during fiscal year 2021 (current year budget appropriations).

20-144: A resolution authorizing the city to enter into a job creation grant agreement with Diebold-Nixdorf and declaring an emergency. Diebold-Nixdorf will be consolidating 2 offices into a headquarters in Hudson in the old Windstream building on Boston Mills near Rt 8 and i80 that will bring over 300 jobs and 31 million in payroll into Hudson. City and Schools benefit differently from this. For the schools it will mean about $190,000k/year in added funds off the top of my head, starting sometime in 2021/2022. Plus or minus 10k. I just don’t have the paperwork in front of me at this moment.

For the city we break even in the first 2 years because we will be required to pay restitution to Green where some of these jobs are coming from. Most cities in Summit have a non-poaching agreement that forces those we “take” jobs from others to pay a portion of the income tax lost back over time. 50% year 1, 40% year 2, and so on. And the job creation grant gives 50% credit to Diebold-Nixdorf for 10 years.

So the long and short: the schools will be happy, day one. The city will be guaranteed some long term solid payroll taxes which will start showing up in 2 years as the penalties to Green diminish.

Lasty there is the final item to place the levy renewal for the library on the May 2021 ballot.

We adjourn the normal meeting and will enter a Special Meeting. The special meeting has two purposes

1: For a quick second reading of the Diebold-Nixdorf job creation grant. It seems odd to me that we need to read this again but I have had the sense that Diebold-Nixdorf is in a rush (seriously it feels that way – 3 normally timed readings would be fine for most). Im not suggesting it is nefarious. Just odd.

2: The first reading of an ordinance placing a moratorium on the operation of any short term residential real estate rental in the city of Hudson. It would be a 180 day moratorium prohibiting short term (30 days or less) rentals (STR’s). We have been discussion options for how to deal with situations like that which happened recently, but council has yet to see any drafts. We have been told “the language is not yet ready” so it is premature to place this moratorium without getting into details on who will be impacted and how. It is simply a first reading and will not be acted on. But it is too soon for me to say I would or would not support this. I simply have not seen any language yet.

The most significant issue on my mind tonight is the life lost in a terrible accident near First and Main a couple nights ago. While some areas of Hudson have had crosswalks improved, such as though near Western Reserve Academy, others have remained behind (near our own schools) and left unaddressed (the underpass on Morse Road below the train tracks). I know Beth Bigham has worked diligently to address the crossings near the schools. I have had discussions with staff a number of times on the Morse Road underpass and how it relates to Phase 2 and/or a delayed phase 2 – in a need to improve safety. Those need to be urgently addressed before another family experiences a loss of a loved one at such as young age. My heart goes out to the family and their entire community of friends and family. There are no words.

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