and it seemed pretty clear to me that I was witnessing a clash of visions about what our community should look like.
The zoning issues: The drive-through that Mr. Hersh wants to put on his property at the corner of Bishop and Wilson Mills Road, and the church building on Ridgebury near Ford Road that a local dentist says he wants to use as a dental office.
Councilpersons Pilla and Anderson seem to be all for changing our zoning laws to allow commercial development--- wherever anyone wants to put it in the city.
Mr. Anderson saw no problem with rezoning the church building so it could be used for business purposes.
It didn's seem to matter to him that the church building is surrounded by residential neighborhoods (including, ironically, his own neighborhood) or the fact that there is currently plenty of business-zoned space available in the city. Or that there is a market for the church building, as reflected by the fact that several religious leaders and groups have inquired in the last 12 months about relocating to our community.
And Mr. Pilla seemed to be under the unfortunate (and legally inaccurate) impression that the city could pass a zoning law allowing drive-throughs on some local business properties, but not others, based on the property size. He spoke in favor of allowing only small properties to have drive-throughs. ( I have to admit it made me wonder: do you suppose he intends to use Mr. Hersh's property as the dividing line? )
Councilpersons Murphy and Hargate spoke in favor of valuing and preserving the high quality, residential nature of our community.
Hargate reminded the rest of council that community members have spoken out rather forcibly in the past against turning our through-streets into commercial strips---like you see in nearby communities.
Mr. Hargate was instrumental, in fact, in ensuring that zoning changes not only have to be approved by the city as a whole, but by the impacted wards as well, to make sure that the people who are most closely affected by a change in zoning have a significant say in whether that change is made.
Mrs. Murphy pointed out that drive-throughs are not currently allowed in the city. She cautioned that council had to do its homework before starting down the path to change our zoning laws so dramatically, which would include the need to look at traffic and safety issues. She also expressed some discomfort with the apparent rush to get the issue on the ballot.
According to Councilman Mills, he envisions putting the drive-through issue on the ballot this November.
As for the church building, Mrs. Murphy strongly encouraged members of the administration to sit down with the dentist and discuss the many areas and properties available in the city that he could use for a dental office.
Bottom line, the question is this: which compass direction should our council members look to, in thinking (and making decisions) about our community? Should they look to our south or to the east?
Based on the discussion on Tuesday night, I've got a pretty good idea of which direction at least four of our councilmembers are looking---and it's not in the same direction.
Update on the Cutter Oil Residential Gas well
Fire Chief Turner reported to council that he was informed after last week's meeting that ODNR does not have to comply with state fire codes with regard to the Cutter Oil access drive.
The drive that ODNR has approved does not have to be constructed to guarantee that Highland Heights fire trucks will have the ability to properly access and maneuver near the gas well that Cutter intends to drill behind the residential homes in the Wilson Mills/Miner Road neighborhood.
There are only 3 ODNR inspectors who are responsible for 3,000+ wells in Cuyahoga County, including the ones that ODNR has approved to be drilled in the middle of our neighborhoods.
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