LAFAYETTE TOWNSHIP ZONING COMMISSION

Regular Meeting

6776 Wedgewood Road, Medina, Ohio

May 5, 2009 @ 7:00 p.m.

Zoning Commission Chair Karen Schoonover called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll call indicated four members of the Zoning Commission were present: Karen Schoonover, Sherri Meinke, Mike Biskup (at 7:03 p.m.) and Russ Green. Alternates Peggy Folk and Matthew Strehle were also present along with Zoning Inspector Alliss Strogin (at 7:02 p.m.). Dianne Wenslow was absent.

Minutes

Upon motion by Sherri Meinke, duly seconded by Russ Green, the April 7, 2009, meeting minutes were unanimously approved and then signed.

Correspondence

The secretary distributed the following items:

- Listing of Zoning Permits as of April 29, 2009

- May 2009 Grassroots Clippings newsletter

- Flyer announcing MCDPS Zoning Enforcement Workshop on 5/13/09

- Flyer announcing OPC NE Ohio Planning & Zoning Workshop to be held 6/5/09 at the Holiday Inn Express, 5785 Heisley Road, Mentor, Ohio

Zoning Inspector Report

The Zoning Inspector reported that permits started to pick up in April. She gets calls from realtors regarding foreclosure properties. She also gets inquiries about who to contact (name, address, phone) relative to the different Homeowner Associations in the township but this is something that is not available since the associations change officers on a regular basis and do not provide the information to the township.

New Business

There was no new business.

Old Business

Status of Comprehensive Plan Revision

Chair Schoonover reported that Trustee Don Butler called her today relative to this matter. Mr. Butler indicated that he had an amenable meeting with Mr. Arnold and that Mr. Arnold believed that he provided the township with what he was asked to do. However, it is not what the township needs to go ahead to develop and update our zoning code. Mr. Butler indicated he is going to discuss this at the next township trustee meeting. Mr. Butler plans to meet with Patrice Theken at MCDPS and perhaps look at some other different agencies and then the trustees will decide how to proceed in order to get this completed and adopted before the end of the year. As a Board we need to keep this moving forward as the township needs to have a legally defensible and adopted comprehensive plan that benefits the township because we owe that to the citizens of the township. It is vital that we have an updated code because of the development and the issues that need to be addressed.

Suggestions for Zoning Commission Priority Items (listed for informational purposes)

The list to date includes:

- Nonconforming Lots in Chippewa Lake Area;

- Comprehensive Plan Revision;

- Parking Regulations (Matt Strehle research/review);

- Site Plan Review Procedures;

- Abolish Rear Lots (Dianne Wenslow research/review);

- General Clean-up of Zoning Code;

- Lake Road Zoning Districts (Mike Biskup research/review);

- Allowable Uses in Local Commercial (Mike Biskup research/review);

- Conditional Uses

- Signage (Sherri Meinke research/review)

- Solar and Wind Power (Russ Green research/review);

- Transportation/Trolley.

Review of Signage

Sherri Meinke indicated that she did extensive research on the Internet and came up with several valuable items. One of the best was a power point presentation by Prof. Allen C. Weinstein from Cleveland Marshall College of Law entitled Keys to Effective and Legally Defensible Sign Regulations. In looking at the 59 slides she realized that she had seen this before at one of the seminars from MCDPS and it’s got valuable information.

She looked at Medina and Montville Townships and printed out 18 pages from Montville Township signage regulations. She also looked at the City of Hudson’s zoning and it has lots of charts, pictures and examples - it is more historic and they want everything to blend in. The Village of Brewster also has some good stuff in their zoning. She also found definitions that we could include if we don’t already have them. Based upon what she found to date Montville Township has the best stuff for reference to our township.

Zoning Inspector Strogin indicated that Montville recently updated their signage regulations. You would need to review them to cherry-pick the things out that fits your community and compare it to two things – what the township currently has and what the township needs to have for what you’ve got and what you hope to get in 5-10 years.

Sherri indicated that she would try to compare Montville Township’s signage language to what our township has by the next meeting. Sherri will send the power point link and the other links to the zoning commission members for review prior to the next meeting.

Review of Local Commercial/Lake Road

Mike Biskup indicated he had been going through some more items and looking at everything that had been discussed previously. He went to the Auditor’s website and printed out some of the areas that had been discussed and pinpointed the last time. He’s been driving around counting how many homes on the roads and whether it is being used as residential or whatever. He went from Lake Road and Route 42, came down Route 42 to Route 162 and then across to Lake and then from Lake Road all the way down into Chippewa. He’ll try to have that and some other things for review at the next meeting.

Zoning Inspector Strogin indicated that she has started to get phone calls about properties on Lake Road that are near the Chippewa Partners project. The Chippewa project is still proceeding as the trees where the Indiana bat would nest were cut down by the March 31^st deadline. Numerous people have stopped by the property for an informal tour and for pictures before demolition takes place. There have been special news programs shown on the Cleveland TV channels. Also someone made a video for U-tube about Chippewa Lake showing the old park when it was alive and well and then showing what that exact scene looked like now. The video is about 8 minutes long and is pretty good.

Review of Solar and Wind Power

Russ Green indicated he did some research on solar and wind power. In watching some programs on TV he noticed that solar/wind power is an emerging technology but it is moving much faster than it did ten years ago. We tend to think of wind power as a big turbine on a big pedestal of some sort 150’ in the air with the blades turning – that is still in existence and is being used out in the open areas. However the newer technology is something that would lie horizontally and have air ducts in it so it turns more slowly to generate electricity. There’s other types being developed also and he doesn’t see how we can write some type of regulations on them and be able to stay abreast of the technology that is going to push in one direction or another. The other issue is how much noise does this wind turbine create – it doesn’t run quietly.

Sherri Meinke indicated there was a wind turbine (windmill) in existence in Homerville Township and she will try to find out more information as to zoning in that township.

It was indicated that the windmill sound is more like a “swish” noise. Mike Biskup indicated that a friend’s cabin in southern Ohio has both solar panels on the roof and on the sides and it also has a small wind turbine mounted on the side of the cabin that sounds almost like a fan running when you hear it inside.

Zoning Inspector Strogin indicated the general concept to make windmills profitable is they need a steady 8 mph wind to work. There are some places that windmills/wind power would be cost effective – around the lake and some of the high areas. There is a little bit in Lafayette Township that might work. In Medina Township they wrote zoning initially for radio and other towers but indirectly it would work for windmills – they said a tower, a structure or anything over 50’ in height would need to have an extra foot from the side yard for any tower/structure over the 50’.

Russ Green further indicated that some of the technology regarding solar roof sheeting/ panels is changing also in that they can get more electricity generated on a smaller component than what they used to be able to do and it’s more efficient. There’s a new technology coming out (film technology) where they just roll out big sheets and put it on roofs and other areas of the building. It’s going to be hard to write any zoning that’s going to be viable for all of these new technology ideas.

Zoning Inspector Strogin indicated that solar roofing probably couldn’t be regulated since it would be on a structure. In appropriate climates solar roofing panels might be very cost effective but it would probably not replace electricity, only augment it. From a zoning perspective the only thing to worry about might be a wind farm or solar farm but it might not be practical for this area.

Review of Parking Regulations

Matt Strehle indicated that he just started to read/review the current township parking regulations.

Chair Schoonover thanked everyone who contributed for his/her efforts and urged everyone to continue to do research/review. Other reports and updates will be given and discussed at the next meeting.

Any board member wanting copies of notes or articles, etc. made for the entire board should contact the zoning secretary prior to the next meeting.

Announcements

- Next MCDPS Zoning Workshop will be Wednesday, May 13, 2009, at 6:30 p.m. at the University of Akron, Medina County Campus.

- Next regular meeting of the Zoning Commission will be Tuesday, June 2, 2009, at 7 p.m. at the township hall.

Adjournment

Upon motion by Karen Schoonover, duly seconded by Sherri Meinke, it was unanimous that the meeting be adjourned. Adjourned at 8:05 p.m.

Marlene L. Oiler, Certified PP, PLS

Lafayette Township Zoning Commission Secretary

(Note: Minutes approved on 6/2/09.)