Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee of Stow City Council Meeting held on Thursday,, at 6:29 p.m. Council Members Present: City Officials Present: Press Representatives: Adaska, D Antonio, Costello, Lowdermilk, Pribonic, Rasor & Riehl Mayor Kline, Law Director Zibritosky, Director of Budget & Management Earle, Service Director Wren, City Engineer McCleary, Director of Planning & Development Kurtz, Police Chief Film, Assistant Fire Chief Lang, Manager of Information Systems Germano, Deputy Engineer Jones, Parks & Recreation Director Nahrstedt & Clerk of Council Emahiser Beacon Journal Mr. Adaska called the meeting to order. MOTION: Call to Order Approval of Minutes Mr. Adaska moved and Mr. Costello seconded to approve the Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of May 25, 2017 as circulated. Yes Votes: Adaska, D Antonio, Costello & Lowdermilk No Votes: None. The motion carried. Business Items Drainage Ditch 3898 & 3908 Baumberger Road Mr. Adaska stated Council should have received a couple of letters regarding this matter. He hoped everyone had had an opportunity to look them over. He asked Mr. Jones to give them a brief background on the ditch. He also asked Mr. Kurtz to show on the screen the properties that were being discussed in 2000 and 2015.
Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of 2. As people could see in the year 2000 the ditch was not really cut into the soil that deep. However, in 2015 the ditch had been eroded pretty deep and the outlet between the two homes was now even with their walkout basements. Part of the problem is water lays in the bottom of the ditch. In between rains mosquitos form inside that ditch. It is hard to cross between one side and the other to mow the grass. It has just gotten really problematic. Mr. Adaska asked Mr. Kurtz to put the drawing on the screen that shows drainage in that area. He pointed out on the City of Stow s Storm Water Map for that particular area the new church at the top of Leewood. He stated that the drainage was collected in that parking lot in three retention basins and then heads down behind the homes on the south side of Leewood. He pointed out what the City had installed last summer. Then the water goes out to Leewood, goes down to Baumberger and then drains in between two houses. Therefore, he thought they could say that it is one area that drains quite a bit more than five acres. He had been out there many times. He thought the area needed some improvements. The engineering department was going to be doing some surveying out there to see what the City could do. Like he had said, it was over five acres. Mr. Jones stated before 1992 he had a map of 1953 showing where the old stream used to be coming from Cardinal and Red Wing. He pointed out the blue area as being the old stream. It looked like it was going thru Mr. Marshall s house. However, it could have been moved at one time where the picture might just be a little off. Over time you could see the storm sewers. When residential areas want to be put in they need to put storm sewers in to fill in the ditch. In 1992 there was a storm sewer project that was put in from Red Wing Circle that followed that ditch line thru Mr. Marshall s property. That was part of a 1992 project filling in that stream and adding a storm sewer pretty much along the same channel as was existing. It wasn t until 2004 that he could find where the erosion problem was brought to the City of Stow s attention or they acted upon the erosion problem that was happening out there. Brad Kosco wrote a work order to get on Mr. Marshall s and Ms. Westfall s properties to try to solve or alleviate the erosion that was happening. He had that letter as well. That project was completed in 2005. Filtrexx came in and did erosion control. It was landscaping erosion with filter sock and silk fence technology. He had a copy of the
Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of 3. requisition. The cost was $11,000 for the City to come in and put this erosion protection in. In 2006 another letter was sent to Mr. Marshall concerning the failing of this erosion protection by Mr. Kosco. In essence it said that they saw signs that the filter sock was failing or the system that was put in was failing. They d like to have another work right agreement to come on their property to try to solve the problem. In that letter he stated that he had tried to contact him by phone on four separate occasions and had hung an orange flier on his door in order to make contact about this matter. While the window for this work to be completed that year had passed, he would still like to speak to him about the project, timing for next spring and permission to re-enter his property for this restoration. None of this work would be of cost to him. He asked him to please call him by Friday, November 3 rd. If he did not hear from him by that date, he would confirm with the contractor that the project was on hold indefinitely and the City may not pursue any additional services to this site. That was kind of where it ended in 2006 with no response to try to have the City go back onto his property to fix the problem. It had been recently brought to his attention by Mr. Adaska. The engineering department has agreed with permission from Mr. Marshall and Ms. Westfall with signed work right agreements that they would go onto their property and do a preliminary survey to see if there is anything that the engineering department can do. That letter was sent out and both work right agreements have been signed and sent back to the engineering department. They would take it from there and put it on the list of properties to be surveyed so they can study the situation and see what can be done. Mr. Adaska thanked Mr. Jones. He really appreciated what he and Mr. McCleary had agreed to do. He knew Mr. Marshall had in the past been hard to get ahold of. They definitely had his attention today. He has signed the work agreement along with his next door neighbor Ms. Westfall. From what he understood, the City was close to going out and doing a survey. He thought that would help the situation quite a bit. He thanked Mr. Jones for agreeing to go out there and do that despite what had happened in the past. Amendment to the Stormwater Management Program Activities Policy Mr. Adaska stated after close review, he would hold this item. He didn t think there was anything wrong with the legislation. It may need to be tweaked just a little bit. However, he wanted to wait and see how they moved forward with the situation on Baumberger.
Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of 4. Plans for Adell Durbin Park Mr. Adaska stated he had asked Mr. Wren and Ms. Nahrstedt to come in this evening to give Council some ideas on how they could proceed with a new replacement building because, as they had discussed four weeks ago, Campbell Lodge would be coming down shortly. It was being torn down. He believed they needed something out there to replace that building so they could continue to program things for parks and recreation. Mr. Wren passed out a handout (a copy of which is attached to these minutes). He stated Mr. Adaska had asked him to do a cost projection for a facility at Adell Durbin Park. Basically what they found was there were hundreds of different types of kits that you can get for the same thing they had used in the past for shelters. Those obviously ranged greatly in price. They determined the cost of a 120-person facility, which was probably the max there with the parking lot. The total cost was $684,500 plus or minus 20% given the fact that this was a very general topic without getting down to the actual intricacies of the building. This was not his area anymore. It was for the Parks and Recreation Director, Parks and Recreation Board, the Mayor and City Council to decide. He turned the discussion over to Ms. Nahrstedt. Ms. Nahrstedt passed out a handout (a copy of which is attached to these minutes). She stated at the last meeting that she was unable to attend there was some discussion about Adell Durbin Park and if there was a need for a new rental facility there. It sounded as though part of the discussion stemmed from the presumption that Adell Durbin Park is underutilized. She wanted to share with everyone a quick recent history of its usage. Ten years ago Adell Durbin Park was the location of our Nature Center and our Nature Programs. At that time it also was home to one rental facility, i.e. Campbell Lodge. Campbell Lodge was typically rented for small events such as baby showers and birthday parties. Since that time, the Nature Center has been taken out of service and the Naturalist was let go. Also since that time Campbell Lodge has been taken out of service. In its last year of service, they brought in approximately $5,000 in rental fees for that facility. Currently Adell Durbin Park has a nice little tot lot playground, a large play area and wonderful hiking trails, picnic areas and beautiful wooded natural areas. It also has a phenology garden, a bird sanctuary, lighted tennis courts, and passive recreational areas for meditation, quiet thought and reading. On its own, Adell Durbin Park is a gem and it is utilized by our residents.
Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of 5. Could it be used more? Yes it could be and they wish that to be. Her department was in the process of remapping, remarking and redefining the nature trails to promote to their residents that the trails are there and are usable. They were also partnering with Summit Metro Parks to bring back nature programs to Adell Durbin Park. Last year they had two successful programs with Metro Parks: Creatures of the Night, which was a program about bats that brought in 100 attendees, and Moth Attraction, which was also well attended. This year to date Metro Parks has offered two programs at Adell Durbin Park: Bugs for Kids and Hide-n-Seek. Still yet to take place is a repeat of last year s bat program. People will want to mark their calendars for August 2, 2017, at 8:30 p.m., for that. In deciding how they grow, her department frequently looks to other community recreation departments and other public park systems to see what the trends are. Then they look at their own community and ask themselves what fits for Stow? What are they able to accomplish with their staff and budget limitations? From her perspective, as a recreational professional and having served this community for more than thirty years, she would recommend that they set their goal on an outdoor shelter as an amenity for Adell Durbin Park. Many people knew she was a runner and was all over the region in parks everywhere from the Brecksville and Bedford Reservations in the Cleveland Metro Parks, Summit Metro Parks on South River Road and S.R. 59 in Monroe Falls, Sand Run Park, and in the Cities of Cuyahoga Falls, Kent and Tallmadge in their public parks. Outdoor shelters are the trend. Outdoor shelters have a flexible use with minimal turnover time for their staff. Quite coincidently an outdoor shelter nicely fits into the landscape at Adell Durbin Park its naturalness, its quietness and its size. An outdoor shelter would serve as a base for their nature programs and also could be rented for private events and used for community events. As they all knew, they were limited in parking at Adell Durbin Park. They were also limited by the restrooms, which are not accessible at this time. She had been advised by the service department that the current restroom building could be modified to provide accessibility and that that project could be done by City staff. She also pointed out that as she used other park systems within the region, more often than not the restroom building was not immediately adjacent to the outdoor shelter. So that would not be an unusual setup to have at Adell Durbin Park. In fact, many of the restroom buildings serving outdoor shelters are composting toilets with no running water.
Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of 6. She had her favorite outdoor shelters that she saw, liked and was envious of that other park systems had. One of those happens to be the Nature Realm. If you had ever seen their outdoor shelter and observation deck, you would be envious as well. She had provided a packet that had a few photos for Council to peruse of shelters that she thought would fit with their goals, which she saw as something that was affordable, something that was usable and flexible in its use, something that fits within the landscape of Adell Durbin Park and something that fits the needs of our community. She didn t necessarily believe that it was incumbent upon them to provide even more indoor facilities for weddings and larger events than what they already had. As an example, in the upcoming month of September 2017 they have the following private rentals occurring in their indoor facilities Silver Springs Lodge and Heritage Barn: 13 weddings; 1 anniversary party; 2 birthday parties; 1 reunion. So she definitely felt that the City did its part in serving that market. She would briefly go thru the packet. She was confident that they could have a very fine outdoor shelter with a fireplace built in, an adjacent concrete patio with a fire pit and have it outfitted with tables, chairs and grills for under $100,000. The first photo was a generic photo off of a shelter website that provides kits to build shelters. The second one was as well. The third photo was of Ottawa Point at the Brecksville Reservation, which was one of her favorite areas. She took this photo because she wanted Council to see how this patio was adjacent to the shelter. The shelter has a fireplace and chimney built into the center of it that peaks thru the peak of the shelter. The fireplace is usable on both sides. Then an octagonal patio comes off of the back of the shelter. There is a fire pit in it along with Adirondack chairs that are securely fashioned to that patio. She thought it was a very nice setup and something that would work quite well at Adell Durbin Park. Then there were some other photos that Council could see with a grill prominent in a photo. One uses a lot of stone, which is quite beautiful. The last two pages lists their goals: affordability; usability/flexibility; fits within the landscape of the park; & fits the needs of our community.
Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of 7. Some of the amenities that would be nice to have in a shelter at Adell Durbin Park to kind of spruce it up from the very rudimentary shelters that they already have in our community would be: stone poles/trim; fireplace/chimney; adjacent patio with a fire pit; & grills, picnic tables and Adirondack chairs. She had put together a loose budget on the last page just as an idea of what it might cost to have an outdoor shelter like this. She was available to answer questions. Mr. Costello asked Mr. Earle how much was left of the insurance money? Mr. Earle stated it was a minor amount, $70,000 or $80,000, he didn t remember. However that had been 8-10 years ago. He thought it was long gone. It had been put in the capital fund and depleted possibly for some park projects or other things. Mr. Rasor thanked Ms. Nahrstedt for her presentation. He asked her if she knew offhand what kind of revenue we generate from our other outdoor shelters? Ms. Nahrstedt stated less than $5,000 a year. Mr. Rasor asked if it was close to $5,000? Ms. Nahrstedt stated that it was. Mr. Lowdermilk stated he also appreciated Ms. Nahrstedt s presentation. He asked how many weekends for both the lodge and barn were rented? Ms. Nahrstedt stated she could pull those numbers for him, but she would venture to say almost every weekend. Mr. Lowdermilk stated so they could say they were at max utilization of their indoor shelters. Ms. Nahrstedt stated that was correct. Mr. Lowdermilk asked what they generated a year? Ms. Nahrstedt stated she would have to pull those numbers for them. Mr. Lowdermilk asked her to pull what the barn and lodge generate in income. To Mr. Rasor s point from before as far as an improvement that would help fund itself in a shorter period of time potentially, perhaps there was something in between this halfmillion dollar barn that would be the ultimate rustic chic barn and a shelter. He thought maybe there would be something a little less ultimate and a little less chic that would be less than half a million dollars. It looked like a very nice facility, but maybe there was something in between there that would maybe encompass a little bit of both. Ms. Nahrstedt stated they probably wouldn t find an indoor shelter somewhere that would be at the cost of somewhere in between one that had running water, heat and air. Mr. Wren said also because it was a commercial building, there was a large up-
Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of 8. grade too for fire suppression because it was a gathering place basically. That right there was $7,000 out-the-door. Mayor Kline stated one thing she knew the City has always been mindful of, certainly thru her administration and prior administrations, was they want to strike a balance of what parks and recreation was doing. They were not a private event business. They certainly had many lovely facilities to utilize in their community for private events. However, they want to be mindful that they are providing amenities, whether they be lodges, shelters, buildings, or outdoor picnic areas, that fit with the mission of parks and recreation. She thought it was fantastic that they had facilities that were able to be rented for weddings, graduation parties, class reunions and all those kinds of things, but they did want to maintain a mindfulness towards that balance that they need to make sure that they weren t trying to compete with private venues because that s not their mission and that they weren t overloading what they do offer one way or the other. She thought they had done a good job throughout the years of having that balance. She thought that some of Ms. Nahrstedt s comments came from that place of wanting to make sure that they were true to the mission of parks and recreation and also what Adell Durbin has historically been. That was just something to think about as they evaluate options that might be available at any price point. Mr. Adaska thought those were all some good points. He wanted to add that if they go with the ideas that Ms. Nahrstedt came up with, which were certainly great ideas and better than what they had now, certainly she could do a lot of programming with that type of facility. One thing to remind Council of though was if they go that direction, it was essentially maybe a 1-1 ½ season facility. The rest of the time they would not be able to use that type of facility. It was going to be cold. The rain might come inside. They were just not going to be able to use it other than in summer and a little bit in the fall. If the City was thinking that they want something closed-in so they could use it yearround, then they should at least have an example. Ms. Nahrstedt stated that they already have indoor facilities. Mr. Adaska stated he realized that. However, spending that money out at Adell Durbin, which was a wellused recreation area, if they put something like that out there, it could be used more if it was available year-round not just the summer and maybe a little bit in the fall. He goes back to when they had Campbell Lodge. There were a lot of times that the City itself used that facility for indoor programs year-round. Police Reserves met out there. There were a lot of functions that took place year-round.
Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of 9. He was just putting it out there. They weren t going to do anything with this overnight. He would like to have the community respond to see what they would like to have more than anything because after all they are the ones that would be using it and enjoying that type of new facility. They would have a meeting in the future and invite people who were concerned about what they were losing out there as far as a programmable building. He asked when the building was coming down? Mr. Wren stated this fall. Mr. Adaska asked if it was being used at all? Mr. Wren stated no, it was condemned. Mr. Lowdermilk stated they weren t really adding an indoor facility. If they did do some type of indoor facility they were simply replacing two that they had lost at that park. It wasn t like they started with nothing. One lodge had been condemned, torn down and not replaced. They had a second one now that was going to be torn down. Residents are going to be forced to go somewhere outside the City in some cases because most of our lodges are booked. Ms. Nahrstedt stated she would say as a Recreation Professional there is nothing wrong with going outside of the community. Mr. Lowdermilk stated there was nothing wrong with them going to another community, but there were some people that would probably like to enjoy the park they are paying for and use a facility in the city that they live. Ms. Nahrstedt stated they certainly could. Mr. Adaska thanked Mr. Wren and Ms. Nahrstedt for their presentations. As they had heard, Campbell Lodge would be coming down this fall. It has already been condemned. Therefore, they had to move forward with something. However, he thought they had a little bit of time to discuss this with themselves and the public and come up with a plan. He looked forward to further comments from both of them. Liquor Application Elysian Nails LLC 4200 Hudson Drive The Clerk was directed not to request a public hearing. Confirmation of the Mayor s Appointments to Various Boards & Commissions Mr. Adaska stated the Mayor has requested confirmation of the following appointments: MOTION: Gary Spring Metro Board Term to end 1/2/19; and Bob Brantsch Urban Forestry Commission Term to End 1/2/18. Mr. Adaska moved and Mr. D Antonio seconded to recommend to Council confirmation of the Mayor s appointments as stated above.
Minutes of the Public Improvements Committee Meeting of 10. Yes Votes: Adaska, D Antonio, Costello & Lowdermilk No Votes: None. The motion carried. Adjournment MOTION: Mr. Adaska moved and Mr. Costello seconded to adjourn. Yes Votes: Adaska, D Antonio, Costello & Lowdermilk No Votes: None. The motion carried. The meeting adjourned at 7:01 p.m. Bonnie J. Emahiser Bob Adaska Clerk of Council Chairman