March 15, 2007

By Diane Chiddister

During a discussion at the Village Council March 5 meeting on how the Village should fund sidewalk improvements, Village Manager Eric Swansen recommended that the Village return to a previous practice in which the Village identifies needed improvements and property owners pay for the improvements. As a first step, Swansen said, Council and Village staff need to educate the public about the Village’s expectations regarding sidewalk repair.

The Village used the practice of billing adjacent property owners for sidewalk improvements from the 1970s to the mid-1990s, Swansen said, at which point the Village discontinued the practice with little discussion and began paying for improvements itself. Returning to the previous practice would be more equitable than the current practice, Swansen said in a written statement, because current home-owners would take on the same financial responsibility as did those who paid for improvements in the past. Also, he wrote, the Village may not be able to afford all needed improvements with its current fiscal challenges.

While sidewalks are in the public right of way, it is acceptable under both state and local law for municipalities to charge adjacent property owners for new construction and repairs, according to Village Planner Phil Hawkey.

In 2006 the Village budget included about $30,000 for sidewalk improvements on Xenia Avenue between Limestone and Herman, Swansen wrote, but budget constraints and staff shortages contributed to this project not getting done.

With the proposed plan, the Village would give property owners 45 days to make needed improvements on sidewalks with deficiencies; if the improvements are not made in that time, the Village would make them and bill the property owner. If the bill is not paid, the amount would be added to the property owner’s property tax, Swansen said.

Regarding vegetation and movable impediment deficiencies within existing rights-of-way, the property owner would have five days to make the improvements; if they are not made, the Village would make the improvements and bill the owner.

Swansen also recommended that the Village soon adopt a plan to install new sidewalks on a prioritized basis in order to promote walkability.

Most Council members expressed support for this approach. Repairing sidewalks and constructing new ones is especially important given that promoting walkability in the village is one of Council’s current goals, according to Acting President Karen Wintrow.

However, Bruce Rickenbach stated that when the Village previously billed homeowners for sidewalk repairs, the practice didn’t work because property owners didn’t pay their bills.

“Council shouldn’t go this way unless it has the political will” to follow through with requiring that property owners pay for repairs, he said. “We need to understand if there’s a consensus in the community and a willingness to pay the price. Otherwise we need to stop having this conversation.”

But Council should approach the new system willing to work to educate the public and build public support rather than expecting noncompliance, according to Judith Hempfling, who suggested that Council work with affected homeowners on identifying costs and possible payment plans to ease the financial strain.

Swansen said that Village staff will return to Council with suggestions to prioritize sidewalk repairs this spring.

In a related matter, community member Pat Olds stated that it was almost impossible for wheelchair-bound villagers to navigate downtown following the recent snowstorm, since Village staff dumped snow from the streets onto the curb cuts.

“This shows the priority of cars over pedestrians,” she said.

In other Council business:
• Council approved a resolution to move forward with a grant application for the purpose of completing the Northern Gateway project.

The vote was 4–1, with Wintrow, Hempfling, Rickenbach and Kathryn Van der Heiden voting for the resolution and Kathryn Chase voting against it.

The project would include upgrading the parking lot on Cemetery Street and adding a bikepath to connect the Cemetery Street parking lot to the Little Miami Trail bikepath, in order to provide overflow parking and improve bikepath accessibility for visitors to the village. As such, it would benefit downtown businesses, according to Wintrow, who is also the president of Chamber of Commerce.

“This will open up a new vista to visitors, a new entrance to the village,” Wintrow said. “It will bring an extreme benefit for the downtown merchants and the community.”

The Northern Gateway project was originally a grassroots effort from several community members who sought to improve the northern entrance to the village, according to a written report by Village Assistant Planner Ed Amrhein; project supporters later reactivated the Bicycle Enhancement Committee to pursue the project. But last June the project was put on hold for a year as Council and Village Manager Eric Swansen began to focus on the Village’s budget shortfall. At that point, Council requested that project supporters streamline the Northern Gateway plan and seek additional funding.

Originally, the Northern Gateway project included the construction of a bridge over the Little Miami River near the Bryan Community Center. However, according to Amrhein, project supporters recognized that the Village could not afford the bridge given its current financial challenges, and the current plan has dispensed with the bridge.

While about $147,381 is needed to finance the project, Village staff recently found that funds received through the Recreational Trails Program (RTP) of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources may be used to meet the local financial match requirements of the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) grant previously received, according to Amrhein. If the Village receives the RTP grant, the Village would need to contribute $28,476 to finish the project and the RTP grant would pay for the rest.

The Village can either move ahead with the grant application and spend the money to finish the Northern Gateway, or could abandon the project, which would mean losing the $42,496.95 already spent on the design and engineering of the project, according to Amrhein. Because it seems more advantageous to finish the project and because the Village would leverage a significant amount of money in doing so, he recommended that the Village make the grant application to complete the project.

Four out of five of the Council members agreed, with Chase stating that she believed that, given the Village’s current financial challenge, it should not spend money on the project.

• In the manager’s report, Swansen reported that he met with villagers Bob Brecha, Pat Murphy and Paul Abendroth regarding energy conservation. At the last Council meeting, Council requested that Swansen meet with villagers who have expertise in conservation issues to explore ways that conservation might affect whether or not the Village moves ahead to purchase a new substation. The meeting produced some “areas of agreement,” he said.

Swansen repeated his concern that a decision needs to be made regarding the proposed $3.5 million substation. The Village’s current electrical equipment has been straining from carrying loads much larger than it was designed to handle, Swansen has said, and that strain has led to near brownouts in peak times.

But the community needs to take the time to consider alternative approaches before moving ahead with the substation decision, Hempfling said.

Council will continue to address energy generation, distribution and conservation issues at the next several meetings, and will then “decide how to move ahead,” Wintrow said.

Community member Sue Abendroth stated that she was confused about how the substation discussion turned into a discussion of more general energy issues.

“Somehow that discussion got morphed into a discussion of global warming. How does that relate?” she asked.

During the citizens concerns segment of the meeting, Pat Murphy stated that he was concerned about the “confusion and the distrust” around the substation issue and requested that Swansen and Council make the substation and energy use issue easier for the public to understand.

• Also in citizens concerns, Mary White stated her concern about the February incident during which a Yellow Springs police officer shot and killed a dog. She was especially concerned that a weapon was used while the officer was in close contact with two young people, according to White, who asked if the Village is investigating the incident.

An investigation is taking place, according to Swansen and Wintrow.

Rickenbach stated that White should not “stand in judgement” of the police officer’s actions. White stated that she was not doing so, only wanting to know if an investigation were taking place.

• Council briefly discussed plans for its retreat on March 31. The retreat, which is open to the public, will take place at the Lawson Place Community Room from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wintrow, who organized the event, stated that her purpose is to improve Council communication in various aspects, including how Council members communicate to each other and how they communicate to the community.

• Council unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance to adopt a plan under the Ohio Public Employees Deferred Compensation Program and to contract with any eligible employees who desire to participate in the plan.

• Council met in executive session to consider the Village manager employment agreement.

Contact: dchiddister@ywnews.com