PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

 

TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2009

7:20 P.M.

 

PUBLIC HEARING

OPEN DISCUSSION REGARDING PROPOSED REZONING OF PROPERTY LOCATED AT 77 WEST CHURCH STREET FROM

R-4 (RESIDENTIAL) TO PC-2 (PLANNED CENTRAL BUSINESS/MIXED USE)

 

 

 

1.         Call to Order.  Mayor O’Brien opened Public Hearing at 7:20 P.M.

 

2.         Roll Call:  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mayor O’Brien present.  Mr. Fix was absent.  Others present were:  Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Lance Schultz, Chief Mike Taylor, Phil Hartmann, Ed Drobina, Nate Ellis, Rachel Scofield, Devin Reany, Tony Barletta, Carol Carter, and others. 

 

3.      Purpose of the Public Hearing:  To hear public comments on the proposed rezoning of 77 West Church Street from R-4 (Residential) to PC-2 (Planned Central Business/Mixed Use)     

 

4.         Presentation to Council: 

 

            A.        Mr. Lance Shultz, Planning and Zoning Director, stated the Planning and Zoning Commission and Service Committee recommended approval of this rezoning in April 2009.  He stated the owner proposes to convert this from a residential use to a commercial use, which would be Winstead Gallery.  He stated they are currently located on Columbus Street and would be moving to this location.  Mr. Schultz stated this is a typical conversion we have had over the last six or seven years, and there was no opposition presented at the Planning and Zoning Public Hearing.  Mr. Schultz stated he would answer any questions anyone might have. 

 

5.         Council Questions/Comments:  No questions/comments.   

 

6.         Public Comments/Questions:  No questions/comments.   

 

7.         Adjournment.  There being nothing further, Mayor O’Brien closed the public hearing at 7:23 P.M., June 2, 2009.

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: 

 

 

_______________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

 

ATTEST:

 

 

________________________________

Mitch O’Brien, Mayor

PICKERINGTON CITY COUNCIL

TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 2009

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

 

 

REGULAR MEETING

7:30 P.M.

 

1.         ROLL CALL, INVOCATION, AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. Council for the City of Pickerington met for a regular session Tuesday, June 2, 2009, at City Hall.  Mayor O’Brien called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M.  Roll call was taken as follows:  Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Sanders, and Mayor O’Brien were present.  Mr. Fix was absent.  Others present were: Tim Hansley, Lynda Yartin, Linda Fersch, Ed Drobina, Phil Hartmann, Chief Mike Taylor, Lance Schultz, Rachel Scofield, Carol Carter, Tony Barletta, Nate Ellis, Devin Reany, Pastor Chris Solwecki, Michelle Griffis, Mary Kay Salan, and others.  Pastor Solwecki of Pickerington Christian Church delivered the invocation.

 

2.         A.        APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MAY 19, 2009, PUBLIC HEARING.  Mr. Sabatino moved to approve; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

B.         APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MAY 19, 2009, REGULAR MEETING.  Mrs. Hammond moved to approve; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

C.        APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF MAY 19, 2009, WORK SESSION.  Mr. Smith moved to approve; Mrs. Hammond seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0.

 

3.         COMMUNITY COMMENTS.

 

A.        Michelle Griffis.  Ms Griffis stated she owns Winstead’s Gallery, which is now called Creative Keepsakes, and is a custom framing and floral preservation business.  She stated they are in the process of commercializing the house at 77 W. Church Street that is being considered for rezoning tonight.  She stated her lease with the building she is in right now on Columbus Street is up at the end of this month and she would like to see if Council would consider waiving some readings on the legislation so they would be able to function and not have a disturbance in their business transactions with their clients. 

 

B.         Carol Carter.  Ms Carter stated she had two questions for Council regarding the fireworks.  She stated she would like to know how much the City is paying to the Township for the Violet Festival, and Mr. Hansley stated the City does not contribute any money to the Violet Festival, and the Festival pays for overtime for the police as well.  He stated in past years the City did contribute funds to the Festival, but for the past two years we have contributed no funds.  Ms Carter stated she has heard the Fourth of July celebration is a good event put on by the Township and the City, and her second question would be isn’t the Violet Festival the same thing, two communities coming together and enjoying themselves.  She stated the Violet Festival is three weeks after the Fourth of July.  Mr. Sauer stated he felt there is a major difference between the Fourth of July and the Violet Festival.  He stated instead of paying around $30,000 like we have in the past, we are splitting the cost between Violet Township and the City, each entity paying $12,000.  Ms Carter stated she is aware that many other cities are not having a Fourth of July celebration because of the cost, and she believed we could use that money better. 

 

4.         COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS.  None.   

 

5.         APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA.  Mayor O’Brien stated there were no consent agenda items. 

 

6.         APPROVAL OF AGENDA.  Mrs. Hammond moved to approve; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

7.         REPORTS:   

 

A.        MAYOR.  Mayor O’Brien stated the Monthly Mayors Court Report had been distributed.  Mayor O’Brien stated he had attended Memorial Day ceremonies at both the cemetery and at the park, and the Leads graduation at the Chamber of Commerce.  Mr. Smith stated he was happy to see Mayors Court is still very active in collecting delinquent taxes. 

 

B.         LAW DIRECTOR.  Mr. Hartmann stated the County Commissioners approved the annexation of the swimming pool today so that will be finalized.  He stated the Township did appear before the County Commissioners and had a couple of items trying to oppose the annexation, however, the Commissioners appropriately did not consider them and stayed within the parameters of the expedited annexation and passed it.  He stated he would be happy to answer any questions.   

 

C.        FINANCE DIRECTOR.  Mrs. Fersch stated she had no report this evening.

 

D.                             D.        SERVICE MANAGER.  Mr. Drobina stated Columbus Street is closed from Alyssa Drive to Diley Road for 30 days. 

 

E.         CITY MANAGER.  Mr. Hansley stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions.   Mr. Hansley stated he was notified late today that the Board of Health received a new opinion from their legal advisor that the contract we are discussing with them does not have to be approved by the District Advisory Council.  Mr. Hansley stated we are still working with them on changes in the language to do plumbing inspections, but the basic contract they are proposing is the same one we gave them with a few minor changes.  Mr. Sabatino stated our ordinance contains language that deals specifically with an approval by the District Advisory Council, and Mr. Hansley stated we may have to amend the ordinance to take away that requirement.  Mr. Smith stated he found it odd that Fairfield County, who has never done this type of agreement, does not need the DAC approval and yet the county next door to us who does this routinely feels their DAC needs to approve every one of these.  Mr. Hansley stated he wants to read the legal opinion to see what that opinion is based on. 

 

F.         SAFETY COMMITTEE.  Mr. Sabatino stated Safety Committee met on May 20th, and had a lengthy discussion regarding the noise complaints on Doolins’ Pub.  He stated one of the owners of that facility was present and he indicated a willingness to attempt to change the way they were doing things and to keep the situation from occurring in the future.  Mr. Sabatino clarified with Chief Taylor that the police have not received any noise complaints since that meeting so hopefully this will be taken care of.  Mr. Sabatino stated he would answer any questions. 

 

G.        SERVICE COMMITTEE.  Mr. Wisniewski stated Service Committee met on May 20th as well and two ordinances out of Service Committee are on the agenda tonight.  He stated the legislation regarding the gas aggregation program authorizes the City Manager to negotiate a contract with Volunteer Energy and Finance will discuss the actual contract at their meeting tomorrow night.  Mr. Wisniewski stated further Service Committee had some discussion about a value engineering process that was done on the sewer plant where $30,000 was spent on engineering work to reuse one of the buildings and it was estimated we would save something like $400,000.  He stated the contractor came back and said it would save more like $75,000.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he attended a status meeting and it appears the savings are now in the $300,000 range after the contractor reworked their numbers.  He stated we have not received that in writing as yet, but we seem to be back in the area we originally hoped for.  Mr. Sabatino clarified the plant is still pretty much on schedule and on budget. 

 

8.         PROCEDURAL READINGS:

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2009-30, “AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE REZONING OF 77 WEST CHURCH STREET FROM R-4 (RESIDENTIAL) TO PC-2 (PLANNED CENTRAL BUSINESS/MIXED USE),” First Reading, Service Committee. Mr. Sabatino stated the property owner had asked for multiple readings this evening, and he did not see a reason not to do that, particularly since no one was at the public hearing just prior to Council to speak against it.  Mayor O’Brien clarified there has been no opposition throughout this process including the public hearings held before Planning and Zoning Commission.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to waive the requirement in Charter Section 2.06 that the ordinance be read on three separate meeting days; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sabatino, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0.  Mr. Sabatino moved to adopt; Mr. Sauer seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Smith voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2009-31, “AN ORDINANCE TO AUTHORIZE THE CITY MANAGER TO PURSUE A NATURAL GAS AGGREGATION PROGRAM WITH VOLUNTEER ENERGY SERVICES, INC.,” First Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Sabatino clarified that Finance Committee would discuss the contract in detail, and Mr. Wisniewski stated that was correct.  Mr. Wisniewski stated this legislation just allows the process to get started.  Mr. Smith stated he wanted to disclose that he is an employee of Columbia Gas, although not in any capacity that deals with Volunteer Energy, and he stated he did not see a conflict so he would not recuse himself from discussion or abstaining from any of the votes on this.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Hammond, Mrs. Sanders, and Mr. Sauer voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            C.        ORDINANCE 2008-90, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE REGIONAL COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS FOR THE PURPOSE OF UTILIZING THE REGIONAL INCOME TAX AGENCY TO ADMINISTER AND ENFORCE THE CITY OF PICKERINGTON’S INCOME TAX ORDINANCES,” Second Reading, Finance Committee.  (TABLED, 12/16/08)

 

            D.        ORDINANCE 2009-22, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO ENTER INTO A CONTRACT FOR HEALTH SERVICES WITH THE FAIRFIELD COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH FOR 2010,” Second Reading, Finance Committee.  (TABLED, 05/19/09)

 

 

            E.         ORDINANCE 2009-28, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO APPLY FOR AND ACCEPT GRANT FUNDS FROM THE AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009 (ARRA) THROUGH THE WATER POLLUTION CONTROL LOAN FUND (WPCLF) FOR THE PURPOSE OF CONSTRUCTING THE SYCAMORE CREEK EAST RELIEF LINE, PHASE II (CIP PROJECT #WW-09),” Second Reading, Finance Committee.  Mr. Sabatino moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Sabatino, Mr. Smith, and Mrs. Hammond voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

9.         LEGISLATIVE READINGS:

 

            A.        ORDINANCE 2009-21, “AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 2009 APPROPRIATION, ORDINANCE 2008-92,” Third Reading, Finance Committee.  Mr. Smith stated he would be changing his position and vote for this tonight, primarily because the appropriation consists of three separate items, two of which are very important to him.  He stated the one that is not, is not important enough to cause the entire ordinance to fail.  Mr. Wisniewski stated the President of Council chose to go down this route with a four/three vote, lining up things in such a manner.  He stated he had warned everyone that if someone were not present this would go down in flames and the person who architected it did not show up tonight, forcing Mr. Smith to change his vote.  Mr. Wisniewski stated he challenged each member of council to remember they were elected by the citizens to vote their conscience on things, not to be persuaded or cajoled into voting for issues because it would benefit them or some other legislation in some way.  He stated each piece of legislation should be voted on for the merits of itself not for the purpose of allowing us to get some other thing passed.  He stated all the things that are wrong with Congress is because of people looking out for their own interests and not the interest of the public, so he would challenge each council member to remember who elected them into office and to look out for their best interests.  Mr. Sauer moved to adopt; Mr. Sabatino seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski and Mrs. Hammond voting “Nay,” and Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Smith, Mr. Sauer, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 4-2. 

 

            B.         ORDINANCE 2009-23, “AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AMENDMENT TO THE AGREEMENT WITH FAIRFIELD COUNTY FOR EMERGENCY WATER SERVICES AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF CERTAIN WATER FACILITIES,” Third Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Sanders, Mrs. Hammond, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Smith voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

            C.        ORDINANCE 2009-24, “AN ORDINANCE TO ACCEPT A BIKE PATH WHICH ENCOMPASSES 0.675 ACRES IN THE HOMESTEAD CONDOMINIUM DEVELOPMENT,” Third Reading, Service Committee.  Mr. Wisniewski moved to adopt; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Roll call was taken with Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Hammond, and Mrs. Sanders voting “Yea.”  Motion passed, 6-0. 

 

10.       DISCUSSION.  There was no discussion. 

 

11.       REFERRAL TO COMMITTEE.  Mayor O’Brien stated there were no committee referral items.   

 

12.       OTHER BUSINESS.  No other business was brought forward. 

 

13.       MOTIONS:  There were no motions. 

 

14.       ADJOURNMENT.  There being nothing further, Mr. Sauer moved to adjourn; Mr. Smith seconded the motion.  Mrs. Sanders, Mr. Sauer, Mr. Smith, Mr. Wisniewski, Mr. Sabatino, and Mrs. Hammond voted “Aye.”  Motion carried, 6-0.  The meeting adjourned at 8:10 P.M., June 2, 2009. 

 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED: 

 

 

_______________________________

Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk

 

 

ATTEST:

 

 

_______________________________

Mitch O’Brien, Mayor