CITY OF PICKERINGTON

SAFETY COMMITTEE OF COUNCIL

CITY HALL, 100 LOCKVILLE ROAD

MONDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2004

7:30 P.M.

REGULAR MEETING AGENDA

1. ROLL CALL. Mr. Wisniewski called the meeting to order at 7:30 P.M. with Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Wisniewski, and Mr. Sabatino present. No members were absent. Others present were: Ted Hackworth, Mitch O’Brien, Lynda Yartin, Chief Mike Taylor, Steve Carr, Ed Drobina, John Gallagher, Patty Bratton, and others.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF November 1, 2004, Regular Meeting. Mrs. Riggs moved to approve; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino abstaining, and Mrs. Riggs and Mr. Wisniewski voting "Yea." Motion passed, 2-0.

Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like to move item 6.B. “Review and discussion regarding request from Recycling and Litter Prevention for the City to enter into a Recycling Site Host Agreement. Mrs. Riggs clarified there would not be any issue with our refuse contract with Waste Management if we did put a recycling site in the City. Mr. Drobina stated he had identified two locations and he felt the location in Sycamore Park would be the best location. Mr. Carr stated he had visited the site at Ohio University and it was kept up well. Mr. Carr stated there is a site in Sycamore Park off the main parking lot as you enter the park off of Hereford Drive. He stated there are trees and shrubs that would buffer it from three sides, and he agreed that site would be worth trying. Mr. Carr clarified the trailer is approximately 30 feet long and the site in the park is already paved. Mr. Wisniewski stated the law director had some questions and clarified the site would need to be approximately 1600 square feet. Ms Bratton stated they like to have enough space to trade out an empty trailer for the full one. She stated she would have their recycling center manager look at the proposed site and make sure it would be large enough. Mr. Wisniewski further clarified the trucks would not be of such weight that they would cause damage and the City would not be responsible for any repairs to the site. He further clarified the Recycling and Litter Prevention Program is the service contractor for the Coshocton, Fairfield, Licking, and Perry County Solid Waste District. Mr. Drobina clarified the Litter Prevention and Recycling Center is responsible for keeping the site clean and if someone drops off used motor oil, batteries, paint, or something of that nature they do pick it up. Ms Bratton stated the trailers are emptied at least weekly and, depending on the usage, that could be increased. Mr. Sabatino stated he understood that they would start out with one pick up a week, and then if it is used a lot, they would increase the pick ups. Ms. Bratton stated that was correct. Mrs. Riggs moved to authorize the City Manager to enter into an agreement with the Recycling and Litter Prevention Program to locate a recycling trailer at the specified location in Sycamore Park contingent upon it meeting all of the requirements of the Service Director and Parks Director; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Wisniewski, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Sabatino voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

Mr. Drobina stated he would be in contact with Ms Bratton to see if the Sycamore Park site would be large enough and to work out any details if necessary.

3. DEPARTMENT REPORTS:

A. Parks and Recreation.

(1) Director’s Report. Mr. Carr stated he had provided a written report and he would answer any questions anyone might have.

a. Parks Master Plan Survey - Update.

b. Skate Park Project – Update.

c. Handicap Garden – Update.

d. ODNR/NatureWorks Land and Water Conservation Fund Grant Projects

1. NatureWorks Grant Project (Sycamore Park Dam Repair) – Update. Mr. Carr stated the contractor anticipates completing the project tomorrow.

e. Sycamore Park Tennis Court Repair Project – Update.

f. Review and request for motion to approve draft resolution of authorization to submit grant application to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Mr. Carr stated this is his annual request to apply for Nature Works funding and the deadline to submit an application for the next round is February 1, 2005. Mrs. Riggs clarified the grant is a 75-25 split, and there will be approximately $15,000-$16,000 for the entire County. She further clarified the application would be submitted identifying our project as a Disc Golf Course at the parkland by the water tower site near Simsbury. Mrs. Riggs moved to approve and forward the draft resolution to Council; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

Mr. Carr stated we started our winter adult basketball and volleyball leagues this week and we are back in the Field House, and we appreciate the cooperation of the schools for that. Mr. Carr stated we will be participating with the Senior Center on the Breakfast with Santa and there are 423 people registered for that this coming Saturday. He stated this will be a fund raiser for the Senior Center as well as being a fun event for the community. Mr. Carr stated the winter program brochure will be distributed to the public on December 16^th and winter programming with start after the first of the year.

B. Building Operations: Mr. Drobina stated the City had purchased the house on Hereford Drive and the City now has possession of it. He stated we are looking into turning that into offices, however, before we do that we want to notify all of the residents on the street and see what input they have or if there would be any problems for them. He stated they would then do a preliminary plan for the building. Mr. O’Brien inquired if any zoning changes would be required for turning a residential area into offices and Mr. Drobina stated he did not know but that would be reviewed and clarified prior to anything being done.

C. Service Department:

(1) Traffic Engineer

a. Review and request for motion to approve criteria for potential traffic calming locations. Mr. Gallagher stated he had provided a memo detailing criteria for potential traffic calming locations that the Committee members had received in their packets along with the field review of several potential traffic calming locations he had reviewed at the request of this Committee. Mr. Gallagher stated none of the locations identified in his memo meet the criteria for additional stop signs. He stated he had provided the Committee with the traffic calming policies of several cities and it would be his recommendation that some criteria be put in place that would provide guidance that can be used when development is occurring. Mr. Gallagher stated when traffic calming devices are being considered in an already developed area, there were several methods for public input that could be put in place. Mr. Gallagher stated it is very important that the majority of residents are in agreement before any traffic calming device is installed. Mr. Sabatino stated he agreed with that since it would take away the isolated one person complaining about a situation. Mr. Wisniewski stated the majority of the complaints Council has received from residents dealt with vehicles speeding through neighborhoods. He stated in speaking with one of the Township Trustees they were surprised with the effect of simply painting the speed limit on the streets. He stated there has been a drastic decrease in the speeding problems where they have done this. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would propose that we try painting the speed limits on the road in a couple of locations and see if it does have an impact on the speeding. Mr. Drobina stated that could not be done until the spring. Mr. Gallagher stated if the Township is having some success with that, it would be worth trying. Mr. O’Brien stated there were other things that could be done as well, such as installing signage in a different color so the driver’s attention is drawn to them. Mr. Sabatino stated he was in favor of trying this before putting in speed bumps or something of that sort. Mrs. Riggs stated she is in favor of doing anything that would slow the traffic in the residential areas. Mr. Wisniewski stated then, as he understood it, it was the consensus of this Committee to paint the speed limit on the roadway in one or two neighborhoods in the spring and see if that would help with the speeding issues. Mr. Wisniewski further stated he would like to see how this works before this Committee recommends adoption of traffic calming criteria.

b. Review of recommended speed limit on Hill Road South. Mr. Gallagher stated he had reviewed this area and his first recommendation would be to pursue the annexation of the roadway so the speed limit can be set by the City. He stated there are only two small sections of the roadway in this area that are in the Township. Mr. Gallagher stated his second recommendation would be to record speeds at four equally spaced locations and set the speed limit at the 85^th percentile speed (the speed at which 15 percent of the drivers are traveling faster and 85 percent are traveling slower.) Mr. Gallagher stated this is engineer’s best practice for setting speed limits. Mr. Gallagher stated if annexation is not possible, perhaps the City could negotiate with the Township as to accepting the setting of the speed limit as determined by the study so the speed limit would be constant through this area. Mr. Wisniewski stated he felt it would be best to go ahead and perform the traffic study to determine the best speed limit and staff could pursue the annexation or agreement on the speed limit with the Township. Mr. Drobina stated he was not sure if the Township had the authority to change the speed limit on their roadways and Mr. Gallagher stated he would have to check on that. Mr. Hackworth stated since limited Home Rule was approved they may have that ability. Mr. Wisniewski moved to authorize the engineer to perform the traffic study to determine the appropriate speed limit on this portion of Hill Road; Mrs. Riggs seconded the motion. Roll call was taken with Mrs. Riggs, Mr. Sabatino, and Mr. Wisniewski voting “Yea.” Motion passed, 3-0.

Mrs. Riggs stated she is frustrated with the signage on S.R. 256 since the project has been completed by ODOT. Mrs. Riggs stated going south on 256 where the one lane becomes a left-hand turn lane into the Marcus Theatre center, there is no notification, no marking, or anything, until you see you are in a left-turn only lane. Mr. Wisniewski stated there is a sign on the right hand side of the road that states the left lane will end, however, that is not readily visible if you are already in that left lane. Mr. Sabatino stated the roadway is better now, but he agrees it does need more signage. Mr. Sabatino stated he had spoken to Mr. Wiseman and he said they were going to deal with signage for areas such as no left turn into the Shoppes at Turnberry and he assumed the other signage would be dealt with as well. Mr. Hackworth stated the engineer had checked into the cost of overhead signage and it is fairly expensive. Mrs. Riggs stated the cost of signage versus the number of accidents in that area would be well spent. Mr. Sabatino stated he thought there was still some work that had to be done on the timing on the signals at S.R. 256 and S.R. 204. Mr. Gallagher stated he would pass the signal timing concerns on to ODOT, and as far as the signage issue, perhaps the City Manager would like to meet with ODOT to see what can be done. Mr. Wisniewski stated there is still some confusion with the left turn signal from S.R. 256 onto S.R. 204 as well since it isn’t clear that there is only one left turn lane now instead of two. Mr. Wisniewski asked Mr. Gallagher to get with Ms Gilleland and see if a meeting could be set up to discuss these signage issues and, if necessary, a Council work session could be scheduled for ODOT to brief Council.

D. Code Enforcement: Mr. Wisniewski stated Ms Gilleland is ill this evening and she will brief the Committee at the next meeting.

5. POLICE:

A. Chief’s Report. Chief Taylor stated his report had been distributed and he would answer any questions.

Mr. Wisniewski stated since the school district has changed the routing of cars and busses into and out of the parking lot at Ridgeview Junior High School the situation seems to have improved. Chief Taylor stated they have monitored it for a couple of weeks since the change and there is a short traffic delay on Hill Road, but it is much better than it was before.

6. CHAIRMAN.

A. Review and discussion regarding safety issues on East Street. Chief Taylor stated he has received a request from a resident on East Street for permit parking as he is handicapped. Mr. Wisniewski stated this Committee has authorized permit parking on East Street. Mr. Wisniewski stated Mr. Wiseman had not installed the signs as he had not been able to contact all of the property owners, and Mr. Drobina stated some of the signs have been installed. Mr. Drobina stated he would get with Mr. Wiseman to make sure the signage is installed. Chief Taylor stated his department and Mr. Drobina had met with the schools regarding the traffic issues on East Street. He stated they felt the permit parking would help alleviate the traffic congestion, however, that occurs for only a short time in the mornings and afternoons. Chief Taylor stated it has gotten better. Mr. Drobina stated the school does not feel there is a problem on East Street but the superintendent stated he would be happy to meet with Mr. O’Brien to discuss his concerns. Mr. O’Brien stated he would defer to Chief Taylor since he feels it has improved and this has been on the Safety Agenda for quite some time.

B. Review and discussion regarding request from Recycling and Litter Prevention for the City to enter into a Recycling Site Host Agreement. Mr. Wisniewski stated this had been dealt with earlier in the meeting.

7. OTHER BUSINESS.

A. Review and discussion regarding propane storage facilities in the City of Pickerington. Mr. Sabatino stated he had requested this be put on the agenda for this evening. He stated Ms Gilleland had requested that he and Chief Taylor do some checking on these facilities and continue it on the agenda for next month. Mr. Sabatino stated there had been an incident in Columbus recently where someone had stolen a large number of these containers, and secondly, where some of these are stored, they are protected by nothing more than a parking curb. He stated if a car would run into them it could cause a lot of damage. Mr. Sabatino stated he felt this Committee could provide some recommendations for dealing with these a little more responsibly. Mr. Wisniewski requested Mr. Sabatino to work with the law director and Ms Gilleland to prepare legislation that would regulate the storage of these containers if that is necessary. Mr. Sabatino asked Chief Taylor if his officers could note locations where these were stored as they patrolled. Mr. Wisniewski stated he would like this continued on the agenda for the next meeting.

Mrs. Riggs stated the Committee had received a letter from a Mr. Ebright regarding signage. She stated he had suggested that signage be installed on S.R. 256 at major intersections directing visitors to the various schools, the police department, and the fire department. Mrs. Riggs stated she felt this was a very good idea and it may be something we want to look into. Mr. Drobina stated he would check into this.

Mrs. Riggs stated she would also like to check to see what was going on with the house in Willow Pond that has mold. She stated this home has been deserted for quite some time and she had requested an update from Mr. Wiseman. Mr. Drobina stated he would get with Mr. Wiseman and make sure Mrs. Riggs receives an update.

8. ADJOURNMENT. There being nothing further, Mr. Sabatino moved to adjourn; Mr. Wisniewski seconded the motion. Mr. Sabatino, Mrs. Riggs, and Mr. Wisniewski voted “Aye.” Motion carried, 3-0. The Safety Committee meeting adjourned at 8:55 P.M., December 6, 2004.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED:

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Lynda D. Yartin, Municipal Clerk