The Council of the Village of Riverlea met on the above date at the Old Worthington Library. The following Council members were present: Mayor Eric A. MacGilvray, Nicholas B. Bartels, Scott K. Gordon, Janet Heidkamp, Leah M. Pyter, Emily J. Saving, and Dan E. Schlichting. Also present were Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer, Leah Reibel, Solicitor, Bryce Jacob, Planning Commissioner, and William Charles, Acting Street Commissioner. Guests of Council were residents Doug & Ann Metz, Scott Reed, and John Gallagher of Compass Infrastructure Group. At 7:01 p.m., the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Minutes

The minutes of the Council meeting of March 20, 2023 were not read since each member had received a copy. Saving moved and Bartels seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (6-0).

Report of the Clerk-Treasurer

Pyter moved and Heidkamp seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for March 2023 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (6-0).

Report of the Mayor

  1. The Mayor reported that the Easter Egg Hunt had been held on March 25 and was well attended. He thanked Deania Towns and the Social Committee for organizing the event.
  2. The Mayor stated that the Village had executed a contract with Insight Pipe Contracting, LLC to perform the sanitary sewer improvement project. A kickoff meeting for the project will be held in a few weeks.
  3. The Mayor reported that the Sharon Township Board of Trustees had approved the fire & EMS levy proposal that was discussed at the March Council meeting. The levy will placed on the ballot for voters in two segments, with the first segment coming in November 2023 and the second segment at a date to be determined between 2026 and 2028.
  4. The Mayor reported that a real estate attorney has prepared a draft of a deed of easement for the property at 5691 Olentangy. The deed of easement expands the right of way along the south edge of the property from 10 ft to 15 ft to allow the Village to maintain the Lift Station and associated sewer lines, and creates two temporary construction easements to be used when the lift station is demolished and replaced. The deed of easement will be circulated to Joel and Elisabeth Limes, owners of the property, for comment and signature.
  5. The Mayor reported that he and Jim Dippel of Burgess & Niple had met with representatives from the City of Worthington to discuss the sanitary sewer line that runs under Falmouth Ct from Pinney Ct in Worthington to the southern boundary of the Village. Responsibility for maintaining this line has been ambiguous, since it is part of Worthington’s system but located in Riverlea. Worthington will be performing a sewer relining project of their own this summer, and the discussions were around which municipality would handle this line. If Worthington adds it to their project, this would require that the Village and the adjacent property owners grant them a right of way to do so. Another option would be for Riverlea to add the line to its sewer relining project. The Mayor asked Council for their views on the matter and the sense of the Council was that they would prefer for the Village to assume responsibility for the portion of the line that is located in Riverlea. The Mayor stated that he would have additional information on the matter at the May meeting.
  6. The Mayor announced that Steven Orenchuk had resigned as Street Commissioner for the Village. William Charles is serving as interim Street Commissioner as the Village searches for a replacement.
  7. The Mayor asked Council if they were interested in street sweeping in the spring and the Council members were in favor. Pyter moved and Gordon seconded the motion to authorize the expenditure of not more than 10% more than the Village paid in spring 2022 for these services.
  8. The Mayor reported that a resident had volunteered to paint the Riverlea entrance sign along the Worthington border on Olentangy Blvd. The Council members authorized her to do so.

Report of the Solicitor

  1. The Solicitor stated that she had drafted an amendment to Ordinance 04-2022 in response to the discussion at the March meeting. Council will need to decide how far away from the stop sign at High St. and Riverglen Dr. that parking would be permitted.
  2. The Solicitor stated that she is working to ensure that the Village contracts are updated and current.

Report of the Street Commissioner

  1. The interim Street Commissioner reported that there is a backlog in the reports that are due to the Ohio EPA. He has prepared a summary table from 2016-2022 with some of this information.
  2. The Interim Street Commissioner stated that he has reviewed the reports on the condition of the lift station and recommended that the Village expedite the repairs and possible relocation.
  3. Saving asked the interim Street Commissioner if it would make sense to remove the monitoring of lift station alarms from the Street Commissioner’s job duties to make the position more attractive to applicants. The interim Street Commissioner replied that he did not feel that this would make much of a difference, given the low volume of alarms.

Report of the Planning Commissioner

There was no report from the Planning Commissioner.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

Doug Metz, owner of the apartment building at the southwest corner of Riverglen and High, addressed the Council regarding the proposed ordinance to allow parking on West Riverglen to the east of Crescent Court. He stated that he had requested a study of the feasibility of allowing parking on the south side of Riverglen between Crescent Ct and High St, whether on the east or west side of the apartment driveway. He introduced John Gallagher of Compass Infrastructure Group, who conducted the study. Mr. Gallagher reviewed the results, which had been distributed to Council members in advance of the meeting. The study concluded that there are no engineering or safety reasons to prohibit parking in this area. Bartels questioned the conclusion that there is no safety concern, given that there are no sidewalks within the Village. Mr. Gallagher responded that as the road is considered a shared street, there is an expectation that cars will yield to pedestrians and stated that given the low volume of traffic the probability of an accident is low.

Old Business

  1. Committee on Infrastructure

Schlichting, the Chair of the Committee, stated that the committee would be meeting later in the month to discuss the sanitary sewer improvement project.

  1. Web Manager

There was no report from the Web Manager.

  1. Communications Committee

Gordon, the Chair of the Committee, stated that he is working with the Web Manager on finalizing the Village directory. Doug Metz stated that he would help collect information on the apartment residents.

  1. Ordinance 04-2022

The Council discussed Ordinance 04-2022 – Approving an Amendment to the Riverlea Code of Ordinances 76.04 PARKING PROHIBITIONS, Schedule 1. Parking Prohibited, to Reduce the Parking Prohibition from High Street West to Crescent Court on West Riverglen Drive, which had been tabled at the March meeting.

Gordon stated that he felt that the best solution would be to allow parking on the south side of the street to the east of the apartment driveway and suggested that parking could be allowed closer to the driveway than the 25 ft distance mentioned in the Compass study. This would allow space for an additional car, bringing the total to 4 cars on that side.

Pyter stated that she would like to see parking allowed on both the east and west sides of the driveway, with no parking allowed within 60 ft of the stop sign at High Street.

Schlichting stated that he felt that 25 ft from the driveway was too restrictive, and pointed out that removing this restriction would allow space for an additional car. He felt that having a No Parking sign 65 ft from the stop sign at High St and then no further signage along the south side would allow space for 4 cars to the east of the driveway and 2 cars to the west.

Schlichting moved and Pyter seconded to amend the ordinance to place a No Parking sign on the south side of Riverglen 60 ft from the stop sign at High St and to remove all other No Parking signs on the south side between High St and Crescent St. The following vote was recorded on the motion: Yea: 3, Pyter, Saving, Schlichting; Nay: 3; Bartels, Gordon, Heidkkamp; Abstain: None. The Mayor voted Nay to bring the total Nays to 4. The motion failed to pass (3-4).

Gordon moved and Schlichting seconded to amend the ordinance to place a No Parking sign on the south side of Riverglen 60 ft from the stop sign at High St, to remove all other No Parking signs along the south side of Riverglen on the east side of the apartment driveway, and to leave the No Parking signs along the south side of Riverglen between the driveway and Crescent Ct in place. Heidkamp moved to amend Gordon’s amendment to add a No Parking sign 8 ft to the east of the apartment driveway. There was no second to Heidkamp’s motion and it failed to advance. The following vote was recorded on Gordon’s motion: Yea: 5, Gordon, Heidkamp, Pyter, Saving, Schlichting; Nay: 1; Bartels; Abstain: None. The motion carried (5-1).

Saving moved and Schlichting seconded the motion to approve the amended ordinance. The following vote was recorded on the motion: Yea: 5, Gordon, Heidkamp, Pyter, Saving, Schlichting; Nay: 1; Bartels; Abstain: None. The motion carried (5-1).

New Business

  1. Rush Run Park Signs

Pyter mentioned that there had been 2 signs posted in Rush Run Park stating that there is no trespassing, no hunting, and no fishing. The Mayor stated that he would contact Columbus Parks and Recreation to inquire about these signs.

Expenses

Pyter moved and Saving seconded the motion to authorize the following expenditure:

$110.00 – Gudenkauf Corp – Water & gas line locating

The motion was approved unanimously (6-0).

Comments from Residents on Non-Agenda Items

There were no comments from residents on non-agenda items.

Next Meeting Announcement

The next regular meeting will be Monday, May 15, 2023, at 6:30 p.m. at the Old Worthington Library.

Adjournment

There being no further business, Pyter moved and Bartels seconded the motion to adjourn.  The motion was approved unanimously (6-0). The meeting was adjourned at 8:22 p.m.

 

Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer

Eric A. MacGilvray, Mayor