The Council of the Village of Riverlea met on the above date at Thomas Worthington High School. The following Council members were present: Mayor Eric A. MacGilvray, Nicholas B. Bartels, Scott K. Gordon, Leah M. Pyter, Emily J. Saving, and Dan E. Schlichting. Also present were Leah Reibel, Solicitor, Steven Orenchuk, Street Commissioner and Gregory Bonk, Web Manager. Guests of Council were residents Brian Hazel, Fran West, Kyle Dy, and Corey Shields. At 7:00 p.m., the Mayor called the meeting to order.

Minutes

The minutes of the Council meeting of January 17, 2023 were not read since each member had received a copy. Pyter moved and Schlichting seconded the motion that the minutes be approved as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The following vote was recorded on the motion: Yea: 4: Bartels, Gordon, Pyter, Schlichting; Nay: None; Abstain: Saving. The motion carried (4-0-1).

Report of the Clerk-Treasure

Schlichting moved and Bartels seconded the motion to approve the payment of bills and to accept the financial reports for January 2023 as submitted by the Clerk-Treasurer. The motion carried (5-0).

Report of the Mayor

  1. The Mayor reported that the Village had received bids for the sanitary sewer project and that they were all substantially under the engineer’s estimate. Burgess & Niple is reviewing the low bid and expects to make a recommendation by the end of the week.
  2. The Mayor informed Council that Sharon Township had held three open forums with residents about the City of Worthington’s proposed increase to the fire & EMS levy. On February 1st, the Sharon Township trustees rejected the City’s proposal, which starts a 45-day negotiating window between the two sides. The parties plan to meet weekly during this period to discuss the levy, and the Mayor has been invited to represent the Village at those meetings.

Report of the Solicitor

The Solicitor stated that she had reviewed whether the Village had a responsibility to inform potential homebuyers when the wye that connects the sanitary sewer main to the property is sealed. She found that there is no responsibility on behalf of the Village, but there may be on behalf of the seller, if they are aware of the situation. It may be the duty of the Village to inform the buyer if there is no functioning lateral on the lot. The Street Commissioner inquired if the Village could require proactive notification of potential buyers and the Solicitor reiterated that it would be the responsibility of the seller.

Report of the Street Commissioner

The Street Commissioner reported that work has begun on the construction of the new house at 131 Southington.

Report of the Planning Commissioner

There was no report from the Planning Commissioner.

Comments from Residents on Agenda Items

Kyle Dy, resident at 36 W Riverglen Dr, addressed the Council regarding the proposed ordinance to allow parking on West Riverglen to the east of Crescent Court. Mr. Dy encouraged the Council to vote against the ordinance as he feels that allowing this parking would be a safety issue in that it would limit visibility for pedestrians and drivers, as well as the ability of emergency vehicles to access the Village. He stated that he feels it is the responsibility of the apartment building owner to provide additional parking to the building residents.

Fran West, resident at 50 W Riverglen Dr, addressed the Council regarding the proposed ordinance to allow parking on West Riverglen to the east of Crescent Court. Ms. West expressed her opposition to the ordinance and mentioned similar concerns from her neighbors at 44 W Riverglen. She stated that she lives near the apartment building and has not noticed building residents carrying multiple packages or making multiple trips to the building from Crescent Court. She is concerned that non-residents of the buildings could use these parking spaces if they are available and feels that the owner of the apartment building should provide additional parking to the residents.

Steven Orenchuk, resident at 259 W Riverglen Dr, addressed the Council regarding the proposed ordinance to allow parking on West Riverglen to the east of Crescent Court. Mr. Orenchuk discussed an article on the dangers of on-street parking.

Rob Becker, resident at 142 W Riverglen Dr, addressed the Council regarding the proposed ordinance to allow parking on West Riverglen to the east of Crescent Court. Mr. Becker stated that he feels that narrowing the entrance to the Village on Riverglen would not be wise, given the high speed of drivers turning onto the street from High Street.

Brian Hazel, resident at 5803 Dover Ct, addressed the Council regarding the proposed ordinance to allow parking on West Riverglen to the east of Crescent Court. Mr. Hazel stated that he does not feel that allowing this parking would be safe for pedestrians, given the lack of sidewalks within the Village. He stated that Ohio law does not permit on-street parking within 30 ft. of a stop sign and feels that allowing this parking would provide limited benefit to the Village.

Old Business

  1. Committee on Infrastructure

Schlichting, the Chair of the Committee, stated that the committee had not met in February.

  1. Web Manager

There was no report from the Web Manager

  1. Communications Committee

 

  1. Gordon, the Chair of the Committee, reported that he had found a new printer that will help with the design and printing of the Village Directory.
  2. The Committee Chair noted that the planned information for the directory does not include email addresses and that he feels they should be included. Most of this information has been collected as the Mayor is using these addresses to contact residents as needed. The Mayor stated that he will send out an email to residents asking if they would like to opt out of having this information listed in the directory.

 

  1. Village Salaries

Saving stated that discussion of this issue should be tabled until July, when the topic will be more relevant given the elections in November.

  1. Ordinance 04-2022

Ordinance 04-2022 –Approving an Amendment to 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 had its third reading.

The Mayor stated that Council has four options in this situation:

  1. Vote to remove the no parking signs on the south side of Riverglen in the affected area
  2. Vote to remove the no parking signs on both sides of Riverglen in the affected area
  3. Vote to leave the current no parking signs in place
  4. Table the issue pending more research and resident comments

Pyter inquired as to whether the no parking signs could be removed on one side of the street on a trial basis. She stated that she frequently walks around the Village, that she has been keeping track of the cars parked on the north side of Crescent Ct which would potentially be parking on Riverglen, and that there are typically 0-2 cars parked there.

Gordon stated that he had considered all sides of this issue and does not feel that there would be more than a few cars added to Riverglen from removing the signs on the south side, but that he does have concerns about the safety of pedestrians, notably with children, and with access to emergency vehicles from this change.

Saving said that she did not see any violations that would result from approving the ordinance and that the only arguments she had heard against the proposal arose from personal preferences.

Schlichting stated that he felt that adding 3-5 spots along the south side of Riverglen would not cause any safety issues. He mentioned that Council had heard personal testimony from a resident of the apartment building who said that he had to carry packages from Crescent due to the lack of sufficient on-site parking at the building. Schlichting suggested that adding 2 spots along the south side of Riverglen on the east side of the driveway serving the apartment building would help alleviate the parking on Crescent. Gordon moved to table the ordinance to consider Schlichting’s suggestion and to monitor this area of Riverglen during busy times to see how backed up the road is. Bartels seconded the motion. The following vote was recorded on the motion: Yea: 4: Bartels, Gordon, Pyter, Saving; Nay: Schlichting; Abstain: none. The motion carried (4-1).

New Business

Expenses

Bartels moved and Schlichting seconded the motion to authorize the following expenditures:

$ 110.00 – Gudenkauf Corp – Water & gas line locating

The motion was approved unanimously (5-0).

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, March 20, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. at Thomas Worthington High School.

Adjournment

There being no further business, Bartels moved and Schlichting seconded the motion to adjourn.  The motion was approved unanimously (5-0). The meeting was adjourned at 8:02 p.m.

 

Joshua C. Mehling, Clerk-Treasurer

Eric A. MacGilvray, Mayor