KENT PLANNING COMMISSION and SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MAY 28, 2013

Transcription

1 KENT PLANNING COMMISSION and SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION SPECIAL JOINT MEETING MAY 28, 2013 PLANNING COMMISSON: ABSENT: Anthony Catalano John Gargan Greg Balbierz Peter Paino Melissa Long SUSTAINABILITY COMMISSION: John Gwinn ABSENT: Caroline Arnold, Daniel Schweitzer, Theodore Newman, Erik Zemljic STAFF PRESENT: Jennifer Barone, Development Engineer Bridget Susel, Community Development Director Eric Fink, Assistant Law Director Suzanne Robertson, Executive Assistant to City Manager John Idone, Kent Parks & Recreation Director Sheila Uzl, Transcriptionist I. Call To Order The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. II. III. Roll Call: Mr. Gargan, Mr. Balbierz, Mr. Paino, Mr. Gwinn and Mr. Catalano were present. Other Business Discussion of Green Space: To define parameters in order to identify areas for consideration. Ms. Susel stated that John Idone has a lot to do with establishing green space. She said an Urban Forestry Management Plan maintains the trees and green space. In 2010, the City of Kent had $10,000 a year to maintain the green space. In 2011, the City of Kent acquired 189 trees. Currently, there is a grant application out for $25,000 for larger trees in the redevelopment area downtown. She said the City wanted to make sure that it replaces and maintains green space. Mr. Catalano asked if the City of Kent accepted private funding. Ms. Susel replied yes. The $10,000 appropriation approved in 2010 has been in place every year since then. That is in addition to tree acquisition and there are funds in the Service/Central Maintenance Budget so there is funding allocated yearly for the

2 Page (2) maintenance and removal of dead trees and replenishment of the grass areas. She said Mr. Idone can expand on acquiring green spaces and expanding the park area. The City of Kent does have an Arborist. She clarified that the $10,000 appropriation in Urban Forest Management is used solely for tree acquisition and to expand or replace trees that need to be removed for disease or age. There is also a separate appropriation such as Adopt a Spot and Keep Kent Beautiful. The City of Kent is at $8.65 per resident which is one of the highest for green space and trees. This does not include Parks and Recreation budget. She turned the meeting over to John Idone. Mr. Idone stated that the City of Kent s first park is Fred Fuller Park and was deeded to the City of Kent in1930.that started a long history of connections to parks in the City of Kent. Over the years a substantial comprehensive system has been developed. An area is set aside for either land or setting aside money for the acquisition of the development of park land when a new subdivision is developed. Some of the large developments have a very dense populated parking complex and it did not make sense to pull any land from a development like that. The City of Kent calculates what it would cost the City to develop a park area using a formula of 10 acres per every 1000 residents. The developer pays the appraised value of what it would cost the City of Kent to acquire those ten acres. He said the City matches the developer s funds. He said they are not restricted to purchasing land but they can use that money to develop parks. This has been very useful in developing parks. He referred to a park map and said that most of the green area is in the west end of Kent because that is where all the development has gone on in the last 20 (twenty) years. There are some parcels in the southeast end of the City. He passed out the Greenway Plan. The Greenways typically follow linear corridors along rivers or railroads. The Portage Hike and Bike Plan goes from Crain Avenue out towards Tanners Woods. There are linear greenways alongside the trail. There is a portion of the Portage Hike and Bike Trail, a natural greenway, that goes along the Cuyahoga River, a corridor that is owned by the City of Kent. The River Edge Park that was developed in the mid-1970s is an excellent example of a greenway. He said one of the things they did when they looked at the Master Plan was how they could make park facilities accessible to everyone in the neighborhoods. He said you want to see passive and active recreation in the parks. The City of Kent likes parks to be a minimum of two acres. He referred to pictures and said there are a number of access barriers such as Fishcreek, Cuyahoga River, State Route 261, railroad tracks, State Route 43 and State Route 59. Those barriers impact the ability to get to a recreation facility so they try to look at the neighborhoods and use those access barriers to define the neighborhood districts. They came up with only 13 or 14 districts. The goal was to have a park within a 10 minute or half mile radius of every neighborhood. He said those radiuses might be restricted, if there is something like a railroad next to it that interrupts the park area.

3 Page (3) He referred to a drawing that showed neighborhoods that are served by city parks. There are a couple that has holes but with the acquisition of the Athletic Fields and the Depeyster Field some holes have been filled in. The City schools also have open space available. He said the Fairchild area was the last chance to try to bridge some property together. He referred to another drawing and said that the yellow part represents parks that were developed after the plan was in place. Forest Lakes Park is a 28 acre parcel donated by the developer and deeded to the City of Kent. There is about a one mile walking trail around the perimeter of the park. The City of Kent also received an additional 7½ acres to the northeast of the Forest Lakes Park through the wetlands litigation from a developer in Cleveland that needed to purchase some wetlands credit. He said the developer gave the City of Kent some money to purchase the land and that satisfied his wetlands requirement. Right below that areas is another 7 to 10 acres donated to the City of Kent and a conservation easement was put on it. Right below Fishcreek Park is 13 acres that the City of Kent acquired where City soccer fields are located. There are two 15 acre parcels that was purchased by the Ohio Wetland Foundation who were hoping to develop that as an urban wetlands banks but regulations changed from a 50-foot setback to a 200-foot setback so the Foundation is sitting on this property and want the City of Kent to buy it. The area below the 30 (thirty) acres is the Jessie Smith Wildlife Preserve which was donated by Roy Smith in the 1960s. To the west of that is a Wetland Mitigation that was acquired from Mr. Klaben. Right next to this is 10 (ten) acres the City of Kent acquired in 2012 as a Wetlands Mitigation along the Hike and Bike Trail. The City of Kent purchased five (5) acres of this area and the Gavriloff family donated 5 (five) acres. The Athletic Fields are located next to this site then wraps around to the Al Lease Park. This area of town has really pieced together nicely over the last 15 (fifteen) years but there are some areas the City of Kent would like to acquire as the money becomes available. He said there is criteria for park sites. Mr. Paino asked if the City of Kent had purchased the one area on the drawing. Mr. Idone replied yes with the idea of restoring the wetlands. Mr. Balbierz asked how the City of Kent would integrate in the future with the Esplanade and Kent State University. Mr. Idone replied that the whole concept of the Portage Hike and Bike Trail gained a lot of traction 5 or 6 years ago when the City of Kent, Kent State University, the Portage Park District, Franklin Township and the City of Ravenna joined together to try to get transportation enhancement federal dollars. He said they received 7 to 9 million dollars in federal funds towards the Hike and Bike Trail. The idea was to connect the university to the downtown area and then to use the Portage Hike and Bike Trail as a major H connector between two major north and south trails, the Ohio and Erie Canal

4 Page (4) Corridor and the Lakes to Rivers Trail that goes from Ashtabula to the Ohio River. He said initially it was a mile here and a mile there and it is now coming together with the River Corridor being completed last year. Summit County Parks implemented the Freedom Trail from State Route 261 and Middlebury through Tallmadge to Tallmadge Circle. It will go another two miles next year and then will be 1 ½ from downtown Akron at that point. This is a trail has become a transportation corridor in addition to being a trail for recreation, the environment and wild life. He said the downtown section is very difficult because the Tannery Section along the river is steep and very expensive. He said their goal was to get people off the city streets and get them downtown. He said there is a grant for 2017 that will be used for a 10-foot wide off road on the south side of State Route 59 going from the Esplanade in front of the police station, across the Haymaker Bridge and ending at Franklin Avenue. This will be done with Transportation Enhancement dollars, federal dollars. It is an 80/20 match so the City of Kent has to pay for all the designs which come to $725,000. Mr. Paino asked if there was going to be a connection from Hudson Road to the hike and bike trail. Mr. Idone stated that Franklin Township is looking at the road but the sections in Franklin Township would have to be taken on by the Portage Park District or the Franklin Township Trustees who are very interested in seeing that happen. One of the ideas is to come along Hudson Road and possibly cut across to S.R. 43 and connect to the trails in the neighborhood. Another thing is to go all the way down Hudson and use the school service road as a connector. Hudson Road is a dangerous because of the hills but the township plans to smooth out some of the humps and widen the road. They City of Akron has a 125-foot wide water easement that goes from Middlebury Road where the trail ends at State Route 261 all the way over to Lake Rockwell. The City of Kent is trying to work with them to make a trail which would make a great connection north and south and would pass by a lot of Kent City s parks and schools. There are future plans to build a recreation center at Fairchild and Majors Lane. He said a lot of the transportation funds are from AMAT, Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation who distributes all federal funds. The Portage Hike and Bike Trail has been given priority so they have been very fortunate in getting funding. On April 20 th, a brainstorming meeting was held with about 60 people from Akron at the meeting. Ms. Barone stated she had a map of the hike and bike trails that show the existing and the proposed ones. She brought a map of vacant parcels of land, a map of City owned parcels and aerial photos of the City of Kent that has property lines on it. Ms. Susel stated that the Parks and Recreational Department does get a match of funds out of the General Funds for acquisition of park land. When the City of Kent buys land out of the General Fund it is for economic developmental purposes or to assemble parcels to be used for future economic development versus using it for green space.

5 Page (5) A grant was received in 2009 for demolition and the reason those parcels are not acquired is because the maintenance falls under the City s responsibility in terms of cutting the grass or shoveling the drive. Maintenance does become a major issue because staff takes care of the entire City owned properties and it could become problematic financially. The pocket green spaces are a challenge for the community in terms of maintenance. Sometimes it is better for that to be handled by a non-profit organization rather the government entity. She said that the City of Kent has a very strong park coordinated system. Mr. Gwinn stated the Sustainability Commission was still uncertain what the request was from the Planning Commission. He suggested an arboretum be used for growing certain trees in the small areas which would develop a green space canopy. Ms. Susel stated there is now a Land Bank in Portage County and once it gets established and starts acquiring parcels where the City can set up acquisition policies that allow for acquisition on vacant lots and covenant language can be put in so individuals can buy the land for a song to keep the green space to expand their side yard. This is an approach that was just approved on Wednesday. The Land Bank is new but definitely in the City s acquisition plan. The City of Kent has also receives funds from the delinquent tax assessment that the commissioners approved and by the end of the year the City of Kent will have a budget of $264,000. Mr. Idone stated that cluster developments have to have open space as well as park requirements and pay taxes as well as maintain the area. Ms. Robertson stated that the Sustainability Commission wants the Planning Commission to be more specific. She asked if the Planning Commission wanted recommendations on green space or recommendations on policy based on new developments or preserving green space. Basically, the Sustainability Commission wants more information. Mr. Balbierz asked if the criteria has been set and sent to the Sustainability Commission. He asked how the Planning Commission and the Sustainability Commission can come together after discussing some of the issues that have risen. Ms. Barone replied no. It was not given to the Sustainability Commission. She said she gave some information to the Planning Commission to look at. The information is actually from the City of Hudson code and they also have a definition of open space. She said something could be in the code or the Sustainability could look at the information. Mr. Paino stated that land for residential development is almost gone. He asked how the City of Kent will produce the income for the parks. He said there has been a lot of redevelopment in downtown Kent but there are no parks.

6 Page (6) He said the student housing is probably at its limit and there probably will not be too many more of the big developments. He said there is nothing in the code that requires a commercial development to have green space or open space and felt the commercial developments should contribute. Ms. Susel stated that the residential areas do not generate any tax base for the City of Kent and does not benefit the City of Kent s General Fund at all. The General Fund is primarily driven by income tax so the commercial interest in development downtown does replenish the General Fund through the amount of income tax generated. The tax increment financing was based on property tax post evaluation after development. That income base is one of the key reasons why the City of Kent promotes economic development so the only thing the City of Kent gets from the residential area is a drain on the City s public services. She said there are additional fees in the downtown area for services provided. Some groups are upset about the development and the removal of the urban canopy. She said there are plans to put in trees but currently there is construction equipment still in the area. Mr. Paino stated that if a developer comes into the City of Kent part of the plan should include planting trees. Ms. Barone stated that the City of Kent owns the top two decks of the PARTA building and that was part of the plan as the building went up. Mr. Paino stated that the City of Kent can always use trees. Ms. Barone stated that Building "C" will be planting trees and also trees will be put in on the new courthouse site. Mr. Paino stated some of the commercial sites that have been approved in the last few years plant a one inch tree which is not much. Ms. Susel agreed. She said the City of Kent will be reviewing the landscaping in the code. Mr. Gargan stated that green space is not defined in the zoning code. He asked if there should be a definition in the zoning code. Ms. Barone replied that criteria should be established to define it. Ms. Susel stated the City of Kent wants to develop a landscape chapter that addresses the redevelopment of the commercial areas. She said the staff will bring that chapter to the Planning Commission for review. She said the staff will have a meeting on June 11 th to discuss landscaping for redevelopment and development sites.

7 Page (7) Mr. Balbierz asked if the Planning Commission wanted a definition of open space or green space in the code. Ms. Susel asked Mr. Balbierz what the end result he was seeking. She asked what the end goal is for defining green space. Staff is seeking guidance from the Planning Commission just like the Sustainability Commission is. She said there needs to be a rationale for it being in the code. There is no mechanism in place for acquiring it by the City of Kent. It is all done through the Parks and Recreation Department. Mr. Catalano stated that he thought the Planning Commission should be more active in the process. Mr. Gargan stated that everyone wants to preserve green space but private owners cannot be forced to preserve green space. He asked if there was anything up and beyond what the Parks and Recreation Department is doing that could be done. Mr. Catalano stated the Planning Commission wanted to preserve existing green space. Ms. Barone stated that there might be ways to get the criteria for the Planning Commission to consider; currently the code discusses areas that have unique characteristics. Mr. Gwinn asked if the Parks and Recreation Department had the most leverage. Mr. Fink stated that a developer s site plan cannot be approved if park fee is not approved. Mr. Idone stated that the Parks and Recreation Department does not own anything. Everything belongs to the City of Kent. Every parcel the Parks and Recreation Department acquires is the City s. Ms. Barone stated that all commercial sites are required to have 30% open space. She understood that they are refreshing green space in the landscape code. She gave a copy of Hudson's Index of Ecological Integrity (IEI) to Ms. Susel It was decided to add redevelopment to the landscape code. X. Adjournment MOTION: Mr. Balbierz moved to adjourn. Mr. Gargan seconded the motion. The motion carried 5 0. The meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.