Prepared Comments Made to
NORTH CANTON CITY COUNCIL
March 23, 2015
Twelve
years ago, City Council ratified a total rewrite of the City’s Zoning Code. The
vote was unanimous for passage. Two current members of Council were among the
seven who voted for passage, Doug Foltz and Marcia Kiesling.
Codified
in the zoning code for the last twelve years is Chapter 1177.11, which is
titled APPEAL TO COUNCIL. Written in plain English, Chapter 1177.11 states:
Any person who is
adversely affected by a decision made by the Planning Commission according to
the procedures set forth in this Chapter may appeal such decision to Council
within 30 days of the Planning Commission's decision. Council shall
establish appropriate rules and procedures to hear and decide such appeals.
On
October 10, 2014, City residents impacted by the expansion of the
Hoover District South Parking Lot appealed a Planning Commission approval of a
“Conditional Use” permit that allowed the developers to greatly expand the
parking lot. The appeal was made prior to commencement of construction.
Typically, an appeal would be heard in a timely manner to be fair to all
parties. This has not been the case.
Midway through
the thirty-days allowed for submission of an appeal, the City asked that the
appeal be resubmitted. The second appeal was resubmitted within the required 30
days.
On December 1,
2014, and without a hearing date yet set, City Council passed an emergency
resolution transferring the appeal to the City’s Zoning Board of Appeals. This
was followed by another emergency resolution on January 12, 2015, rescinding
the earlier emergency resolution.
Despite the long
delay, it was thought that Council would at some point follow the law and allow
citizens a hearing on the appeal that is clearly guaranteed in the City’s Zoning
Code.
Sadly, North
Canton City Council is refusing to allow an appeal hearing. Not now, not ever!
On February 23, 2015, Resolution
No. 2-2015 received the first of three
readings dismissing the appeal.
Tonight Resolution No. 2-2015 is on
the agenda for its third and final reading.
City Council’s action denying an
appeal hearing is one of the most flagrant actions of a group of elected
representatives I have ever seen in my lifetime. Clearly, there is no sense of
duty or obligation to the public they have sworn to represent.
Sadly, for North Canton citizens,
their elected representatives are going to outdo themselves in their
anti-citizen actions.
Also on the agenda tonight is the 2nd
reading of Ordinance No. 17-2015. This ordinance seeks to remove entirely from
the City’s Zoning Code, any chance of Appeal to Council that is delineated in Chapter
1177.11. If successful, City Council will never again have to deal with the citizen
protections that have been in the Code for over thirteen years.
Chapter 1177.11 of the zoning code
is a safety net for citizens who believe that they have been adversely affected
by decisions made by the Planning Commission. It allows for appeals directly to
their elected representatives.
Mr. Griffith, at the Council
meeting of February 23, 2015, stated, “…The decision about whether to do
something when it comes to zoning or whether or not to do something shouldn’t
be a political issue.”
I beg to differ. Our entire process
of government is political. How do you think you have come to sit on this
council body? You are elected by the people through a political process. And on
taking office you have taken an oath to represent the people. Council action
refusing an appeal hearing and removing the right by citizens to appeal to
Council is not representing your constituency.
In regards to the removal of the
appeal process you stated, “…one of the reasons that we are taking that appeal
away [is] because those decision shouldn’t be political decisions.”
How do you think the zoning code
came to be in the first place? The Planning Commission did not craft the code.
It was Council through a political process.
North Canton’s City Charter states,
“The Planning Commission shall have the powers as may be conferred on it by
ordinance of Council….”
The citizens of North Canton should
be able to trust that their elected representatives are making decisions for
them.
Your statements at that February
23, 2015, meeting turn democracy upside down and put citizens at the mercy of
unelected officials of the Planning Commission.
This council should act like
representatives of the people and quit acting like pawns of the City Law
Director. Comply with the City’s Zoning Code as it is presently written.
Give your constituents a hearing
and discontinue removal of citizen protections that have been put in the City’s
Zoning Code. They were put there for good reasons.
Thank you,
Chuck Osborne,
Resident
City of North Canton
