Akron Ohio News - Copley applying for grant to demolish eight nuisance properties

Community News

Copley applying for grant to demolish eight nuisance properties

6/28/2012 - West Side Leader

By Pam Lifke

Copley Township trustees have set aside $50,000 from the General Fund in preparation for applying to Summit County for a grant to demolish abandoned and blighted structures.

The trustees, at the June 20 meeting, chose eight properties they said have been perennial problems for demolition under the grant program.

Planning Director Matt Springer compiled the list of properties and solicited estimates for demolition of each property. The estimates, which totaled $45,950 for the eight properties, included capping wells, removing septic systems, demolition of structures, rough grading and filling in basements, he said. Demolition costs for each property ranged from $5,100 to a high of $7,950 for a property on Cliffside Drive.

Summit County expects to receive $3.7 million from the state for this program, trustees said. The program is a dollar-for-dollar reimbursable grant, and trustees would have the ability to place any costs incurred by the township on the tax duplicate of the property owners, trustees said.

In addition to the 2963 Cliffside Drive property, trustees are looking at demolition of structures at 2973 Copley Road, 3001 Copley Road, 2885 Copley Road, 2706 Kibler Road, 2698 Kibler Road, 2688 Kibler Road and 2682 Kibler Road.

Also during the meeting, trustees approved a resolution to ask the Summit County Engineer’s Office to prepare plans and specifications for replacing a culvert on Janwood Drive. The nearly 50-year-old culvert is undersized and due for replacement, said Tim Boley, of the Summit County Engineer’s Office. The Janwood Drive area has experienced significant flooding. Trustees are seeking to remedy the problem by replacing the culvert and getting homeowners to clear ditches on their properties so storm water passing through the culvert has adequate drainage.

Board of Trustees President Helen Humphrys said trustees already have sent one letter requesting homeowners clear their ditches. She said trustees will send a second letter, and if the homeowners do not clear the ditches on their own, trustees will begin the ditch petition process, which will allow the township to clear the ditches and assess the homeowners for the cleanup.

Once plans and specifications for the culvert replacement are developed, Service Director Mark Mitchell said he will bid out the project, as the township does not have equipment large enough for the job.

Trustees also agreed to ask the Summit County Engineer’s Office to prepare estimates, plans and specifications for a concrete overlay paving program for Pinewood Spur. Mitchell said the township repairs 3,000 square yards of concrete roads per year. This year’s repairs will cost the township a little more than $154,000, Mitchell said. Repairing asphalt roads is less expensive, he said.

“It seems like we constantly go back and repair [our concrete roads by] pulling panels out,” he said. “It just seems like we’re treading water.”

Mitchell said the process involves milling off some concrete and covering it with a fabric that covers the joints in the concrete and prevents “reflective” cracking once the asphalt overlay has been applied. Mitchell said Pinewood Spur will be a test case for the township. He said Wadsworth and Sagamore Hills have been using the process for years with good results.

In other business, the board:

• approved amending a grant expenditure to purchase mobile and fixed repeaters to improve radio system effectiveness;

• accepted from an anonymous donor a Bak-Pak II long spine immobilization board for use by the fire department. The board is valued at $207;

• approved training for the Copley Police Department;

• approved the replacement of five metal exterior doors and door jambs at Copley Fire Station No. 1 at a cost of $6,600. The work will be done by Hemminger Construction Co. and is a capital improvement item;

• approved applying to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for four veterans’ markers. The markers are to be placed on graves of soldiers who served in the War of 1812 and are buried at Copley Cemetery;

• approved an application to the 2012 Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program to replace three heart monitors. Current heart monitors would be placed on fire vehicles, and the new monitors would be used on township ambulances. The cost for the monitors would be $70,000, for which the township share would be $3,500, which is 5 percent of the total; and

• approved a resolution to adopt the Summit County job preservation agreement. Under the agreement, governmental entities who lure away a business from another participant agree to share income tax revenue with the community from which the business came.

The board will meet once in July. Trustees rescheduled their first regular meeting of the month, which would have fallen on July 4, for July 11 at 6 p.m. and canceled their regular July 25 meeting. Trustees meet in the Copley Township offices, 1540 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road.

More Community News

Calendar of Events

...More Events