7/12/2012 - West Side Leader
     

A four-unit apartment building at 65 N. Rose Boulevard will remain as such, thanks to Akron City Council’s approval July 9 of a petition for a conditional-use certificate by owners Paul Steigerwald and Steven Granger.

The building contains one two-bedroom apartment and two one-bedroom apartments in the main house, totaling 3,100 square feet, and another 550-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment above the three-car garage, according to its owners.

During a June 25 public hearing on the matter, Mike Antenucci, Department of Planning and Urban Development manager in the city’s Zoning Division, told council the Planning Commission has recommended approval of the request, but the city’s Department of Planning recommended disapproval.

Steigerwald and Granger told council the building has been a four-unit complex for 30 years, but recently, during a title search, it was discovered it actually has been in an area zoned for two-family residences since 1922, and the two were requesting the permit to correct the matter.

Several residents in the West Hill area attended the public hearing to object to the request to “protect the neighborhood.”

At its July 9 meeting, Council members, including Planning Committee Chairman Jeff Fusco (at-large), Marilyn Keith (Ward 2) and Linda Omobien (at-large), said they visited the complex and it had adequate parking and was well maintained. Omobien also expressed some concern for the process of determining such matters. Council approved the request.

After a public hearing that night, Council OK’d amending the North Turkeyfoot Redevelopment Area plan involving a Joint Economic Development District agreement between Akron and Coventry. The change adds a 19-acre triangular parcel on North Turkeyfoot Road, west of South Main Street, and would result in possible infrastructure improvements, as well as job creation.

Council also approved the following items:

• ordinances to execute oil and/or gas lease agreements for the mineral rights of 5.18 acres along Baughman, Ritchie and Wildwood avenues; Beechwood, Briarwood, Fernwood, Hillwood, Norway and Orin drives; Copley Road; and of 24 acres on the north side of Exeter Road and east side of South Arlington Street. Fusco said the city would earn $500 an acre and receive royalty payments of 15 percent in the gross revenue.

• an amended ordinance creating the Department of Neighborhood Assistance through the reassignment of duties previously performed by the Public Service Department, with the changes designed to improve the quality of neighborhoods through the timely and more efficient response to various nuisance issues, and establishing a budget not to exceed $3.9 million;

• a payment of $1,500 to the Cuyahoga Valley Regional Council of Governments to support activities for the fiscal year beginning July 1;

• the recommendations of the Tax Incentive Review Council regarding the continuation of tax increment financing agreements involving the city of Akron and Akron Public Schools, Copley-Fairlawn City Schools, Woodridge Local Schools and Springfield Local Schools; and

• three resolutions, including one expressing opposition to House Bill 2309, which seeks to eliminate U.S. Postal Service Saturday services and home delivery mail to 40 million homeowners who would have to instead go to a central location to get their mail; one urging the Summit County Board of Elections to establish an early voting location that is convenient and inexpensive to voters; and one to congratulate LeBron James on his accomplishments and expressing appreciation for his civic and charitable involvements in Akron.

The next regular Akron City Council meeting will take place July 16 at 7 p.m. in Council Chambers, located on the third floor of the Akron Municipal Building, 166 S. High St. Committee meetings will begin at 2 p.m. that day, also in Council Chambers.

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