Council had in a sophomore from Stow-Munroe Falls High School, Mr. Andrew Brantsch, who gave a presentation about our City Flag and its many shortcomings. Mr. Brantsch pointed out first that many people do not realize we have a City Flag. Next Mr. Brantsch detailed the shortcomings of our City code designated our flag which lacks any details about the color, size, etc. In addition, our flag is very busy and doesn’t meet multiple standards recommended for good flag design. Mr. Brantsch asked Council to consider updating the flag and suggested that perhaps a contest would be a method to solicit additional design concept for consideration. Mr. Brantsch did an excellent job presenting his points and recommendation to Council and afterwards, Mr. McIntire suggested that Council create a new board to undertake this task and that he would like to work with Mr. Brantsch to have him involved in the creation of this board. I look forward to seeing this project move forward! (Image of our current flag below)
Council voted to extend the current moratorium on the development of new car washes in the City pending the recommendations on the legislation to adjust our zoning code from the Planning Commission and time for a public hearing on adjusting said zoning code. I believe this extension was necessary to finalize a permanent process for addressing the number of car washes in the City. Council will review the recommendations from Planning Commission at our next meeting on Wednesday April 26th and compare that to the legislation presented by Council. We will have a public hearing on May 25th to review the finally proposed legislation and vote on such changes.
Council also approved a tax sharing agreement for the Wilson Companies who will be moving onto Commerce Drive in the building formerly occupied by First Energy. It is also nice to see family owned businesses choose our City as their home, and even more so when they are selecting a vacant space to improve and make their own. The Wilson Companies is a group of companies diversified in Construction, Home Service, Real Estate, and Professional Services. They chose Stow as their new home to consolidate 5 of the current locations into one central location. They have approximately 110 full-time employees now and expect to see that number grow over the next several years as well. I welcome them to the City of Stow and look forward to seeing their new facility once they have made their improvements and moved in.
The Roads and Safety Committee reviewed crash data for the City of Stow and the comparison of our data to other communities in Summit County. Previously, Route 91 and Graham Road was one of the most dangerous intersections in the county, however, after the road and signal improvements made at that intersection there was a significant decrease in the number of accidents occurring there. The intersection of Fishcreek and Graham Road also has many incidents occurring and, as part of that, the City received a safety grant to make road and signal improvements to that intersection similar to the changes made at 91 and Graham. Those improvements are scheduled to start this summer once school is out to avoid impacting the high school traffic that travels through that intersection. I look forward to seeing how that will improve the safety of both auto and pedestrian traffic.
Council wee next meet on Wednesday April 26th with Committee meetings starting at 5:30 PM and the Council meeting to follow.