Thursday we passed legislation to approve the purchase of 36 acres of land across from Fox Den Golf Course where the city currently leases a portion of this property to operate the driving range. This property is zoned as residential property and there were several offers to purchase the property to develop it as residential property. As a prior member of the Parks & Recreation Board and Planning Commission, I know how important conservation of green space in our city is. While it isn’t possible to preserve every green space or property, it is important we recognize the areas where we can make smart financial decisions that protect our green space while adding to our city assets. This property makes sense for us to purchase and conserve; it is currently adjacent to our golf course, the hike and bike trail, and Silver Springs Park and also is in an area that has flooding issues with heavy rain which could be exacerbated by development in the area. I will be proposing legislation to re-zone this property into our “O” Conservation district once the property is purchased. I look forward to seeing this property becoming a city asset and being reviewed as part of a parks master plan in the near future.
Our current Deputy Planning Director, Mr. Kurtz, recently tendered his resignation with his last day approaching in June. Council authorized the administration to move forward to seek Mr. Kurtz’s replacement. I wish Mr. Kurtz all the best in his new position and I hope that the administration is able to find an adequate replacement for this important position in our City quickly.
Roads and Safety Committee discussed a recent AMATS study related to the use of speed tables to help reduce speeding in residential areas. Speed tables are similar to speed bumps but are slightly larger and are installed in the spring and removed in the fall to allow for easy plowing of roads. The AMATS study showed that after removal of the speed tables speeding resumed back to close to prior levels. The end result of the study was to continue the pilot program in Akron next year. Mr. McIntire and our City Engineer Mr. McCleary both brought up valuable points that should be considered prior to looking at a program like this. Mr. McIntire and Mr. Feldman both would like to see this program in place in 2021 after the City of Akron install their tables in a new residential area for this summer. If anyone is interested in reading the AMATS report you can find it here.
Mr. Wren, Mr. McIntire and myself also discussed legislation we had tabled on adding the Purpose and Duties of our Parks & Recreation board last week and were able to agree to a new version of the legislation. This legislation codifies and provides transparency about the purpose and duties of our Parks & Recreation Board that makes it easy for the public to see their responsibilities. This came up last year when it was proposed Council rename a parks building within our City and then later found out that the policy within the City was that the Parks & Recreation Board would actually have that responsibility. This new section makes the prior policies that exist available for review without knowing where and/or who it needs to be requested from.
Our next Council Meeting will be on June 10, 2021 with Committee meeting times to be announced closer to the meeting date.