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June 19, 2006

Minutes for May 22, 2006

The following is the written minutes from the May 22, 2006, Mariemont council meeting. The MariemontBuzz.com was not in attendance for this particular meeting, so the minutes have been provided by administration. The council chamber was filled with residents prepared to speak of the increasing concerns regarding traffic congestion, parking and safety on West Street.

Per the details recorded by village council: “Mr. Ebelhar moved, seconded by Ms. Sullivan to accept the recommendation of the Committee of the Whole. The Committee met on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 to discuss revisions of traffic patterns in and around West Street to increase the safety of children and pedestrians in this congested area. With the addition of a new parking lot behind the Strand accessed off the southern end of West Street near Wooster Pike, the Village enlisted the services of a traffic consultant, Mr. John Niehaus, to investigate and recommend optimal safety configurations. Mr. Niehaus was asked and did meet with representatives of those most impacted by this congested area: Mariemont School Board, Spinnenweber Builders, Village of Mariemont Council, Village Engineer, Police Chief and Fire Chief and residents who provided input during two Committee of the Whole meetings held previously.

“Public input was also garnered during the meeting. Potential options for the Elementary School drop-off and pick-up of students were also suggested and discussed and a motion was made to re-establish two-way traffic at all times on West Street and to restrict stopping, standing and parking at all times on both sides of West Street between Wooster Pike and Madisonville Road.

“The motion passed 4-2. The Committee requested the appropriate ordinance be prepared. In collaboration with the recommendation of the Mariemont School Board’s planned improvements, this motion and subsequent ordinance does not exclude the potential of a “bus loading only” to be established near the southern end of West Street near Wooster once definite plans for the designed recess are finalized.

“But not everyone is convinced the changes will make a difference. Robin Teeters said from the meeting she does not believe there has been a compelling reason given to make these changes. The space has been rented and is not open in the morning when the area is congested. There have been no injuries under the current system. No child has been hurt and there have been no auto accidents. There is a little bit longer response time for emergency equipment, but there have been no adverse consequences to that.

“Teeters added that someone twisted their ankle and had to wait a few extra minutes, but she does not think that is a big problem. She said there has also been an inadequate study of the alternatives. “When questions were asked, they could not tell us how many spaces would be available if we change this plan,” she said. She does not believe enough alternatives were considered.

“The school has said they would conduct their own study and they have not been given enough time to complete that.

“Barb Policastro, 6610 Pleasant Street, said all the experts agree that this is a good thing. She said one day somebody is going to make that turn onto West Street without realizing it. She believes it would be much safer for the children to park in a parking lot with the parents helping them out than to be running out in the street. From the last meeting, her impression was that people could not find parking and they wanted to be able to park and watch their child go into the building. By parking in the parking lot, and walking your child to the school entrance, the parents would not have to worry about the child getting out into traffic or causing an accident. The experts agree this is a safety issue and she thinks there has to be something to this if it comes from an outside source.

“Mr. Paul Hoffer, 3861 Settle Road, said he has three small children and he does not understand how walking in a parking lot would be safer than pulling to the side of the curb and letting them out on the sidewalk. Vehicles are larger now and when you are backing up, a child is below that view point, and with people pulling in and out, he does not see how that is safer. There are not enough parking spaces in the lot and he does not see how the traffic flow is going to improve if people are parking and then trying to get out and walking with their children. He believes it will congest the area more. He questions the recommendation of Mr. Niehaus of how it would be safer to have West Street a two way street. He asked if the study was during the drop off and pick up of children.

“Mr. Rick Koehler, Mariemont School Board of Education, said the school has hired its own consultant. They have only presented the school with a preliminary solution, which the Board likes. It is a two-lane pull-off entirely on school property. The pull-off starts just beyond the parking lot entrance and runs all the way parallel inside the curbside lot and dumps out right before Wooster Pike. One of the primary questions that we do not have an answer for is how much this will cost to execute. This is something that would probably be put into next year’s budget. The timing is more of an issue than the concept. This has been going on a lot longer than he realized, he was only been brought into it in the last couple of months.

“Mayor Policastro said he wants to work with the School Board to make the area safer for our children.

“Amy Getgy, 6936 Miami Bluff, asked why the school is paying for this if it is a public issue. It seems to her the initial reason it was brought up by a private sector. The Mayor said we know we have a safety issue. Quite a few residents have complained along with concerns from both the fire and police chiefs. There have been several times when we could not get an emergency vehicle through there. That is enough warning for him as Mayor to put this into Committee. As an Insurance Claims Manager who handles insurance claims, he sees about twice a year where kids get hit in school zones, and sometimes killed in this county. If he does not take action and look into thoroughly, the liability will fall back onto the Village.

“Dina Wilder, 6716 Hammerstone, said what bothers her is that we are increasing traffic right next to the school instead of decreasing traffic. There have been no other options presented that would provide more safety as well as providing us with another option.

“Mayor Policastro said he has been to every traffic school in the country for insurance claims, and he believes we would be decreasing traffic. When you have 20 stopped vehicles on a street, you have a greater potential to have an accident involving pedestrians. He believes we need to take kids off the street and put them into a safer drop off area and let the street traffic flow.

“Julie Curran said we are shifting the problem from Wooster Pike to Madisonville Road. People are going to have to turn from both directions onto West Street to try to turn into the parking lot to drop off their kids. A backup will start to occur on Madisonville Road and she thinks this will add to the congestion of the traffic flow.

“Ms. Jenny Ferguson, 2 Emery Lane, said she can see both sides. She sees potential safety problems and of course being proactive before someone gets hurt is a valuable idea. She is concerned with the way it has been handled. Frequently in this Village, things are discussed, but not in an open manner. Therefore, people are rallying at the 11th hour to say this is not a good idea. She would like to see things transpire so that it is a win-win for all parties involved. Our school children, the School Board, and our Village Representatives should all have an equally successful outcome in this situation. Maybe Mr. Spinnenweber suggested that he would like more parking. She does not blame him. He has made the Village a better place for us to live. He is entitled to a return on his investments. But, to couch it as a safety issue, when the request came from Mr. Spinnenweber, she would rather see it presented as a concern that we can all benefit from. She would like to see everyone work together in good faith with the School Board as opposed to voting right now to change something. Why not work together, even if it requires more time to obtain proper funding to complete the project. Let’s look at the results of the study and try to work it together. We can enforce the laws on that street - have an officer out there ticketing. There are mothers who abuse the privilege every single day. Try using the system that is in place right now and see if we can make it better.

“Ms. Nan Dill, 3701 Center Street, said questions asked to Mr. Niehaus were how many cars drop off, how many parking spaces are there, and he was unable to answer basic questions. In her opinion it becomes a credibility problem. She does not feel this has been well thought out. We do not know if there are enough spaces to fit the people, cars and buses in. From that standpoint it seems premature. As taxpayers, we have now paid for two consultants to study this. In 8 days no one will be dropping off or picking up children for several months. It seems to her we have time to let the study be completed, regroup as a community and find out what is best for everyone, on both a safety and financial standpoint.

“Ms. Karen Hollyday, 6607 Mariemont Avenue, said she is concerned that the options presented do not offer safer solutions. She uses the parking lot and said it is pretty much full now. It is not a realistic solution to the problem. She asked before Council votes, she begged them to take a moment and let all the studies be completed. If this is really for the safety of the children, then do what is safe for the children - and that is not the parking lot.

“Mayor Policastro asked if a pull off area for buses was in the plan being considered by the School. Mr. Koehler said the buses would still drop off on West Street. A short term win-win solution would be to allow parents to still drop their children off at the curb heading south on West Street.

“Mr. David Wilder, 6716 Hammerstone, said the idea of a drop off in the parking lot does not seem to be an ideal scenario to him. Accidents happen in parking lots. Mayor Policastro said fender benders happen in parking lots, deaths occur in the streets.

“Ms. Anita Hunt, 6813 Hammerstone, said it seems to her that this is a mute subject because the information going into the study has not been provided. She does not understand why we are considering it when the person who did the study did not even know the number of cars in the parking lot.

“Mr. Patrick Dolle, 6927 Mt. Vernon, thanked Council for their concern for safety and thanked Mr. Kohler for showing up. It helped him recognize the need for the School Board and the Village to work together. It seems to him there is not a regular discussion about safety between the School Board and Council. There seems to be a genuine lack of communication between all parties. The fact that we have an elementary school in town that has been there for almost 80 years and has no private drop off definitely needs to be addressed. But he does not think we are taking the necessary time to adequately address it in terms of a long term solution.

“Mr. Koehler said the School Board does not plan to adopt Mr. Niehaus’s plan, nor do they plan to redo their parking lot.

“Ms. Jenny Ferguson asked Council to take advantage of time that will be 8 days away. It will not be a safety issue over the summer. It was requested to table or delay the decision to allow more time to come up with a better solution that will benefit everyone.

“Mrs. Policastro said there are numerous schools that do not have access from the street, which requires the children to be dropped off in the parking lot.

“Ms. Dill said no one has addressed the issue of who will supervise the children while they walk from the parking lot to the school.

“Ms. Hollyday said there are several special occasions at the school when parking is a nightmare, such as the carnival or concerts. That is an issue that needs to be addressed.

“Ms. Julie Dixon, 3764 Indianview, said if this truly is a safety issue for children during the school year, then she does not understand why it needs to be a 24/7 issue. The perception within the community is that this is not a safety issue. It has become a safety issue because one businessman has requested something.

“Mr. Ebelhar said he was on Council six years ago when we created the current system. At the time, the traffic patterns were different, there was an apartment building, cars were getting bigger and kids were being driven more than walking. Several crossing guards quit due to fear for their safety and people were allowing their children to get out on Madisonville Road and shooting across the street into the parking lot. There was an arbitrary decision to make the street artificially one way. Since that time the Strand and the businesses in that area, including the Executive Building and our Tax Office, have all shown great growth and improvement to the point where they need more parking. There will be a new lot that will enter off of West by the bank that will be coming in shortly. We had old designs of the school pull-off that were not acted on for whatever reasons. He said Mr. Koehler has been one of the more active Board members, but not the only one who has been involved. We have had countless open meetings, nothing has ever been secret, although it is not unusual for people to arrive near the end and say why was I not told. There were three preliminary drawings that were put together by various levels of expertise. None of those seem to satisfy all of the needs, so the Village hired a traffic consultant who had numerous years of experience to look at congestion the area. He interviewed members of the School Board, Mr. Spinnenweber, Village Council, Safety Officers etc. to find out what ideas might work. And that is what he did, he took all the suggestions and input and came up with an idea. The School Board said they wanted to hire an expert, so they hired an expert. We have seen the preliminary drawings on that. Of all the input of all the ideas of all the needs of the Schools, residents, kids, he has boiled it down to three basic points: (1) We have increased traffic on the street. (2) We have one traffic engineer that says to move the kids off the street because it is very narrow, (3) Load/Off load kids in a safer environment, we have different ideas of what that may be. The consistent factor, in his opinion, that he brought forward in the Committee report was they are restricting parking on the street. We have left open all the possibilities of curb cuts and bus pull-offs etc. All of that is still on the table. The only motion is to relieve the congestion caused by parking on the street. The present parking situation is hard to enforce, unless we mark tires and he believes our police force could be better utilized elsewhere. We have to change people’s behavior to a more positive and safe sense. To him that is the best way to make it enforceable, fair and consistent - is to stop parking on the street at all and move it to the lots that are supposedly designed to accommodate them. In the past we have bagged signs in the past for unusual circumstances to allow temporary parking, but in general we want people to think of the street as a street and not as a ‘added on’ to the school or the stores. We continue to strive - all the meetings and communications have been open. His number is listed in the phone book and the Town Crier has listed his e-mail address. He encouraged concerned residents to use those avenues to contact him. He does not know why Mr. Spinnenweber actually gets blamed for this when he would not need to open this up for discussion. He could have had his curb cut, put his street in and it would be someone else’s problem, not his.

“Mrs. Schmit said she does not believe the current setting is not the safest for our children. She does believe the Village needs to move forward with the school in tandem. If we move forward with this tonight, and it may be another year before the school’s project is completed, what will happen next year? She believes we are creating an unsafe situation for our children which is completely unacceptable. She does not believe it is a good scenario to have everyone going around being angry. She would like to work with the school to find the best solution.

“Mr. Ebelhar said there are plenty of other options that the school can consider as an intermediary step. He has not seen their plan. He would love to be involved in additional conversations with them, but he is not sure that this particular item precludes that from occurring. The summer is the time to allow people to adjust and prepare for changes. It is our responsibility to set the pace and to continue to look together for the best way to continue progress.

“Mr. Adams thanked everyone for being here and believes they speak loud and clear. We have had numerous amounts of parents who have said this is not a good suggestion and only one who said it was. At the last Committee of the Whole meeting, he made a proposal to wait and work for a win-win solution, which this Council turned down. He thinks that was a mistake. He does not think there is any sense of urgency at this point of time to bring this issue to a head. Nor is there any reason for this report to go forward until we get a win-win solution with the School Board. The reason the issue is before Council is because in August 2005, Mr. Spinnenweber sent a letter to Council and the Mayor saying he could not lease the space and it was all due to the parking issue and the school congestion. That is a fact in Council records. It was not brought about by the Police Department, the School Board, the school or parents. Mr. Spinnenweber reiterated the fact in another letter sent in January 2006 that you have not addressed my issue with parking yet. Somehow someway this whole problem has been created into this safety issue. It is not a safety issue. He asked at the Committee of the Whole meeting, how many accidents have there been on West Street. Zero. It is a problem that is not going to go away having a two way street. The School Board has said they are not in favor with the plan we have in front of us. The traffic engineer supposedly gave us all correct information. He did not do a traffic count, he did not do a parking study and he does not know how many people come through there everyday - that is inadequate information. We have plenty of time this summer to get this issue resolved by working with the School Board. He made a motion to table the report until the School Board can get their study complete and we then have a joint meeting to resolve this for a win-win solution.

“Mayor Policastro said he disagreed with Mr. Adams. He asked both the Fire and Police Chiefs if they repeatedly brought this issue to his attention. The Fire Chief said he has brought it to the attention of the Mayor numerous times in the past. The Police Chief said even before he became Chief, he believed it was a dangerous situation.

“Mr. Thomas said in reading the report, it says we have already acted upon this. He asked what the purpose is today. Mr. Ebelhar said if we pass no parking then we would have to draw up the Ordinance. Mr. Thomas seconded the motion made by Mr. Adams to table the report. Ms. Sullivan said she wished we had this crowd when we had the consultant. It would have made for a more enlightening give and take discussion. She said this is a Council that does want to work with the residents and the School Board. Since we do have some options to look at, then why not take the time to look at them. Living in the Historic District, she and most of the constituents see the problem with the way the traffic is on West Street. On roll call; six ayes, two nays (Mr. Bevis and Mr. Ebelhar dissenting).”

Posted by johnston at 05:04 PM