Facelift for fountain
The Mariemont Parks Advisory Board has secured a $15,000 grant from the Dornette Fund for the renovation and improvement of the Mariemont Village Square Fountain. The Dornette Fund grants stipulates that matching funds in the amount of $15,000 also be secured and made available for this project. In order to secure the grant money, the Health and Recreation Committee recommended that Council set aside the money in the Bloch Fund (approximately $11,000) as well as an additional $4,000 from the General Fund for the purpose of renovating and improving the Village Square Fountain.

The MPAB fully expects other contributions will be forthcoming for this important project but that these other funds might not be available until 2007. Therefore, in order to meet the Dornette Fund matching fund stipulation, the Village pledges the full amount of the matching funds ($15,000). Councilman Rex Bevis said he is fully expecting the MPAB to raise money from other contributors to offset the expenses. Council unanimously voted to accept the recommendation.

Fire chief proud of department's ability
Fire Chief Jack Phifer said he was really proud of the department and a letter they received from Steven Miller, Field Claims Superintendent with Cincinnati Insurance Companies. In his 30 years with firefighting, Phifer said he has never seen a letter like this one before. Councilman Doug Adams suggested having the letter read into the permanent minutes. The letter read:

“I am writing in regards to the above mentioned claim I am currently working on for Cincinnati Insurance and as a follow up to our meeting at the fire scene last month. Upon my initial inspection of this loss, it was clearly evident of the outstanding work and effort put forth by your department to bring this fire under control and minimize the extent of the damage. As we walked through the remains of the dwelling, I could not have been more impressed with the way you and your folks were able to contain this fire. This fire had the potential to destroy the entire dwelling, but your department was able to extinguish the blaze in a fast and efficient manner. Due to your efforts, we are in the process of repairing the dwelling instead of demolishing it. I cannot thank you enough for your effort and hard work in doing your job on an incredibly high level of performance. Based on this experience, I feel you and your department has to be one of the finest in the Cincinnati area and would assume the residents of your fine city rest easy knowing you are on the job. Again, thank you for a job well done”.

Resolutions. All resolutions must have three readings before being executed.
“To authorize solicitation of bids for Phase II of the Boathouse Restoration Project” had a second reading.

“To confirm the reappointment of Christopher M. Ertel as Village Engineer for calendar years 2007 and 2008” had a second reading.

“To reappoint Peggy Keyes as a member of the Parks Advisory Board for the calendar years 2007 and 2008: had a second reading.

“To reappoint David Tensi as Building Inspector for the Building Commissioner for the calendar years of 2007 and 2008” had a second reading.

“To reappoint Edward J. McTigue as Solicitor for the Village of Mariemont for the calendar years 2007 and 2008” had a first reading.

Resthaven Barn gets some attention
The Cincinnati Women's Art Club wants to transform the village's old Resthaven Barn into a usable facility. The barn has been home to the village's Maintenance Department for the last 20 years and was a dairy farm prior to that.
Jane McDonald, 6711 Mariemont Avenue, is president of the art club said the bid for the Resthaven Barn may have been small, but it was certainly heartfelt. "The Women’s Art Club has high hopes for this project. We have already written for grant money." She believes they will have private resources also.

There are issues though: There are several areas that have a very strong odor of motor oil. The club is not sure what contamination might be on the site. And it is not known who will be directly responsible for cleaning the contamination.

Building Commissioner Malone said that council needs to give the nod, if they are going to give the nod, to the Women’s Art Club as quickly as possible so the club can move forward with their due diligence phase to learn what options are available for restoring the Resthaven Barn.

"There is quite a bit of work to do and they have to convince themselves and to convince the village that the proposition is in fact do-able. We will need to move on this as quickly as possible," Malone said. Council referred the matter to the Planning & Zoning Committee.

McDonald said time is of the essence. "Once you get the bid you have six months before you can actually start construction and two years in which to finish. Applying for grants is all about timing. You want to get your request in early." She said if the committee languishes before making a decision, it puts the art club at a disadvantage to get funding. She asked in the committee’s deliberations to be considerate of the time factors.

Some change in the code
Rex Bevis moved, seconded by Charlie Thomas to accept the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Committee regarding Zoning Code modifications. In February council approved a recommendation from the Planning and Zoning Committee for several modifications to the Village of Mariemont’s Zoning Code.
These proposed modifications included items that had already been approved by council but had not yet been through the formal Planning Commission approval process or were suggested improvements to the current zoning code, primarily as a result of errors/omissions/clarifications identified by the Building Commissioner. As part of the approval process to have these modifications legally approved by the village, a public hearing on the proposed changes was held in September of this year in council chambers. At that meeting, the various items proposed to be changed were discussed, resulting in several new proposed changes or clarifications. These new items are listed below, with the full wording of the change from the earlier approved language:

151.025 -- Clarifies the voting terms under which Council can approve a Conditional Use Permit;
151.060(B)(4) – Clarifies what the types of uses and parking requirements are to be considered under a Conditional Use Permit;
151.060(C)(8) – The originally approved language only dealt with private projects while the new wording adds language for public projects;
151.060 (C)(9) – Adds language to address storm water drainage conflicts;
151.060 (C)(10) – Clarifies that the new wording only applies to portable storage units;
151.131(A) – Adds language addressing the period under which temporary signs are allowed to be erected.

It is the recommendation of the Planning and Zoning Committee that Council approve the changes outlined in the attached and that the zoning code be so amended. As contained in our February report, the Planning and Zoning Committee again recommends that the Village engage the services of American Legal Publishing to recodify the zoning code by incorporating the approved changes. Mr. Thomas said he appreciated everyone’s patience during this process. Mr. Thomas said earlier in the year there was a public hearing and at that meeting it was determined that a couple of other changes needed to be made. The changes were listed on the attachment provided by Building Commissioner Malone. He briefly explained the changes: 151.025 Powers and Duties of Planning Commission: The granting of a Conditional Use Permit by the Planning Commission shall be approved by the Council with five-sixths of the full membership concurring. It is a legal requirement they decided needed to be included in the current zoning code amendments. 151.060(B)(4) Conditional Office Uses: (b) Other offices (including licensed medical practices) that are deemed to be compatible with the residential neighborhoods in which they may be located. Parking for conditional office uses shall be provided as stipulated in Section 101.089 of this zoning code. He said (b) in the previous language was specific to medical/opticians. We wanted to clarify it to be more inclusive, but not to exclude licensed medical practices. 151.060(C)(B): Projects located on public property shall not impinge on private property including access thereto. This came up because several people had public projects going on and the public personnel providing those services were using private property in a manner they were not allowed to. 151.060(C)(9): No storm water drainage shall be allowed to flow from a property onto a neighboring property. All storm water shall be conducted to a storm sewer, street gutter or drainage swale located in the public right of way. 151.060(C)(10): Portable storage units shall be allowed to remain on-site for a maximum of 2 weeks, after which time they shall be removed. Permanent or semi-permanent installation of portable storage units is expressively forbidden. 151.131(A): Such temporary signs shall not be erected prior to 30 days before the election for which they are denoting political cause or candidate and shall be removed no late than 1 day after the election. Mr. Bevis asked if Section 151.060(C)(9) regarding the storm water drainage was included because the code was silent on this issue and what about grandfathering in existing situations. Building Commissioner Malone said the Building Code is silent on the subject. Mr. Thomas said if you have an existing situation, it is already grandfathered - this would apply to new construction. It helps to keep someone from pouring water from a new construction project onto someone else’s property. Mr. Bevis asked for clarification on the conditional office use. Solicitor McTigue said a conditional use means that you are not necessarily zoned to use the property in a particular fashion, but Council/Planning Commission have reviewed an application on how someone proposes to use it, and Council finds it acceptable. However, certain conditions must be met. It is still Residence “A”. On roll call; six ayes, no nays. (For the record, the Committee report #6 should read 151.131(A). The permanent minutes reflect this change).