The More Things Change…

Back In The Saddle Again

Council got back to work (minus an out-of-town Mayor Scott Coleman) on Tuesday night. The main topic of discussion: adopting a policy that would allow eligible residents to be reimbursed for the cost of installing backflow preventer devices on their property.

Eligible property owners are ones who regularly experience sewer backups in their basements during rainstorms. The backflow devices aren’t a cure, but if configured and used properly they should prevent sewage from backing up from the city’s sanitary sewers into private homes.

The downside: residents will have to limit the amount of sewage they put into the system during storms; too much sewage flowing from homes will cause the devices to open and allow backups to begin again.

The county, which is responsible for the sanitary and storm sewer systems, has agreed to pay for the backflow preventer devices. The city will act as the financial middleman and perform necessary pre-inspections.

Interested Highland Heights residents should contact the building department (440-442-7403) for more information.

Post-Election Sparring

Council President Scott Mills displayed his usual energy and enthusiasm during the meeting, which surprised some given his election loss.  Mills conducted himself with humor and dignity – a class act, under very difficult circumstances.

In fact, a casual observer wouldn’t have know that there had been a recent election – at least until Finance Director Anthony Ianiro gave his report to council.

One thing Mills has always taken great pride in is bringing a twice-a-year paper shredding service program to the city. Residents don’t have to pay a fee to participate; the city picks up the tab. It’s been a popular new service; resident participation has grown steadily since it was launched a couple of years ago.

The city’s most recent shredding event was held on Oct. 1. Mills was distressed because six weeks had passed and the shredding company was still waiting for Ianiro to cut a check to pay for its services.

Mills, who clearly assumed that the payment delay was politically-related, told Tony Ianiro, "Now that the campaign season is over, I hope that this (bill) will be taken care of."

Displaying some of his well-known temper, Ianiro snapped, "What did you say?" After Mills repeated himself, Ianiro finally responded, "We’ll take care of it."

Good thing.

It would be a shame if the city’s payment practices – whether politically motivated or not – caused Highland Heights to develop a new nickname: "Deadbeat city."

Prettier Wrapping Paper/Same Package

Tony Ianiro also serves as head of the city’s Economic Development Committee (EDC). He announced that the EDC was meeting the next night. On the agenda: an update from Moore Associates, the company helping the city perform an economic development self-assessment; and a follow-up presentation by Lance Osborne on his proposed GetGo development project.

Osborne brought conceptual drawings showing what the mega GetGo and rear retail strip would look like. I was relieved to see that the drawings reflected a more "upscale" appearance than the garish blue/red mega Get-Go facility that sits at the Avon/Avon Lake interchange off I-90.

Osborne emphasized that he’s listening to residents and trying to come up with something they like, but he also admitted that nothing about the basic project itself has changed. He still envisions using the Catalano’s parcel for a mega GetGo gas station, car wash, and alcohol-selling convenience store/café in the front, with a 25,000-square-foot retail strip in the back.

The drawings of the retail area show a yoga studio and two restaurants. It’s a nice vision, but since they are "conceptual," the drawings don’t necessarily have anything to do with reality. Osborne has made no promises or guarantees as to the quality or type of tenant that will actually end up in the space.

One thing Giant Eagle has made clear in the past: it will not allow anything in the retail area that might possibly compete with any aspect of its business – which would seem to eliminate restaurants and food service-related businesses from the retail space in back.

When I asked him about that, Osborne told me that they could put restaurants in the retail area "with restrictions," but he didn’t explain what those restrictions would be.

Osborne also didn’t explain why he dropped his investment estimate for the project.  At a Sept. 15 EDC meeting, Osborne estimated that the mega GetGo project would entail an $8 million investment. Two months later he reduced that estimate to $7 million.

As for employment, Osborne estimated that the mega GetGo would bring 40 jobs — mostly minimum wage, part-time jobs (24) – to the city.  He also claimed that the retail space could mean as many as 80 jobs – an obviously pie-in-the-sky estimate based on his conceptual drawings.  It goes without saying that the actual number of jobs created, and the level of payroll tax that will result, depend entirely on what businesses actually relocate there. 

Osborne told the EDC that his job estimates would translate into about $39,000 in additional payroll tax and "almost" $47,000 in additional property tax for the city.
So a total of $86,000 in claimed new annual revenue for a city whose projected 2011 revenue already exceeds $16 million.

In the end, it will be up to residents to decide whether the estimated economic benefits are enough to justify gutting the city’s zoning code and allowing a mega GetGo to be installed in the residential southwest corner of the city. 

When will that vote take place? Stay tuned.

Law Director Tim Paluf promised to answer that question prior to the Nov. 22 Council meeting.