City council ponders cul de sacs, sidewalks

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GALION — Galion City Council members addressed one piece of legislation Tuesday, having to do with cul de sacs in the city.

“This is an update of some rules and regulations,” explained council member Mike Richert. “We have some — already built — that don’t meet our requirements. We just want to omit that section from ou r laws and ordinances. They are too long. But they’ve already been built and are being used.”

Mayor Tom O’Leary said the restrictions were in place for safety issues, mostly having to do with getting fire hoses and other equipment to the furthest houses on the cul de sac, and to prevent some plowing issues in winter.

“Things are technically out of compliance right now,” he said. “But I think we can allow this to go on a couple of weeks and allow some public comment if we have receive any.”

The ordinance was held to a first reading.

It also was announced that the Power Cost Adjustment which the city has an ability to change occasionally will likely not change this year. The PCA can affect utility bills in the city.

O’Leary explained that the Harding Way Urban Paving Project will soon get started. But it includes a bill of about $80,000 the city was not expecting. The cost includes upgrades to handicap accessible sidewalks throughout the paving route.

“There are changes to some of the curb ramps (handicapped ramps) that need completed,” OLeary explained. “Before the project was started, an inspection found that the ramps don’t meet the standards needed at this time.

“It know its kind of late notice, but it’s in the contract that we agreed to do these types of things in order to get the grant.”

O’Leary said the cost will be about $80,000 and the city is going to have to come up with a way to pay for those sidewalks.

“We’ll need to sit down and talk about it, but it’s possible that cost could squeeze the paving program we’ve already announced,” he said. “But we need to get this done. We’ve got an even larger road project coming up in the widening of Ohio 598, and we don’t want to earn a reputation as being a difficult community to work with.”

There also was some discussion of the proposed multi-purpose rec center at Ohio 598 and U.S. 30 and how best to get that information and proposals before city council and the public.

Law Director Thomas Palmer explained that those types of discussions should be handed through the committee process and then brought before the full council for action.

“The public is entitled to know what goes on in those discussions,” he said.

“I don’t know that there is a lot of urgency at this time,” O’Leary said of the rec center. “We don’t have a proposal yet that addresses sizes, costs, time frames, etc. Before this moves forward, we need clarity on those types of things.”

O’Leary also said there is some progress that could have a positive affect on the city’s housing situation.

“We are seeing a couple of things that could help,” he said. “A developer is looking at the Renschville property. We will see what happens there. And there is some discussion about an assistant living project in the Hosford Road/Portland way area. It sounds kind of like an Aspen Terrace, but if completed, it could allow some Galion residents to move out or their homes and into the new facility. That would open up some of those older, nicer homes in the area to the market.”

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By Russ Kent

Galion Inquirer

Email Russ Kent at [email protected]

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