The Windham Township Board of Trustees continued to make changes to its zoning policies at its meeting last Thursday evening at the Windham Town Hall. The Board approved a new amendment that eliminated fees for applications for area and use variances and appeals.
“If we are going to have no fee for three reasons, conditional use, variance and appeal,” Vice Chairman, Cemetery Contact and Trustee Rich Gano said. “Someone could appeal a decision from the Zoning Inspector and that should be free as well.”
The current fee for applications for area, use and conditional variances and appeals is $350. Gano brought the amendment to the table to lower the fees to zero dollars because of how expensive the original fees are. Board Chairman, Fire Contact and Trustee Dan Burns questioned if appeals should be included in the amendment because he was concerned about residents filing appeal after appeal to stall the process.
“We are giving it to them for free now but what if it is mine and I am just going to keep appealing it, appealing it and appealing it and you just can keep mailing out letters,” he noted.
Gano noted that each resident was entitled to only one appeal and if they sought further legal action, the case would be moved to Common Pleas Court and the costs would then fall on the applicant’s shoulders.
Road Contact and Trustee Brian Miller seconded the motion, it carried unanimously. Zoning Inspector Jake Sweet asked if the policy would be in effect immediately after the conclusion of the meeting because he had several phone calls about variances he needed to answer. The Board said that it would.
Board of Zoning Appeals Vice Chairman Todd Phillips said that he would do his part to make sure that the BZA adopted the amendment into the zoning bylaws.
“This document is a BZA document,” he said. “It is not a Trustees document, so when we have the next BZA meeting, we as a board will adopt the changes in this document and will take care of changing it.”
Miller provided road updates, saying that the Township took care of some culvert work for a property on Horn Road. He added that the Township also purchased some mix for potential patchwork.
“There aren’t a lot but for what little bit there was they were able to take care of that for everybody and then they just monitored the roads for the storms here,” he said.
He also noted that the Township needed a specific tool that could take care of the pressurization when performing road work. He asked Burns if the Fire Department could lend a hand. He said that he would approach them about Miller’s request. Miller concluded the road discussion with an update on how the water by the trailer park was beginning to spill onto State Route 82.
Gano said that the Township cemetery workers were waiting to see how many new plots they needed to create, with the cutoff date for new order being May 1. He also said he consulted with cemetery sexton Jayme Neikirk about the issue of the board reclaiming unused lots. He advised that he was informed that the Board needed to submit paperwork for each lot that it wanted to take back.
Burns said that the Board was unsure of how many unused lots they could reclaim but did not expect there to be many. The unused lots that the Board hoped to take possession of were all created prior to 1986.
“The Board has 180 days to say we still want it,” Gano said. “We can put it in the paper, on the website, and contact the sexton.”
Gano made a motion for the Board to officially adopt a resolution that stipulated they would file to reclaim as many unused lots as possible. Burns seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
Sweet updated the Board on some zoning news, saying that he had sent out seven violation letters and had not received a response so he would be forwarding them to the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office. He also said that he had several variance requests in the works.
Miller said he had received a complaint about a property in the Township that had raised two big signs in front that read PRESIDENT TRUMP IS A RAPIST.
He cited his concerns about residents taking matters into their own hands and performing some sort of vigilante justice. He noted that the owner of the property did not even live there but actually resided in Youngstown.
“With his comments, it ticks me off too,” Miller said. “I will complain as a resident because I have had multiple calls but this is the first time I have brought them to the public meeting. I have had them for months.”
Gano said that the property on State Route 303 had been officially closed and the next steps should be giving the adjoining neighbors the right to purchase the property before it went up for auction.
The Board discussed whether that truly was the next step as a similar incident occurred several years ago when a property went up for auction before adjoining neighbors had the chance to purchase the property. Gano said that he would investigate the matter further.
Gano said he had received an email from Gayle Poots, a member of the Windham Township Zoning Department, which had confusing information regarding the setbacks and frontages of substandard lots, an issue that the Board had previously addressed.
According to Miller, 80% of the Township has non-conforming lots so it was becoming confusing for how the Township could make them legal.
Burns said that the Board had previously passed a motion that as long as the frontage was increased from 150 feet to 200 feet, the non-conforming lots would be legal. Miller added that the new policy could be applied to existing lots but not newly created ones.
Burns provided updates about the Fire Department, reporting that they had responded to 42 calls in March, raising the total number of calls for the year to 151. Burns added that the Fire Department had been short-staffed and reached out for assistance from neighboring fire departments.
Gano updated the Board on his ongoing efforts to get in contact with First Energy Regional External Affairs Manager Troy Rhoades regarding the LED conversion project. He said that he finally was able to reach Rhoades but he never followed up with him and when Gano attempted to email him before the meeting, he received an update that Rhoades no longer worked for the company.
He said that he soon got in touch with another First Energy representative and updated him on how fruitless his attempts had been to find common ground with Rhoades.
“I said where are all of these lights going to be placed, we want a map to see if we are paying for somebody else’s lights,” Gano said.
Miller said that the Township had finally purchased a new part for the larger snow truck [for $360] to repair the problem with the engine’s fan. It had temporarily been fixed to keep the truck operational through the winter.
Miller also said that he attended a dinner by the Portage County Health District and raised the idea of having a Farmer’s Market booth set up in Windham.
Burns said that the Windham Historical Society planned to build a replica of a headstone that marked the first settlement in Windham and it would be placed near the Windham Town Hall. He added that there would also be a plaque that would be set on a rock near the Town Hall’s Gazebo comemmorataing Windham’s first settler.
Burns reported that the Township was receiving a free tire dumpster from the Portage County Recycling/Solid Waste Center for the annual spring clean-up on April 25 and 26.
The Board will reconvene at May 1 at Windham Town Hall at 6 p.m.
