Glass City Jungle

The following is rough notes from today’s Toledo City Council Agenda Review. The items listed below are ones that generated discussion or may be of interest to readers of the blog.

All members were present.

Encroachment in right-of-way along A. W. Trail for two 4′ x 8′ LED signs for Toledo Zoo

Martinez was going to have this be SEP – Ashford asked if this had been before the Plan Commission Zervos said it had been before them and transportation. Ashford asked for documentation that they signed off of it. Ashford also asked about the location of the signs since there had been several accidents on the Anthony Wayne Trail.

You could hear Ashford ask Craig if he signed off on this, the site plan drawings were passed around for members of Council to look at. Ludeman expressed a desire to see them. (They never did state on the record what this was going to be – first reading or SEP.)

A resolution urging the Ohio Senate to allow for the creation of a Land Reutilization Corporation in Lucas County by passing S.B. No. 188; and declaring an emergency.

McNamara invited Lucas County Treasurer Wade Kapszukiewicz to talk about SB 188, it has passed the House and now is being debated in the Senate.

Kapszukiewicz said he was excited to learn Council was considering a resolution, it was a topic of a recent Blade opinion piece he wrote. What this legislation does is to create what is called an Active Land Bank which is different from the ones that have been around since the 1970’s, Toledo has one. The difference is this one comes with a funding stream attached, the passive landbank requires funding. The active landbank would go to the land bank instead of the sherriff’s sale. Banks can also give properties to the land bank, that has happened in the one Ohio County that has this.

The collection of certain delinquent taxes would go to fund this land bank, early estimates are about a million dollars in Lucas County, this would help them to do whatever they think is necessary, refurbish, rehab, demolish, sell them since they would have clear title. It’s the next step in urban policy land use. This started in Flint, a number of cities do this. He also said this an issue that has bi-partisan support, it would expand land banking authority to 34 Counties. All 34 County Treasurers support it, Republican and Democrat alike. The County wants to develop a partnership with the City of Toledo on this, for this to work, there needs to be a partnership.

As Kapszukiewicz mentioned some of the Council members he’s spoken with, Wilma Brown said make sure he talks to some of the female members of council as well. Brown asked if this could be used to combine parcels and be used for things like grocery stores. Kapszukiewicz said this would be a big change as to the Treasurers office would have to be responsible for mowing and other maintenance as well as rehabbing but this would give them the ability to do some good.

Webb said since as part of her other job she is in Flint often she’s had a chance to see this first hand, that one thing they have done in Flint is reforest the city, since there was a decrease in the population they are returning neighborhoods to their original state. She said this can’t come soon enough. It’s a common sense move and this is one piece mentioned by the Brookings Institute. Kapszukiewicz said they don’t necessarily have to build, urban gardening and urban greenspace can be a part of what this is all about.

Waniewski said he is not a big fan of pouring money into neighborhoods, that he still sees many homes boarded up. He wanted to know how an urban garden can bring money in. He wanted to know how it would be funded Kapszukiewicz said the most recent version bill it’s a five person board, the main funding mechanism is a change in how the treasurer’s office collects delinquent taxes, they send a profit out of our community to help us collect taxes, the interest on certain delinquent taxes will fund this program.

Waniewski also asked if this by-passes sheriff sales, Kapszukiewicz said yes, Waniewski questioned this since it appears it says sheriff sale or land bank. Waniewski asked if staff would be hired by a non-profit, Kapszukiewicz said there could be some staff that would have to be hired for things such as mowing lawns and other duties that would change the functions of the treasurers office.

Ashford asked about the current delinquent collection rate, Kapszukiewicz said they ended up bringing in slightly above what they collected last year, there has not been a huge drop off in collections on the property tax side. Ashford wanted to know what other communities have done, he wanted to know the intent. Kapszukiewicz said to let communities better decide how their land is used, all too often land development and economic development is held hostage by who owns what, sloppy titles, etc. This would make Lucas County the largest property owner, there are idealogical disagreements by some on this, when the land bank becomes this large property owner it’s role is to do what the community thinks is best. It is a legal vessel to provide a clear and legal title and a funding stream to provide money to do it.

Sarantou asked how many properties would this entail, Kapszukiewicz said there is no meaningful clearinghouse or data base on vacant or abandoned properties, there is no count. One of the reason it’s hard to label them, they can guesstimate, but there is no count. Sarantou said Ashford told him the city has over 900 that they are in control of. It was again stated about a million dollars is estimated as a funding stream, Cuyahoga county has had over 8 million.

The primary House sponsor is Peter Ujvagi, the primary Senate sponsor is Mark Wagoner.

Kapszukiewicz said what this does is give us the ability to do it, if they decide they don’t want to do it now, they still have the ability to do it.

Much of the interest on tax delinquent properties goes to a third party firm, there was a time when that represented cutting edge urban reform. It would be replacing the money that is going to New Jersey would fund the landbank.

Martinez thanked Kapszukiewicz for his tenacity and said he has his support for this cutting edge effort. Having a restart on a property is key. Kapszukiewicz said Martinez’s previous employer LISC is a big supporter
of this.

Craig said a million dollars is alot, right now we have no money in the Toledo city budget for demolition. In these economic times if we could have a quarter of a million go to demolitions in the city that could get rid of blighted houses. This will help all areas of the city. Nothing worse than having a house bought at a sheriff’s sale and the guy is living in California and is just going to sit on it until he gets the right price. These are the things that destroy neighborhoods.

McNamara asked for this to be SEP.

Landbanking Sale – 19 parcels on Melrose & Rosalind Place for Cherry St Homes development,$2,850

19 parcels sold for $500.00

Martinez said that SEP had been asked for but he wanted to make sure Ashford agreed with that since it was in his district. Ashford asked if these were tax credit homes, it was stated they were low income/tax credit. Ashford asked for first reading.

Landbanking Sale – 2202-2218 Fulton St. to Bobby & Lorene Mixon for new single family home, $600

6 parcels Martinez deferred to Ashford as to SEP or first reading, Ashford agreed with SEP

Expenditure to Clark, Schaefer, Hackett for 2009 audit, 5 year contract, $207,000 General Fund

Collins did a peer review on this company, the results of his effort was very positive in comparison with the previous company. He feels it appears the administration picked a very professional company

Sarantou asked what the cost of Clifton Gunderson was last year, they did not know. He asked if first reading was okay – it was stated since the Auditors were already here, SEP was needed.

Ashford asked what is the difference between this audit and the audit from the State Auditor’s office. Sarantou said this is the required audit, McLean said they were different, the performance audit looks at different parts of operations, as an example fleet management, that cost could be different. He asked if both audits look for red flags, McClean said yes but different ones.

Appropriation for agreement with Sonrai Systems for tracking refuse collection, 5 laptops,$105,000 GF

When they purchased the original equipment they included some of the equipment, but this has to be bought from a different source, the 800,000 that reads the cans, this gives them the ability to see what happens at the office. Ashford questioned they have had the trucks out there for two months and don’t have this part of it, it was explained that since the whole city is not transitioned over they could not have all the full data.

Webb asked about the language of “re-appropriating” – it was confirmed that this was money that was already appropriated as far as a dollar amount for the automated system but needed to be “re-appropriated” for this particular purchase. This is not new money.

Collins asked for clarification as to the laptops being in an office, it was stated that they could be used in the field. The example was cited if a truck says they are heading to the landfill, the foreman could look and see if a part of a route was missed before the truck driver even leaves the area. Collins said that this department has done a great job in coordinating and in providing services that he can not express his gratitude enough.

Sarantou then wanted to also thank Amy Wood and her staff, he’s confident that things will be done right in the few months to come. Copeland said he was not a fan of the garbage route, Amy changed his mind on it.

Steel wanted clarification on what the bulk of the money was going for. He wanted to know why we can’t do it themselves, She said the manufacturer told them that they prefer this provider and she was told the cost would be the same as in house. Steel asked how they were chosen, Wood said she was not there when this was done, but this was part of the package when they bid out the trucks.
He made a referral on the original bid material. He also questioned why this was not done before, it was stated they just took office in January and Herwat said don’t know why it wasn’t done before either.

Appropriation for parts/equip. for Intake Crib, Low Serv Pump Stat & Water Treatment,$150,000 WRpl

Steel questioned what this would be used for and if there is a list. It was stated that this was for emergency services, basically this is just like a $150,000 petty cash amount where if something breaks they can purchase parts immediately and not have to have an ordinance have to be approved for each breakage that can take several weeks. Steel wanted to see past lists and to see what has been
expended. Sarantou wanted a list of parts bought for the past five years, he wanted to know if we spend $150,000. It was stated they spent more than that.

Craig said so this is basically a line of credit for replacement parts. It was confirmed.

Ashford said this is the first time he’s seen a piece of legislation for something like this.

It was stated some of the pumps are from the 1940’s. Ashford said they had approved emergency repairs before, he asked which pieces of equipment could be in danger of breaking. It was not known, it was restated this is in case something breaks so they can quickly fix it. Ashford said this should be first reading.

Application to OPWC for Ash Sewer Separation and Inflow Removal project

This is part of the consent decree, it’s a two million dollar project that they are getting money from OPWC, 424,000 as a grant and the same amount as a loan, zero percent twenty year loan. The balance need would be low interest for a little over one million. Ashford needed to know the terms for the low interest loan. First reading.

Res. – Support LCIC application to ODOD Job Ready Sites for Doehler-Jarvis property, 5400 N. Detroit

A five million dollar grant was approved last year for this project it was subject to other projects that had a higher ranking, this time it is for 3.45 million dollars and they think it ranks high enough that it would be funded for clean up and remediation of the site.

Ashford asked if this is the total cost, it is not, it is an 8 million dollar clean up, the rest would be paid for by the potential purchaser. This is part of the acquisition deal that they would assume the rest of the cost. It was not known when the deadline was.

Craig asked if the potential buyer was the end user. The firm that wants to buy it is using some of the land already.

Sarantou asked about job creation – Peoples said that the potential is for 400 or more jobs when the land is remediated, and leased.

Ashford asked if Peoples had talked to Economic Development committee on this, Peoples said he spoke to Ludeman about this resolution. SEP was given.

COUNCILMAN CRAIG, CHAIR, ZONING & PLANNING COMMITTEE, REPORTS AS APPROVED: (No discussion)
SUP for Calvary Cemetery expansion at 2224 Dorr St.

SUP for convenience store at 4872 N. Summit St.

Zone change at 5016 & 5020 Selma St. at Laskey Rd.

SUP for fueling center for Kroger at 4630 Monroe St.

Toledo 20/20 Land Use Plan Update for Scott Park Neighborhood.

Amend Marina District boundary to remove Weber block bounded by Front, Main, First and Platt.

Repeal River East Land Development standards.

Amend TMC Ch. 1103 for Main St./Starr Ave. Urban Neighborhood Overlay District (UNO).

Amend TMC Sec. 1105.12, Wind Energy Systems.

Collins wanted a referral for a list of all employees who’s parking is paid for by the City in either parking lot adjacent to One Gov.

Ashford asked for the administration to put the list forward of directors to be confirmed by Council.

There was no further discussion on any other items that will be before Council on March 2nd.