By: Timothy Kays
Members of the Fayette Village Council convened in regular session on the evening of December 9. Village Administrator, Genna Biddix, reported some of the numerous projects upcoming in the village. Reporting on the US 20 / East Main Street Storm Sewer Project, Biddix reported, “Bryan Excavating is wrapping up with this phase of the East Main Storm Sewer Project. The second phase, repaving, will come in the spring after the asphalt plants open for the season. The project has taken longer than anticipated due to a few setbacks. “
“There was a water main break on Friday, December 4, likely caused by all the vibration from digging and the heavy equipment.There was also a sanitary sewer issue that was repaired on Monday, December 7. “These kinds of issues are expected with a project of this scale. Thankfully though, our Public Works crew was able to make quick infrastructure repairs that helped to keep this project moving forward with very little interruption.”
“Our Public Works crew was on site with Bryan Excavating as much as possible, and worked closely with ODOT when needed to solve issues as they arose.”
“I would like to thank ODOT for their assistance with this project,” she added. “Not only did they provide the traffic lights, they also stationed an employee here for the duration to help assist our Public Works crew with questions from the contractor.”
“They will also be back in the spring to assist us again.” This project was undertaken with the help of OPWC/CDBG emergency funding.”
“I was contacted by Austin of Maumee Valley Planning (MVPO) about the rebidding of the South Cherry Street Improvement Project,” Ms. Biddix continued. “MVPO is getting ready to post the request for bids on their website and the bid opening has been scheduled for January 12, 2021, at the Fulton County Commissioner’s Office.”
Reporting on technology updates, she said, “I have spent quite a bit of time over the last two weeks working together with KDM Technologies getting our total tech upgrades moving. Things are going well so far.” “We have completed VPN work with the Police Department and Administration on our existing hardware, domain maintenance and upgrades (which required some work with CivicPlus), firewall upgrades, and we hope to have our email migrated over to the new system by next week. I will then be able to get cell phone email access back to all the employees who have been without it for the last month or so.”
Biddix reported on a citizen request to convert a ground level business front in the downtown area into residential space. “At our last Government Affairs Committee meeting,” she said, “…we had a visitor who is interested in converting a ground floor space of the downtown district to handicap accessible rental living space.”
“Our existing code does not allow living space on the ground floor, and neither does the proposed updated section of our zoning code. We heard a request for the same thing from a different property owner about a year ago. At that time, you all voted unanimously to not allow ground floor living space in downtown.”
“The Committee thought it appropriate to bring it back to full Council for discussion again. Since this visitor came to Government Affairs last week, Jacob Barnes was there to hear his comments. A few of the Committee members expressed an interest in hearing some input from Jacob on this, so he has provided a few comments that he sent via email on Monday night.”
The referenced email from December 7, said…
While I recommend to allow dwelling units above the ground floor, I do not recommend allowing dwelling units on the ground floor for the following reasons:
1)Allowing dwelling units would subtract from available commercial spaces in the valuable downtown district.
2)It would create an awkward mix of ground floor uses and would put a resident in the middle of various commercial uses.
3)From a planning and economic development perspective, it is not recommended. The downtown commercial district is the main commercial area of the Village and we are trying to promote it as such.
4)Not allowing dwelling units on the ground floor would be consistent with other communities, consistent with our current code and will be consistent with our proposed code.
We allow ADA accessible dwelling units in the vast majority of the Village and by not allowing them in such a small area, we are still very reasonable with our regulations and are not coming across as discriminatory or overly burdensome with our regulations.
After hearing the report and the recommendation, Council agreed and denied the request.
Council was scheduled for a third reading of the Water Sewer Rate Ordinance 2020-11 this evening. Ms. Biddix reported to Council, “I have been advised by our solicitor, Tom Thompson, that our proposed tap fee changes could be considered a major revision, which would mean that you should suspend the rules if you intend to pass this ordinance this evening.”
“If you would prefer to do two or three readings, you could. The rate changes are effective for the usage that largely occurs in January and then is first billed in February, so we could do readings into January if you all would prefer. We would still have time to get the billing software updated for the February utility bill run.”
Of the measure, Biddix said, “Our tap fee changes are simply more transparent than they were before. This will help me and our Public Works Superintendent have better conversations with the public about these jobs when they arise.”
“With the way our current Ordinance is written, it gives a flat fee for the water and sewer tap, and then has language that says ‘plus the cost installation.’ This is too vague because each individual tap is different for many reasons, so I would like to see us put something more specific in place so the public has some sort of expectation of the total cost.”
After reevaluation of the revised language, Council opted to bypass the third reading option of the original measure in favor of a first reading of the revised version.
In other actions, Council approved an agreement for indigent defense services, and heard the second reading of Resolution 2020-10, a resolution authorizing the Ms. Biddix to enter into and execute an agreement with the Fulton County Emergency Management Agency for EMA services for 2021.
Tim can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com
