Ravenna Council Committees Tackle Storage Limits, Library Rezoning, Mantua Dispatch
Ravenna City Council worked through six committee meetings Monday night, covering everything from a decades old housing loan program to a new sewer truck priced above $600,000. Council members also reviewed a dispatch services agreement with the village of Manaway, moving several items forward for full council consideration while others, including a contested library rezoning and a proposed self storage ordinance, remain in progress. 78mins
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Original Meeting
In This Video
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A speaker asked about other local governments’ positions on the revised housing proposal, and Mike Bogo outlined that those entities were still reviewing it while explaining that repayments would flow back into the revolving loan fund and describing a separate, state‑linked housing project expected to start next year.
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Council members and the Mayor clarified that an earlier estimate of self‑storage unit counts was based on acreage and not reliable, discussed difficulties calculating impacts from facilities in a wider five‑mile area, and noted that nearby sites likely reinforced the conclusion that local storage capacity was already high.
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Mayor Kairis and Council Member West discussed how tying self‑storage capacity limits to a five‑mile regional calculation could create a legally risky de facto ban within city limits, comparing it to per‑capita liquor license rules that are based on individual municipalities rather than broader areas.
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Mayor Kairis reviewed draft code provisions for self‑storage facilities, emphasizing goals to preserve land for higher‑intensity commercial and industrial uses, prevent overconcentration, limit siting to industrial districts with conditional use approval, and direct the Planning Commission to deny projects that exceed community need or conflict with long‑term economic development objectives.
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Mayor Kairis explained that capacity-based limits were intended to avoid a legally risky outright ban on self-storage, while a speaker lamented a past approval of a self-storage site over higher-value commercial uses and the Mayor noted that any belated enforcement questions would need legal review.
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A speaker asked about Planning Commission review of the proposed self‑storage ordinance, and Mayor Kairis and Council Member West responded that Council could pass it without prior input but should later educate the Planning Commission, with West stressing the value of objective formulas and frustration when approved projects fail to meet promised standards, leaving the Planning Commission to shoulder public blame.
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Council Member West introduced a proposed $8,000 contract with specialized legal counsel to develop legally defensible data center regulations, noting the city’s current attorney lacked that specific expertise and suggesting a proviso to prevent the firm from also representing data center developers.
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Mayor Kairis explained that the proposed legal contract would also cover a workshop on data centers and public records and meetings law, clarified that the Township could not share the engagement but might contract separately, and a speaker voiced support for hiring a specialist to help Council better protect residents and the community.
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Cynthia Miller, a nearby resident, opposed rezoning the Reed Memorial Library property to C1 by emphasizing the existing R4 buffer, referencing an ongoing federal lawsuit, warning about potential future zero‑setback urban planning on the site, and urging Council to delay the change as retaliatory spot zoning.
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Larry Silenius urged Council to table the proposed rezoning around Reed Memorial Library pending closer scrutiny of the comprehensive plan, while a speaker and Council Member West supported moving the measure forward as housekeeping to align zoning with long‑standing use and indicated that further clarification could be sought and the plan amended if needed.
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Cynthia Miller opposed rezoning around Reed Memorial Library by arguing that a truly housekeeping change would keep the R4 residential buffer, warning that a zero‑setback urban design would hurt nearby home values, and asserting that prior officials knowingly treated the property as R4 so the current proposal amounted to spot zoning rather than a simple correction.
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A speaker relayed police praise for Ravenna’s cleanup and argued for stronger multifamily standards in tight residential areas, while Council Member West described problems with converted multifamily properties, suggested requiring local property managers for absentee owners, criticized vague ‘livable space’ rules, and aimed to propose clearer code updates by the next month.
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Cynthia Miller argued that historic district property owners should serve on the Design Review Commission because they have a stake and need recourse in decisions, and a speaker acknowledged the feedback while noting the committee was only beginning its discussion on whether to advance possible membership changes.
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Council Member West referenced a prior contentious encounter, proposed barring historic district business owners from serving on the Design Review Commission, and, after Mayor Kairis requested concrete code language, agreed to keep the item in committee and aim to advance it to the August Committee of the Whole.
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A speaker cautioned that tightening Design Review Commission conflict-of-interest rules could exclude multiple current members and overly narrow the field, and suggested allowing specialists like architects who own property to serve as non‑voting experts, an idea Council Member West endorsed as a reasonable compromise.
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Mayor Kairis questioned what it meant for the city to have financial ‘skin in the game’ on new safety facilities and City Hall, discussed a Fire Chief’s idea to pay more annually to shorten the loan term, and raised concerns about how to handle remaining years of an approved income tax increase if the debt were retired early.
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A speaker explained that the CI reserve was currently a general contingency fund that would need a dedicating ordinance to be used for the safety center, cautioned against overusing other funds given competing needs, emphasized that the existing levy would cover current costs, and highlighted recent growth in safety staffing and resulting facility strain as evidence of the city’s investment in community safety.
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A speaker suggested separating City Hall from the broader safety center project, noting missed state and federal grants and urging stronger lobbying, and proposed funding the City Hall portion through a mix of CI reserve funds, proceeds from property sales, existing set‑asides, and additional financing.
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Mayor Kairis and a speaker discussed whether adding more city funds to the planned safety facilities project would achieve anything beyond the existing levy, noted that any loan would require a dedicated revenue source and potentially revising or repealing ballot language, emphasized the need for a clear funding path to protect the city’s bond rating, and identified paying the debt down sooner as a likely option needing further information.
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A speaker highlighted contract language limiting Ravenna’s liability, another asked about readiness to start Mantua dispatch services by January 1, 2027, IT Director Bender expressed confidence in meeting that date but not in starting earlier, and a speaker concluded that existing staffing and quality dispatch service would make the arrangement a good fit once fully implemented.
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IT Director Bender explained that Mantua Village currently handled its own dispatch with no conflicting contracts, noted that fee responsibilities would largely fall on the agency though details were still unnegotiated, reported that costs were based on Mantua’s relatively low call volume, and confirmed Ravenna had sufficient capacity for the added workload and did not plan to expand dispatch services beyond this level.
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A speaker described recent problems with squatters exploiting mentally ill tenants, explained that police were constrained by state‑level squatter’s rights, recounted cleaning up one troubled house while beginning an eviction process that would leave current residents homeless, and urged Council to develop a stronger plan of action after touring affected neighborhoods.
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A speaker and Council Member Moskun supported proceeding with the new sewer Jet Vactor truck purchase by highlighting lower financing rates, the high cost of relying on outside companies if the city lacked its own equipment, and Mayor Kairis sought to add the item to a special meeting to lock in the current price as a vital investment.
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Mayor Kairis explained that AMATS would conduct a no-cost traffic study on a state route to determine if changes were warranted, noted questions about ODOT’s approval requirements and a similar case in Hudson, and a speaker clarified that a resident’s letter had legally triggered the study, after which Mr. Finney would analyze the data.
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Council Member Moskun relayed a resident’s request to lower the speed limit along all of Main Street while expressing concern it went too far, and Mayor Kairis noted competing resident preferences for higher speeds with sharp reductions, emphasized that an external study would be done at no cost, and clarified that Council was not yet taking action and that the issue stemmed from multiple complaints and news coverage.
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Mayor Kairis noted that a traffic survey required no action that night, while a speaker described ongoing chamber meetings and coordinated efforts—including a facility near Tommy’s Place now run by Town Hall 2—to support people without shelter and released prisoners and to connect them back to their home communities.
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