Hi, I'm Keith. I'll be live-tweeting today's, January 17, 2…

The Development, Planning, and Sustainability Committee (DPSC) can be streamed live via youtube:

https://t.co/iQGa8sTYvK

@TV20Cleveland broadcasts it on Cleveland TV Channel 20 via Spectrum Cable TV

or Livestream online: https://t.co/2IdB0Ypfh1

About Cleveland City Council's DPSC

Learn more: https://t.co/b5zCCBVErj

Cleveland Council Ward Members of DSPC

Public Notice of the DPSC meeting was posted on January 13, 2023.

https://t.co/Mw4nks8Gc3

DPSC Agenda for January 17, 2023.

https://t.co/12GdVA5QML

DPSC began roughly around 9:33 AM. There was a brief introduction of a new Assistant Director Kiesha Chambers (spelling?) and some shuffling of chairs to accommodate various Directors of Departments.

Council heard Emergency Ordinance 1212-2022

"Authorizing the Commissioner of Purchases and Supplies to sell certain City-owned property no longer needed for the City’s public use located on West 22nd Street to 1869 W 22nd"

Emergency Ordinance 1212-2022

https://t.co/tgz6F6Pfu8

EO 1212-2022: Executive Summary

https://t.co/tBeEFGkQcK

Ward 10 Council Member and Chair Anthony Hairston introduces EO1212-2022 and notes it was previously heard by the Municipal Services and Property Committee.

Director shared it was previously purchased in 1943 and would now be put "the land into productive reuse."

Direc

Director James DeRosa summarized the project is for a 7-unit apartment building and that a new buyer of the property "plans to create a parking area that is covered by a deck with view of Downtown."

Dir. DeRosa shared that the new owner thought they had acquired a larger parcel of property than they did and worked with the County and then the City to purchase 3 different city-owned parcels to accomplish their development plans.

There were two appraisals of the property due to its location near the West Side Market. Dir. DeRosa asserts they have faith in the appraisal analysis and went with the higher value.

Upon questioning by W10 CM & Chair Hairston, Dir. DeRosa shares that the Department will send documentation on the two appraisals to all Council Members.

W3 CM Kerry McCormack supports the purchase of the parcels and the project but noted he hopes the City gets the highest value out of City-owned property when it is sold.

W10 CM Hairston agreed.

E0 1212-2022 stands to be approved.

DSPC introduced EO 1144-2022.

"Authorizing the Director of Capital Projects to apply to the District One Public Works Integrating Committee for state funding for constructing the Superior Midway separated bikeway from Public Square East Roadway to East 55th Street"

EO 1144-2022, pp.1-4.

https://t.co/YU2dxu4yOE

EO 1144-2022. pp 5

EO 1144-2022: Executive Summary
https://t.co/uO6nLAkuvd

E0 1144-2022: Powerpoint Presentation

https://t.co/K8l4Lse6J3

A bizarre zoom-out and pan to the left

And another odd angle.

Dir. DeRosa offered to present the powerpoint but Chair Hairston opted for a piece-at-a-time approach.

W10 CM & Chair Hairston iterated,

"As I mentioned in the last committee, I'm requesting we go back to the neighborhood and have in-person interactions with the community, the residents, and the business owners so they can be fully aware of what to expect."

W10 CM & Chair Hairston continued,

"If there are any considerations we can take into account that residents and businesses may have along that corridor."

W10 CM & Chair Hairston,

"Again, the interaction was done virtually so we had very limited participation but we want to make sure to get back out there to have very robust conversation with the folks that live in that community."

Project Manager Anne Peeves (spelling?) present the powerpoint.

Project dates back to 2017

Study examined how the streets can be redesigned for 21st century use.

"How can wide streets like superior be repurposed and reimagined?"

Superior Ave was identified as the pilot segment for the first midway.

Images of the 2017 initial concept

Since 2017, (5 years ago) the City has explored the feasibility, vehicular, safety operations, and traffic capacity confirming the design works well.

They've also been fundraising.

Currently, they are on track to enter into a contract with Ohio Department of Transportation to enter into a contract to dop detail design and engineering to prepare for construction in 2025.

Total estimated project costs is $25,066,250

What the legislation before us will do to enter into a contract with ODOT.

Anticipating an 18-month period for ODOT to conduct detailed design & engineering.

Expect ODOT to put project out for bid in March 2025/

W10 CM & Chair Hairston, "I know that the ODOT will lead the project but what does that to do for the NBW requirement and other requirements to have participation on this project?"

Rick? answered, "This particular project is Federal funds so we will be complying with Federal guidelines for those things."

W10 CM & Chair Hairston requested for guidelines.
He stated, "I don't want to ride down Superior & not see any folks of color working on the project."

W3 CM McCormack noted that Ward 3 doesn't represent a large section of this project, but a decent stretch and he fully supports the project.

"Really great project. It is finally providing the quality bicycling infrastructure the City needs. We are woefully behind other cities."

W13 CM Krish Harsh had several questions about the project.

1) "The new police HQ is supposed to be at Superior & E22 street. So, will the new City Jail be there? Will there be lot of traffic coming and going from there?"

Dir. DeRosa, "This is not a dispatch location. This is where the administrative functions of the police take place. We merged the city and county jail a few years ago...There will be a lot of public safety employees at this location."

Dir. DeRosa, "We have already fully incorporated the Superior Midway Design process into the Police HQ process."

W13 CM Harsh enquired about the final plans to maintain two lanes of traffic.

Peeves answered

Paraphrased exchange

Harsh, "Do we have a crash count? Have we compared it to other streets? Anecdotally, is it the highest crash count?"

Peeves, "Yes. We can. I can't."

Paraphrased exchange

Harsh, "Do we count bicycle traffic throughout the city?"

Peeves, "There are a # of locations with permanent bicycle and pedestrian counters throughout the city."

Harsh, "Can we say definitively how many people use superior for bicycling?"

Peeves, "We would need a dedicated effort to collect that data."

DeRosa, "That is part of what we will do with this design process. ... Generally, we are working towards including permanent counters in project costs to track this data."

He offered to provide additional general data and guidelines to Harsh.

W13 CM Harsh, "What is the wisdom of putting a bicycle lane down the middle of the road?"

Peeves, "There are different ways we can layout the dedicated bicycle facilities. For Superior, it was designed to keep two-way bicycle traffic going."

Peeves stated that one benefit to a bicycle-centered lane is that transit vehicles can use the curb space to load and unload passengers without conflict.

Harsh asked what bicyclists will do after East 55. Peeves stated they would have to use the street.

Harsh doesn't understand "the wisdom" of this project and argued that it isn't practically accommodating how bicyclists travel.

Dir. DeRosa, "Those are all great points, and we are embarking on this 25-million-dollar project and active transportation plan ("ATP") to answer those questions. We don't have the answers to how those transitions will be made but it will come out through the project and the ATP"

Harsh replied, "This is why I think a bicycle study would be really great to know how many people are using this route & what the potential traffic is. We're spending millions of dollars. We put bicyclists lanes all over Brooklyn & nobody uses them."

@Bike_CLE @FixRStreets216

W13 CM Harsh continued with his questioning and focused on the language of the EO in Section 6.

"Does that mean we pay all overrun?"

Dir. DeRosa, "The general concept is that ODOT is running the project for the City, so if there is a project overrun the City covers it. If the city has a different spec than ODOT, the City is to cover it."

Rick, "The Director is completely correct."

Harsh asked about the language of Section 7.

"Wouldn't ODOT be coordinating all of this? When we take on a project like this, do we have to assume all costs when ODOT sends it back to us or does ODOT coordinate these types of effort so we don't run into this problem?"

Rick, "This is probably our 3rd or 4th project we used Federal funds to do design. That's a fairly lengthy project. City will manage the project but ODOT will be a partner in reviewing the plans constantly so we walk hand in hand."

Harsh asked for other examples and requested a bike count.

Hairston disagreed with Harsh and stated that Superior is not well-traveled and such is more suitable for bike travel due to the low vehicular traffic. He did support the request for a bike count.

W1 CM Joe Jones asked several questions.

"Is there a name for this project? Is it midtown?"

Peeves, "It would be considered Mid-Town / St.Clair Superior."

Jones, "Would it be a good time to look at economic development on this portion of Superior? Are we looking to develop that out? Usually, when we make these kinds of investments, we develop out."

Peeves, "We've been engaging with CDCs."

Jones, "Along the lines of wisdom, we did this with Euclid Avenue. We talked about putting electrical trolleys down Euclid avenue & then they changed the concept to install these giant concrete barriers and fundamentally killed Euclid Avenue. It's all dead."

DeRosa defended the Euclid Corridor project.

"It is one of the highest invested corridors of the City."

He used W8 CM Polensek attempt to balance development with existing business owners on E185th as an example of the approach that should be mimicked.

Peeves noted the trend of the State and Federal guidelines are to construct roads that are multi-modal. "Cleveland is a little behind but we are positioning ourselves to take advantage of opportunities."

W1 CM Joe Jones chose to not ask any additional questions.

W15 CM Jenn Spencer asked several questions.

CM Spencer noted she is the newly appointed member of Urban Forestry Commission.

She requested the project closely consult with Urban Forestry & Parks Maintenance and Properties.

Spencer, "I have come to believe that there is no such thing as a low or no maintenance planted bed. That is a fiction. I want it to be true but don't believe it is. Unless you have something like special improvement district downtown/Ohio city that can do the maintenance for you

Spencer, "Despite our best intentions, it is incredibly difficult to keep. Anyone that has been down the Opportunity Corridor has noted that the trees are struggling. I'm experiencing tremendous struggle on the Shoreway to Clifton BLVD."

Spencer, "Best laid plans do not actually work unless the back end of the City Administration can really have the capacity to maintain. Sometimes less is more.

I'm offering this up early to have tough conversations with Urban Foresty and Parks."

Dir. DeRosa, "We are working on this.We do not have an answer for you yet but we are actively engaged with the designs of new projects with how to engage urban forest and also for existing infrastructures and parks."

Spencer advised,

"No business should be caught by surprise or off-guard. You don't want there to be a perception of the City stifling small businesses or economic development to achieve another goal. They should be synchronous."

W14 CM Jasmine Santana echoed Spencer's concerns and encouraged the City to engage with businesses concerning their responsibilities on maintenance of streetscape.

Dir. DeRosa, "We hear you loud and clear and is something we are going to figure out this year."

W1 CM Joe Jones advocated the City either maintain the green streetscape or they contract the work out instead of placing the burden on the business / parcel owner. "Looks matter."

W13 CM Harsh, “Do Federal funds require this be a midway with a bicycle lane down the middle?

Dir. DeRosa replied, “There are not Federal guidelines that require this be down the midway. But because this is a midway down the middle the City would be 100% for the responsibility of maintenance and not the businesses.”

W7 CM Stephanie Howse asked, “Going to the Funding summary, specifically when it come sot the Bridge and Road Bonds, what is that process? I think it is a shortfall we have. Can you talk about this process? We’ve gotten significant Federal dollars but not enough City.

Dir. DeRosa, “The City determines the needs for the entire city and they need to be funded by bond sales. You program the needs with the bond sales as they are about to be spent."

Dir. DeRosa, "We haven’t identified or sold bonds yet because we haven’t in the years past, we weren’t ready to spend the money and you don’t want to pay interest on the bonds when they’re just sitting in the bank account.”

W7 CM Howse strongly encourage direct and clear communication about economic resources available to residents along corridor. Additionally, she suggested while promoting multi-modal transportation to focus on enhancing comfortability with choosing those options.

W3 McCormack seconded Howse’s comments that are people are scared to use multi-modal transportation in Cleveland. When they feel safer they will ride.“It’s intuitive and common sense.”

EO 1144-2022 stands to be approved.

DSPC introduces EO 1201-2022.

"Authorizing the Director of Capital Projects to apply for and accept funding for the rehabilitation of Lorain Avenue from West 65th Street to West 20th Street"

EO 1201-2022
https://t.co/t0SXjuhYhL

EO 1201-2022: Executive Summary
https://t.co/RBP1hVjEZQ

Dir. DeRosa notes that the big difference between the Lorain project and the Superior project is that on the Lorain project, they are entering the design phase.

Project Manager Pease presents a powerpoint on the Lorain Midway project.

Lorain Midway Project: Existing right-of-way

Lorain Midway Project: Background & Motivations

2013 Living Lorain Improvement Plan lead to the 2015 Lorain Design Concept and now the proposed Lorain Midway.

One Lorain street layout porposal

City solicited feedback in 2021. Option 1 of 4 was selected based on responses.

Lorain Midway Project costs and funding

W3 CM McCormack shared his ten-year involvement in the project and is really excited to see it finally becoming a reality.

EO 2021-2022 stands to be approved.

DPSC introduced EO 1285-2022

"AN EMERGENCY RESOLUTION Declaring the intent to vacate a portion of the Detroit Superior Viaduct."

EO 1285-2022
https://t.co/Wcy7AzfYjn

EO 1285-2022: Executive Summary
Note: 2 of 7 pages included, review link for other 5
https://t.co/xgHrRDEuHq

EO 1285-2022: Powerpoint
https://t.co/38v4vcnB8a

W10 CM Hairston noted this was previously heard in Municipal Properties and that this is but a small piece.

W3 CM McCormack supports the project.

A portion of the building will be a hotel but they have not identified the brand.

W1 CM Jones sought clarification on the brand.

EO 1285-2022 stands to be approved.

W14 CM Santana congratulates the new administrative director and then thanks Rick for being responsive.

W1 CM Jones thanks Rick.

W3 CM McCormack thanks Rick.

W10 CM Hairston thanks Rick.

And I too wish to thank Rick.

"Thank you, Rick."

DSPC Meeting adjourned at 11:11 p.m. This concludes the City Council Development, Planning and Sustainability Committee meeting.

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