Village Council Late December Meeting
The late December Village Council meeting was canceled.
The late December Village Council meeting was canceled.
The Parks Commission met Wednesday morning and discussed a number of past and future initiatives.
We voted to recommend that Village Council approve the event application for the New Year’s Eve Popcorn Ball Drop.
I let the commission know that the Facilities & Services Committee will meet to discuss conducting a community survey, but likely not until January 2024 since committee members may be changing.
We had a full house at the Safety Committee meeting Monday night. It was great to see so many interested folks come out to share their experiences and thoughts about walking, rolling, and driving through our downtown. I was relieved to see that the energy in the room was very positive, and lots of great ideas were discussed.
We started by reviewing our draft list of requests for the village engineering firm, CT Consultants. I had circulated earlier versions of the list to Safety Committee members so there wasn’t a lot of discussion among us. Erinn did suggest asking for advice about getting accurate data for the amount and kind of traffic passing through downtown (vehicular, pedestrian, or bicycle). This could mean a mix of manual counts, pneumatic tubes, and automated processes using cameras or GPS signals. Over the next few days I’ll be incorporating that feedback into an updated version that will be recommended to council for final approval.
Some progress has been made at the intersection of East Orange, North, and Mill Streets, but it’s still too dangerous for drivers and especially pedestrians.
I’d been working on a follow-up post to my analysis of the intersection at Orange north and Mill Street. I stopped to watch traffic a few times and take video of some of what I’ve seen since July, when the village made some changes. The conclusion I reached so far is that – while cutting back the overgrowth at the northeast corner has improved visibility for drivers and walkers – driver behavior has not really changed for the better. Many drivers are still speeding through this area, not using turn signals, not stopping at the sign, and rolling straight into the crosswalk. All four of these videos were during a five-minute period around lunch time. Only one driver came to a complete stop, and from what I’ve seen I believe it only gets worse during rush periods.
The Parks Commission met Tuesday morning in Riverside Park and walked the park to review potential locations for a new pavilion.
After a few stops and a lot of discussion, we settled on a site near the east end of the park with a great view of the entire park. I like it because it hits almost every point on my wish list:
The Parks Commission met Wednesday morning. We discussed plans for holiday lighting, the Riverside Park Pavilion, dog park turf, peddling in parks, and River Walk Trail signs.
We had two park event applications to review, both from the Chagrin Valley Jaycees and both for holiday lighting in the village. Both events are planned in the same way as previous years, and both events passed unanimously.
Next, we revisited the topic of a new pavilion in Riverside Park. We’re pretty much starting from scratch and revisiting the location, size, and style of the structure to build. After some discussion we all agreed that the location should be our first decision, so we’ve scheduled a special Parks meeting on Tuesday, October 10th at 8:30 am in Riverside Park to walk around and look at options. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.
The Safety Committee met on July 10 to discuss parking restrictions on South Main Street. Members Erinn Grube, Don Gutierrez, and I were in attendance along with village CAO Rob Jamieson, Police Department Lt. Jason Weiskopf, and Council President Angie DeBernardo.
The meeting was requested by the Police Department to discuss parking restrictions on South Main Street. South Main Street is a two-lane street and parking is allowed on most the western (southbound) side of the street. No parking is allowed on the eastern (northbound) side. Lt. Weiskopf explained that there have been seven documented crashes on South Main Street between 2019 and today. Parked vehicles were not contributing factors to those crashes. However, the department still believes that parked vehicles create a dangerous situation on certain stretches of the road where the slope makes it difficult for drivers to see oncoming traffic when attempting to pass a parked vehicle. They are not recommending a complete ban on parking on South Main Street – only specific areas and times of day when a parked vehicle is most likely to create a safety issue.
I look into some of the factors that make this intersection dangerous for pedestrians and propose a couple of design changes to make it safer.
This is the intersection of East Orange, North, and Mill Streets in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The speed limit on all three streets is 25 mph. There is a single crosswalk on Mill Street connecting the eastern sidewalk on North Street to the south (and only) sidewalk on Mill Street. This sidewalk flows uninterrupted to the southern sidewalk on East Orange Street. Within 500 feet of this intersection you’ll find a library, a church, a preschool, a village park, a walking trail, an arboretum, the Chagrin River, and about a dozen residences. We are reviewing this intersection in response to residents’ concerns regarding the safety of the pedestrian crosswalk and the intersection in general. We also anticipate increased vehicle traffic at this intersection during the impending Main Street bridge construction.
The Parks Commission met Wednesday morning. After approving the minutes from April, we reviewed park event applications, followed up on some old business, and heard about some new efforts to improve village baseball facilities.
Jocelynn Ray would like to host kids yoga in Triangle Park on the third Saturday of the month at 10:00am from May through September. We voted to recommend it to council.
The 34th Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure will bring 1,000 cyclist to Chagrin Falls as a Wednesday morning stop on a 400-mile, week-long bicycle tour of Northeast Ohio. We had a few questions about the timing and logistics of the event that we’re following up on, so we didn’t actually vote on this one.
Stroll Gates Mill submitted an application for an outing to ETalian and Bell Street Park, but I didn’t see anything in it that indicated the need for an event permit. It’s just a group of people visiting a park. Nevertheless, we voted to recommend it to council.
There was some more discussion about the Little Free Library being proposed for Whitesburg Nature Preserve. There are some doubts about the usefulness of a library in this location and some concern about setting a precedent for individual-initiated projects in village parks. However consensus seemed to be that there was little risk in letting this one move forward, and it’s at least consistent with the existing Little Free Libraries in River Run and Riverside Parks.
Village Council met last night and voted on a couple of issue impacting Riverside Park.
But first, we approved two park events, for Chagrin Valley Little Theatre’s Shakespeare By the Falls (August 12 & 13) and Chagrin Documentary Film Fest (October 3 - 8).
As I’ve mentioned before, the old skating shelter in Riverside Park has reached the end of its useful life. Council voted to approve its demolition in time for Blossom and Art By The Falls.