Akron Council's Weekly Legislative Spotlight! 2024 Issue #27

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Akron City Council

Weekly Legislative Spotlight

From the Desk of the Council President

Hello Joan,

Welcome to our new subscribers. We are glad that you joined us! To our regular subscribers, welcome back! Thank you for continuing to receive our newsletter and your commitment to staying informed and engaged through your continued subscribing to Akron City Council's Legislative Spotlight.

We hope you enjoy the information shared each week, including highlights from the Council's legislative agenda from the previous Monday's Committee and Council meetings. Definitions and information about commonly used terms and council-related facts are also featured.

The information shared in each week's Legislative Spotlight will continue to educate, empower, and liberate you to become increasingly engaged with your City Council in making Akron a better place for all its residents.

Sincerely,

Margo Sommerville

Council President

Ward 3 Council Member

Legislative Highlights From Monday, September 9, 2024

Ordinance 315-2024 authorizing a Conditional Use to permit dual-use marijuana sales at 737 E. North Street; and declaring an emergency. Vote: 12-0 (Kammer absent). This property was conditionally zoned via Ordinance 322-2018, which permitted the dispensing of medical marijuana. On July 22, 2024, Akron City Council passed Ordinance No. 275-2024, which requires any medical, dual-use, or adult-use marijuana cultivation, processing, dispensing or testing facility in the City of Akron to receive Conditional Use approval.

Ordinance 316-2024 authorizing a Conditional Use to construct an apartment development at 40 N. Martha Avenue; and declaring an emergency. Vote: 12-0 (Kammer absent). The petitioner plans to raze the former Goodyear Middle School building and replace it with a 160-unit affordable housing development to be known as "The Heights." The project will feature solar panels on the flat roof and is intended to achieve a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Silver certification.

Resolution 317-2024 acknowledging that the Petition submitted on August 28, 2024 is insufficient and does not comply with the requirements of the Charter of the City of Akron and the Constitution and laws of the State of Ohio; and declaring an emergency. Vote: Ayes: 13, Nays: 0. On August 28th, 507 part-petitions were filed with the Clerk of Council to submit a proposed Safety Forces Charter Amendment regarding the hiring of Police and Fire Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs. Summit County Board of Elections verified signatures. The petition contained 4,187 valid signatures, but 4,862 valid signatures were required to be sufficient and placed on the ballot. You can read more about Initiative Petitions in this week's 'Did You Know' section below.

Remember...

You can see all the legislation discussed during the meeting at: https://onlinedocs.akronohio.gov/OnBaseAgendaOnline/

Ring Doorbell Cameras

Each ward was allotted 300 cameras. The staff has worked hard to distribute these at ward meetings, before Council meetings, and during office hours. We're continually working through waitlists, so please make sure you check your email if you applied!

Check out the calendar on

Council's website for

upcoming Ward Meetings!

Your Council Representative

Is Available to Serve You!

There are several ways to reach your Ward Representative:

View their information on the Council's website .
Attend their ward meeting .
Call or email them.

Upcoming Open Comment

Public Hearings

Up for Public Hearing September 23, 2024:

Ordinance authorizing a Conditional Use to place a monument sign with an LED message board for Reservoir Park at 1735 Hillside Terrace.

Ordinance authorizing a Conditional Use to place a monument sign with an LED message board for Patterson Park Community Center at 800 Patterson Avenue.

Ordinance authorizing a Conditional Use to place a monument sign with an LED message board for Ed Davis Community Center at 730 Perkins Park Drive.

Ordinance authorizing a Conditional Use to install an oversized hi-rise sign at 1526 Vernon Odom Boulevard.

Ordinance authorizing a Conditional Use to construct a convenience store and gas station at 311 Darrow Road.

Ordinance authorizing a Conditional Use to construct the Akron Zoo Animal Hospital on the east side of Diagonal Road, north of Auldfarm Road.

Notices are posted on our website at least 15 days before the meeting.

Suppose the Ordinance is a Conditional Use (Zoning measure). In that case, a notice is also mailed to the owners and residents of property within, contiguous to, and directly across the street from the property involved in the Ordinance (per Charter Section 34). Notices are also published in the Akron Beacon Journal.

You do not need to fill out any forms to participate. You're able to attend in person in Council Chambers or remotely via videoconference.

Those wishing to attend remotely need to notify the Clerk of Council, as outlined in the meeting notice, in order to receive the information to join remotely.

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311- Akron's One Call to City Hall

If you have a specific city issue that you'd like to see resolved (a pothole, water leak, tree down, missed trash collection, etc.), you can enter it in the online system, call 311, or download

the new "MyAkron311" app.

The app is available for free on all Apple or Android devices in the app store.

After downloading, residents can create a profile, enter a service request, look up timely city information, and set up notifications specific to their address such as trash/recycling collection reminders.

Public Comment Period

A public comment period is held at each regularly scheduled Council meeting, where up to ten (10) members of the public may address Council on matters within Council's authority. No member of the public shall be permitted to address Council during the public comment period more than once every 30 days.

Those who wish to participate in the public comment period of a regular Council meeting need to submit a public comment form by 4:00 p.m. on the date of the meeting.

The sign-up form is available here.

For those that do not have a mobile device/computer to utilize, or need additional assistance, Council staff is available to help.

Signing up is a requirement of Council Rules, similar to other bodies.

SECTION 21. - THE PETITION—REQUIREMENTS, CONSTRUCTION, AND EFFECT OF ELECTION.

Any initiative or referendum petition may be presented in separate parts, but each part shall contain a full and correct copy of the title and text of the ordinance or resolution proposed or sought to be referred. Each signer of an initiative or referendum petition shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil. Each signer of an initiative or referendum petition must be an elector of the City. With each signature shall be stated the place of residence of the signer, giving the street and number. Each part of such petition shall contain the affidavit of the person soliciting the signatures to the same, which affidavit shall contain a statement of the number of signers of such part of such petition, that the affiant witnessed the affixing of every signature and that, to the best of the affiant's knowledge and belief, each of the signatures contained on such part is the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be, that such persons are electors of the City, and that they signed such petition with the knowledge of the contents thereof. The petitions and signatures upon such petitions shall be prima facie presumed to be in all respects sufficient. No ordinance or resolution submitted to the electors of the City, and receiving an affirmative majority of the votes cast thereon, shall be held ineffective or void on account of the insufficiency of the petitions by which such submission of the same shall have been procured; nor shall the rejection by a majority of the votes cast thereon of any ordinance or resolution submitted to the electors of the City be held invalid for such insufficiency. The basis upon which the required number of petitioners in any case shall be determined shall be the total number of qualified electors registered to vote at the last general municipal election.

SECTION 22. - DUTIES OF CLERK OF COUNCIL.

Within ten (10) business days after the filing of any initiative or referendum petition the Clerk of the Council shall determine the sufficiency of such petition and attach thereto a certificate showing the result of his examination. If the Clerk shall certify that the petition is insufficient he shall set forth in the certificate the particulars in which the petition is defective and shall return a copy of the certificate to the person designated in such petition to receive it.

If the Clerk of the Council shall determine that the petition is sufficient, he shall submit the same with his certificate to the Council at the next meeting of Council. No change may be made to the petition after filing with the Clerk except that any person who signs the petition may request in writing, in the presence of the Clerk, the removal of his or her signature at any time before submission of the Clerk's certificate to Council.

The Council shall thereupon order that the ordinance or resolution proposed or sought to be referred be submitted to the qualified electors of the City for their approval or rejection at an election to be held as here prescribed. The Clerk of Council shall forthwith transmit a duly certified copy of such order to the Director of the Board of Elections of Summit County, Ohio or the successor to this position. The election authorities shall cause publication of notice and all arrangements to be made for holding such election, and the same shall be conducted and the result thereof returned and declared in all respects as are the results of general municipal elections.

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You can view the Rules of Procedure

for Akron City Council here.