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Bainbridge Road decision put on hold
(by Sue Reid - April 15, 2009)
Bainbridge Road decision put on hold
By SUE REID
A decision by Solon City Council's safety and public properties committee regarding the maintenance of traffic during the Bainbridge Road reconstruction project has been put on hold until May.
The committee approved a motion last week to table the matter until its next meeting May 13.
Councilman and committee member Edward H. Kraus urged that the issue be tabled until a "public process" for residents takes place. "Many issues have not been addressed and they need to be addressed," he said. "My safety-specific questions have not been answered. There are a lot more ways to creatively handle this then to take their property."
Mr. Kraus said, "We can't shove (this) down the throats of our residents."
Councilman and committee chairman Edward K. Suit said the decision made by the safety committee would be based on a safety perspective, not on the number of trees lost or residents' landscaping. He summarized the recommendations from the Solon safety forces, as well as the service department, regarding the preference for a two-way temporary road.
"This project has been with the city for years, and we get a safety memo in the last two weeks that this is now a safety issue," Mr. Kraus said. It is a safety issue, because the administration wants a two-way temporary road, taking land, which is the "permanent destruction for residents on Bainbridge Road," he said.
"For four years, we hear nothing about this project," Mr. Kraus said. "It's incredible that this project is now being forced on residents."
He said there also has been no information on a barrier to address the safety issue of the road being on lawns. "If a car veers off the road without a barrier, what is going to happen to people at these homes?" Mr. Kraus asked.
Fire Chief William Shaw told Mr. Kraus that the fire department was notified of the specifics of this project last month, "not four years, three years or two years ago." The project was not sat on by members of the administration or department heads, he said.
Police Chief Wayne Godzich agreed.
Councilwoman Susan A. Drucker said she met with residents along the road, and they have "grave concerns." They've received conflicting statements, she said, and she supports the statements made by Mr. Kraus.
"It's really been quite a mess." Mrs. Drucker said that delaying a decision for a month would give Mr. Kraus time to walk the road with residents and for all the proper information to be relayed, "so everyone is on the same page with such a major project."
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