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City may offer help for landscape damage
(by Sue Reid - June 11, 2009)
City may offer help for landscape damage
By SUE REID
Solon Mayor Kevin C. Patton said last week that he supports the city taking a good look at how it can help the residents along Bainbridge Road who will have significant damage to their current landscaping as a result of an upcoming road reconstruction.
"I would certainly think the city should try to accept some fair share of its responsibility to help the residents," Mr. Patton said.
City Council's public works committee also gave support last week for replacing landscaping for those residents who have large screening issues.
Mr. Patton said he also supports the use of temporary concrete barriers where appropriate, as well as monitoring of speed to enforce a 25 mph limit in the construction zone.
In a memo to Councilman Edward K. Suit, who chairs city council's safety and public properties committee, Mr. Patton said he is supportive of the recommendation of the city's safety forces with regard to their preference for a two-way temporary road during the project.
"Serving as mayor and safety director, I have always placed high regard in the information and recommendations from our police chief and fire chief," Mr. Patton said.
With the installation of temporary barriers and additional landscaping near the end of construction on designated properties, Mr. Patton said, he believes these measures, and others which will be taken, will help to promote a high level of safety throughout the construction period.
In terms of helping those residents with replacing their landscaping, Mr. Patton said he thinks it is something that needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
"I don't think that every resident's property is necessarily equal in value in terms of how they have it landscaped," he said, which is why each property should be evaluated individually.
In relation to the two-way temporary road and the residents' ongoing concerns, Mr. Patton said he is sympathetic.
"The city, however, is kind of in the middle," he said, "because we didn't design this project." It is the Cuyahoga County Engineer's Office who both designed the project and has control over it, Mr. Patton said.
"The city has tried to apply advice and influence wherever we can, but it is a county project and therefore they are the final say of what the design will be," Mr. Patton said.
He also said the Bainbridge Road project is the "No. 1 stimulus package value-wise" in the county engineer's office.
"We have already been questioned by various county officials as to whether we will go forward with the project," Mr. Patton said. "You don't get offered $14 million very often for a road improvement, and the county engineer has had their project on the list for many years, going back into the 1990s.
"They must have seen it as an opportunity to move forward when these stimulus funds became available," he said.
As to it being up to the city in terms of the maintenance of traffic, Mr. Patton said, "We have to look seriously as to what we're hearing from our department heads, safety and service departments and the information they provided to me and the council.
"That information gets evaluated, and we hope it's all going to work out in everyone's best situation, but it's something unfortunately we have to live through." Mr. Patton said the city has tried hard to accommodate the needs of the residents.
"Sooner or later many of the areas in the town undergo a major improvement, and residents are inconvenienced for some period of time," he said. "That's just the way that it works.
"There's no doubt it's a touchy issue and a tough situation," he said.
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