Notes from tonight’s meetings…
Planning committee
– We began the meeting by hearing about a company called Pnuematic Scale, which is in the packaging manufacturing business, founded in 1895. They make the machines that package a lot of household goods for other manufacturers. Pneumatic is looking to expand, and Stow is a finalist. The new plant promises $5 million in payroll within five years and 100 jobs. We are one of four alternative sites: Stow, Akron, California, Florida.
We will give them a 25 percent break on payroll taxes over a 10-year span. We moved forward two pieces of legislation. First, we extended the maximum allowable timespan on this sort of deal to 10 years. Second, we extended that offer to Pneumatic Scale. Sara Drew took the initiative to see that we are getting this done timely to make sure we can capitalize on this opportunity.
– Next, we discussed the Joint Economic Development Zone (JEDZ). The purpose is to foster cooperation among Stow, Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson in establishing an economic corridor. In 2008, the three communities competed for a hospital, before Dr. Kent suggested that they work together in order to locate the hospital nearby Seasons Road. The hospital would like to break ground before the end of the year.
Highlights of the agreement:
- It is a 50-year agreement.
- Each city contributes an equal amount of equally valuable land, consisting of a total of 99 acres.
- The cities equally split income tax dollars from the zone.
- They will work together for zoning. Cuyahoga Falls and Hudson will adopt Stow’s storm water management regulations.
My thoughts:
- Hammering out the deal required a lot of work. So I applaud Ken Trenner and his counterparts. Economic collaboration really is a good thing. Northeast Ohio has enough problems, without Cuyahoga Falls competing with Stow, and vice versa. These agreements neutralize the market power of some of these businesses who can get basically whatever they want from cities starved for good jobs.
- With that said, I don’t like the provision that penalizes cities for not following or not adopting the Master Plan for zoning. The penalty is forfeiting one-half of your share of taxes from the agreement for 12 years, which is far too harsh.
- I also think we need to come up with a preliminary agreement on contribution for city services if one city’s portion of the zone is bearing the brunt of the services, such as fire, police, and snow removal.
- We did not vote on it tonight. It’s likely to come back before the Planning Committee before the end of the month.
Finance Committee
The committee approved expenditures for truck tires and a public defender for indigent defendants charged with city ordinances.
Public Improvements Committee
– We discussed application of our zoning laws to gas wells. As Brian Reali said at the meeting, the state has pre-empted most (if not all) of the gas well field of law.
Still, I’m in favor of applying our generally applicable rules to gas wells. This is our town. We make the rules to protect our community’s health and beauty. But I don’t want to pass any new laws to discourage, hinder or harass gas well drillers, because that, I feel, would be crossing the line of pre-emption.
– City Arborist Sue Mottl told us about the impending problem of Emerald Ash Borer. To prevent the bug from spreading to Stow trees, we will need to replace many trees over the next 10 years. The plan will cost $9,000 to $12,000 per year. We forwarded it to Thursday’s council meeting.