Making a Public Comment
Council welcomes public comment before regular council meetings. Fill out the online form below for your chance to make a public comment at the next regular Monday Council meeting. Please read the revised rules and procedures.
Registrations can also be submitted:
* In person at Cleveland City Hall, Room 220, 601 Lakeside Ave. NE. Paper forms are available to register.
* If you don't want to fill out the online form below, you can download this form and fill it out, and email it to publiccomment@clevelandcitycouncil.gov or drop it off at Council offices. (Parking at City Hall on the upper lot is free on Mondays after 5 pm when Council is meeting.) If you need assistance, language, or disability, go here to make a request (at least 3 days in advance.)
Make a Comment in Person
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Make a Comment Online
If you don't want to speak at a Council meeting, please submit your written comments below.
Public Comments
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Requesting to Re naming Payne Avenue would end the word being mistaken for torture/Pain Saken people.
To put or leave people in pain is what torture is. People should get pain pills right away.
People are scared to go to the shelter/waiting room because of the address Payne Ave.
Thee tort laws can acknowledge pain pills freely given to people...pain pills isn't a drug and doesn't haze people.
Thanking Council for acknowledging the request to re name payne ave.
Starting at East 131st and Cranwood, everything that is east that belongs to Cleveland up to East 131st and Union should be Ward 1. One block west of East 131st and Union is East 130th Street. Everything east of East 130th Street that is Cleveland should be Ward 1 to Buckeye. From East 130th and Buckeye everything north of that point below a straight aerial line and including all of Shaker Square should be Ward 1. From its furthest western point of Shaker Square using an aerial line everything that is east, that is Cleveland up to Fairhill should be Ward 1. The maximum consideration is probably highly unlikely under the current population requirements. However, the Ward population requirements should be adjusted. Twenty-five thousand (25,000) is a bad number for right now. It will be a bad number for decades to come.
The maximum best idea for Ward 1 is as follows:
Starting at MLK and Fairhill heading south everything east of that street up to Kinsman should be Ward 1. At some point East 116th Street becomes west of MLK. At that point heading south until reaching Calvary Cemetery, everything east of that should be Ward 1. Everything east of MLK should stay Ward 1 wherever MLK is until it reaches its furthest southern point in the city of Cleveland. Keep in mind I am aware that there are points where East 116th and MLK Boulevard switch positions. These decisions should be based on an aerial ride. The Council and Ward budgets can be better adjusted with 15 Wards in place of 17. A $6,585,790 can be divided by dived better by the Ward, Council, and the employees.
Please take my request seriously. This should compel some questions from you. Recognize that I have taken multiple opportunities in times to study this matter. I can address any question that you pose to me or about this email to yourselves. This is to ALL of you; not just the Ward 1 Councilperson. I recognize the dilemma of city councilpeople who already have homes in their Wards where the new Ward 1 would be. That can be addressed reasonably.
Have you seen this petition yet?
Revise CAFE Standards for Safer, More Efficient Non-Commercial Vehicles
Please sign and share! - https://chng.it/qLV6GbLF7H
Thank you,
Stewart O'Marah
As with the gas station variance that was denied by the Board of Zoning Appeals on May 6, the current PRO exists to specifically prevent the types of use cases that this rezoning would allow and permitting this change would degrade the already dangerous conditions for pedestrians at this intersection. Additionally, allowing a car-centric business such as a gas station, car sales lots, and other uses that would become permitted by right would have negative implications for the streets leading to the site, as well as the adjacent Cudell Commons Park and Marion C. Seltzer elementary school. In fact, the US EPA school siting guidelines indicate that a gas station should not be within 1000 feet of schools. Marion C. Seltzer Elementary sits approximately 200 feet from this site
Since prospective, car-centric uses for this parcel were introduced to the community in February, I have been dismayed at the overwhelming lack of engagement within the Cudell community. This site straddles the border between two wards and is primarily surrounded by Ward 15, while nearly all of the adjacent residents live within Ward 15. Aside from a neighborhood meeting hosted on March 21 in which the neighborhood was overwhelmingly opposed to car-centric land uses, there has been no willingness to engage with residents to discuss the proposed land use and/or zoning changes.
This proposal to spot zone a parcel in an established PRO undermines the will of local residents as well as the recent progress made to establish the Transportation Demand Management zones (which this lot falls within) as well as the adjacent Form Based Code pilot area. Allowing car-centric uses in such a transit-rich location is shortsighted and runs counter to the City's goals of creating denser, sustainable communities. This location is well served by the Red Line, #18, #25, and #26 buses, the latter two being 24/7 service. Therefore, my opposition is strongly based in my belief that the proposed zoning change will have negative implications for the site and surrounding neighborhood, and would preclude this location from being used for a higher and better use for the foreseeable future. While the currently vacant building is not ideal, changing zoning to allow for the creation of a new brownfield is far worse.
I understand the owner feels a gas station is necessary for a successful retail component, but any type of retail is going to be a challenge, regardless of whether it has a gas station attached to it or not. Additionally, according to the owner's representative at the February community meeting, there are no letters of interest or letters of commitment from the proposed tenants, meaning we have no sense of what would actually be in the development anyway.
According to the 2017 NOACA Regional TOD Scorecard and Implementation Plan, this location is primed for residential and office development. Additionally, with the aforementioned transit connections that service this location, the lot is well suited to accommodate the growing market for different housing types . Both housing (10-20 units) with a minimum project value of $2M and/or smaller-scale Class A office/professional space would be a good, low-impact site uses that support a growing neighborhood.
The current zoning was established to channel market forces into productive outcomes, and is is important to continue thinking strategically and longer-term instead of brute forcing this environmentally negative and short-sited plan.
The adjacent lot is a school and park which is wholly incompatible with a gas station that will sell tobacco & alcohol. In addition, it will create heavy traffic by a school, park, & rec center where kids are walking.
Why isn’t the councilman creating a vision for this larger site in the midst of a residential & commercial district that would have benefit to youth rather than aiming for the very lowest common denominator of business (gas & convenience) that will harm youth and likely harm future development potential of this site.
Critical to note that Gas stations require underground storage tanks which often leak during their lifecycle thus requiring expensive clean-up before the site can be reused for another purpose.
In summary, why is the Councilman thinking so short term with regard to this site when doing so will cause damage in the present & the future? Where is the vision for the community and our youth?
Important to remember that this site is adjacent to the Tamir Rice Memorial which is roughly 150’ away. I ask again, why is this council person, a public servant, seem to be lacking any regard for the public/community/youth in this area (his ward tho he does not reside in his ward)
This whole gas station idea seems to be entirely self serving, not the work of a public servant.
Councilperson Kelly is now trying to pass an ordinance through Council that would circumvent the PRO protection and allow "spot zoning" at this site, something that could set a really bad precedent and have negative consequences for sustainable and pedestrian-friendly development in neighborhoods across the city.
Please respect the public trust, our community's longer-term needs, and this city's core values by voting against Ordinance 791-2024. Thank you.
Since I have not received any response to my most recent private email I have sent, I will write here as well. There is a growing number of community members and Ward 11 residents in active opposition to Ordinance 791-2024, which will change the Pedestrian Retail Overlay district code to general retail--allowing for a gas station to be developed. The PRO was put in place for a reason. Spot zoning sets a dangerous precedent in our city that any code put in place for the betterment of the city can be overturned simply because a council person decides it. The Board of Zoning Appeals and the City Planning Commission have rejected proposals to change the code on this lot, so to push it through, Danny Kelly has expressed intent to bring it to Council (Ordinance 791-2024) for a 2/3 majority vote to override it. If the experts of city planning in Cleveland have rejected the proposals for very valid reasons, it should not be forced through.
This lot borders Cudell Park and Marion C. Seltzer Elementary. Adding a gas station will make the already dangerous intersection at West Blvd and Madison Ave more congested and dangerous. In addition, the emissions from the gas station are harmful to our youth and the affordable housing units neighboring the vacant lot. The attempts to push a gas station through on this lot is a blatant disregard for the community and its needs. Would a gas station even be proposed in a higher-income ward? Or are we simply too poor to influence politics in Cleveland?
In short, please vote against Ordinance 791-2024 should it come to you. Thank you.