Amherst News-Times, 1998-01-07

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Amherst News-Times
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Wednesday, January 7, 1998
Amherst. Ohio
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request zoni
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Rt. 58 business
by GLEN MILLER
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Special delivery
Thirty children from Power's Elementary Schools extended first
grade become elves as the gather around a box in which they
have desposited their old and unused toys. The toys were donated
to the children of needy families with the help of the Lorain Salvation Army.
News-Times reporter
The boom in commercial development in Amherst has prompted
eight property owners along Leavitt
Road south of Rt. 2 to seek rezoning
of their residential property for commercial use.
By a vote of 4 to 2, the request
received approval from the planning
commission in late November and is
expected lo come before city council this month.
The request involves 13 pieces of
property on the cast side of the road
between a beauty shop and Spruce
Tree Lane. They currently are zoned
R-l residential but would be re-
zoned C-2 pending council's approval. The zoning permits development of retail sales and service
outlets.
The land is 290 feet deep and ab
oul a 1,000 feet long. Because il
abuts residential properly on High
Meadow Road lo ihe rear, any commercial development would require
construction of a 30-foot wide buffer zone to the cast. A 10-foot-wide
green buffer area also would be
needed along a portion of Spruce
Tree Lane, according lo city zoning
officials.
In addition, a 60-foot-widc right-
of-way would have lo be set aside
for the development of an access
road and utilities. This will limit the
widlh of the usable land lo 195 feci,
a portion of which would have to be
reserved for adequate parking.
The mayor said he is unlikely to
recommend approval unless the
proponents can show how they plan
lo develop ihe land.
"We need to know what (the kind
and size of buildings) will be there
CONTINUED on  page 2
Scout hopes to earn Eagle wings with gazebo
Jesse Parkhurst
by GLEN MILLER
News-Times reporter
You might say Jesse Parkhurst
has an appropriate name for the job
he will undertake for die city sometime this coming spring.
Even though he's only 16, the
Lorain youth has decided to plan
and oversee a major pan of a proposed small park at Tenncy Avenue
and Church Street.
He will supervise construction of
an 18'xl3' fool wide gazebo.
Although he'll being doing it for
free, there will be a reward — an
Eagle Scout badge. Il will be a well-
earned step in his career as a Boy
Scout.
A member of Amherst Boy Scout
Troop 427, Parkhurst said he met
with mayor John Higgins in early
November to discuss community
service projpcls that would help him
earn his badge.
A little light must have clicked on
in ihe mayor's head. Minutes later,
Parkhurst was escorted to the tiny
parcel of vacant land and told of
Higgins's desire to turn the longtime
eyesore into a small germ.
Mayor negotiates for small
parkland in downtown area
A long-vacant and cluttered
piece of Conrail property al Tenncy Avenue and Church Street
will become a small city park
with a gazebo on il sometime
this spring.
The elimination of what
mayor John Higgins called a
"longtime eyesore" is being
made possible by a 20-ycar lease
between the city and Conrail,
the properly owners.
The mayor has been negotiating widi the rail agency for more
lhan a year but has been unable
lo reach an agreement because
of environmental considerations.
Until recently, Higgins said
Conrail had insisted that ihe city
be responsible for any environmental cleanup of the property.
"I jusi couldn't agree lo this
because it could have been potentially very expensive," he
explained.
The agency changed its mind
earlier this year and agreed to
clean up the land that was once
the site of a Gulf Oil service
station.
Hugh chunks of cement and
rocks now laying on the
30-by-150-foot piece of triangular land will be removed from
the property by volunteers and
replaced by a gazebo designed
and built by local Boy Scout
Troop 427.
One scout, Jesse Parkhurst.
has designed plans for die structure as pari of an Eagle Scout
project. Materials needed for the
gazebo arc being donated by ihe
Amherst Lumber Co.
Once it is complete, the
"reading" park will be landscaped and flower gardens
planted.
The cily only is responsible
CONTINUED on page 5
It suited Parkhurst's plans jusi
fine. About two months earlier, his
plans to build a gazebo outside the
House of Praise, a Lorain church,
fell through aflcr church officials
decided ihey couldn't afford to buy
Ihe necessary materials.
The project was just a mailer of
moving the gazebo plan to Amherst
and finding funds for the materials.
Al the mayor's suggestion. Parkhurst began knocking on doors until
ihe Amhersi Lumber Co. opened its
lo him.
It has agreed to donate nearly all
of the more lhan S 1,500 worth of
building materials needed for the
gazebo. Flowers and other materials
are being sought from oihcr donors,
according to die mayor.
"I dioughl I was going to have lo
drop my plans and forget aboul the
research and gazebo until I got
together wilh him and he (Higgins)
came up wilh the idea," Parkhurst
CONTINUED on page 5
Here's the final word on increased valuations
The property taxes of Amhersi
area residents will be both higher
and lower than originally estimated
by counly officials depending on if
they live in new homes.
Based on information on lax rates
set by the state, Amhersi area home
owners with homes now valued al al
least S 100,000 will pay up to nine
percent more in property taxes this
year.
f The owners of new homes built
e.
within the last two or three years
will get a reprieve. Their taxes will
go up one percent or less. Their lax
increase previously had been estimated at aboul three percent.
New homes valuations will increase 10 percent and the older
homes about 20 percent.
The difference in valuation and
tax bills is based on the auditor's
knowledge of the value of homes,
according lo chief county real estate
appraiser Steve Birch.
The appraised value of newly
built homes is close to or the same
as the current construction costs and
market value. That of older homes,
especially those lhat have been remodeled and sold, is not accurately
known. Therefore, the value and accompanying taxes are greater.
The Lorain County Auditor's Office previously had estimated the lax
increase would be between five and
six percent based on estimates.
The change is due to rates set by
slate lax officials based on development within the last several years,
current lax miliage and other factors, according lo Birch.
In both cases, Birch said the
higher or lower taxes arc based on
rales detenu ined by the Ohio Tax
Department of Equalization, nol ihe
counly.
The increases will be about the
same for Amhersi and Amhersi
Township residents.
South Amhersi residents will receive an average 13 percent lax
hike, aboul seven percent more lhan
previously estimated by the auditor'
office. South Amherst's valuation
will be 25 percent greater lhan previously, giving it and Wellington
the highest increase in home values.
Based on computer estimates and
private appraisals, home valuations
in Amherst and throughout most of
Lorain Counly have increased due
lo the influx of new residents and
demand for homes.
Several factors have fueled the
higher valuations, according to
county auditor Mark Stewart. They
include lower mortgage rates, the
movement of people from Cuyahoga lo Lorain counties, and the
construction of more than 1,100
new homes, many in the Amhersi
area.
Three newcomers take their city council seats
by GLEN MILLER
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B    '    News-Times reporter
You might call Terry Traster, Edwin Cowgcr and Steve P'Simer the
rtew guys on the block.
■ On Jan. 5, they became Am-
hcrst's new city council members, a
distinction they earned by being
elected in November's general
election.
;" Traster out-campaigned incumbent Robert Sisler lo win the first
ward council seal while P'Simer
trounced incumbent David Rice to
become third ward representative.
Cowger replaces second ward
council member Nancy Brown, who
was elected to fill the at-large seat
vacated by Diane Eswine, the new
cily auditor.
The move to council has been a
longtime in the making for Traster,
who has served on the city zoning
board. He's been politically active
for many of his 41 years, starling as
a student council representative in
high school more lhan 20 years ago.
Trastcr has wanted 10 serve on
council for several years but was
wailing for the right opportunity. He
was persuaded by friends lo run this
year.
"The city is going through some
big growth changes now more lhan
ever. I want lo be a part of guiding
that," he explained.
1 raster has been on the fringes of
politics most of his life, but isn't
one who believes in flexing politic
power.  He prefers  lo  work  wilh
groups.
"I'm the lype of person who likes
to do things for others," he said. "In
this case, I'll be working for ihe
community."
Like Traster, new second ward
council member Cowger also is a
team player. Cowger, 31, is the
manager of a Wendy's restaurant in
Lorain and has lived in Lorain for
more than 24 years.
He was taught to care about people and the community by his
mother, Amhersi police captain Barbara Cowger.
"I have had opportunities lo live
elsewhere but chose nol to," he said.
"This is a great little community to
live in. It's growing and 1 want to
CONTINUED on page 2
Terry Traster
Edwin Cowger
Steve P'Simer