MANSFIELD — Legislation aimed at reducing weekend “cruising” on the so-called “Miracle Mile” is scheduled to be discussed Wednesday night by Mansfield City Council.
Local lawmakers, meeting one day later than normal due to Tuesday’s primary election, will take up an issue it talked about six months ago before shelving it for the winter.
The idea behind the ordinance is to limit repeat vehicle traffic on Friday and Saturday nights between 8 p.m. and 3 a.m. in an area with boundaries of West Fourth Street and Park Avenue West between Home and Trimble Roads.
The ordinance, to be discussed during caucus and scheduled for a vote May 7, would make it a misdemeanor for someone to drive past a traffic control point more than two times in any two-hour period.
The first violation would be a minor misdemeanor. A second violation within one year of the first would be a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Additional violations within a year of the first offense would be a third-degree misdemeanor.
When City Council discussed the proposed law on Sept. 5, then-Mansfield police Chief Keith Porch admitted “cruising” on the Miracle Mile has been popular in Mansfield since the 1950s and 1960s.
But it’s not the same as it used to be, Porch said then, including out-of-town residents coming from as far away as Cleveland and Columbus to participate in the weekend evening activities.
“I think we’re dealing with a different scenario, especially when we have blatant street races and motorcycles doing excess of 100 miles an hour and a different flavor of (participants) trying to bait officers into chases,” Porch said.
Porch, now the city’s safety service director, told lawmakers in September the “cruising” legislation would be a tool for law enforcement. But he said it would not solve the problem completely.
“I want to be very clear, it is definitely a tool for our tool belt for officers to be able to get a handle and a grip on enforcement action out there with the crowd. Not only do we have motorcycles doing 100-plus in speed down Park Avenue, along with vehicles, we have vehicles that will take off their license plates that will try to provoke officers into chases out there.
“So it’s at sometimes quite hectic of what our officers are facing in dealing with the traffic enforcement on Park Avenue,” Porch said in September.
During the meeting six months ago, council members expressed support for the change.
Fifth Ward Councilman Aurelio Diaz said he grew up in Mansfield during a time “cruising” was a fun activity in that area.
“But the times I’ve been out there (recently), there’s this electricity in the air, a lot of aggression. A few weekends ago, (I saw) young people, maybe in their 20s, with (anti-police slogans) just looking to have some sort of conflict,” Diaz said in September.
“It’s very unsettling when we know that people from all over are coming, not for the fun part of it, but just (for) no consequences. That’s not on our part. I mean, there’s not enough (police). Also, these drag races, as most people in the boulevards know, they don’t just stop there. They go all the way downtown to the square. I hear them,” Diaz said.
Council to vote on $600k for YMCA re-do
Council is expected to vote on a request from Mayor Jodie Perry to spend up to $600,000 from the city’s PRIDE tax fund to help the Richland County Land Bank pay for the ex-excavation of the former Mansfield YMCA site at 455 Park Ave. West.
In late 2018/early 2019, the city (under then Mayor Tim Theaker) paid $500,000 in PRIDE tax dollars to demolish the three-story building.
It appears the contractor doing the work, Page Excavating from Lucas, didn’t complete the job properly, according to officials, and it’s now going to cost around another $1 million in a mix of state and local funds to fix, officials said.
what is going on at the former mansfield ymca location?
Under the city’s contract, Page Excavating was allowed to leave “hardpack” material behind at the site, provided it was more than four feet underground.
Land Bank manager Amy Hamrick said last week a new contractor cleaning up the site has found entire rooms were left intact underground, pointing to a photo taken in February.
“This down here was … this is actually the roof of a room. There’s a whole room with water pipes. They had to dig down and get out the walls and floors,” she said.
“We’re working our way through financial issues, which has been so much more than we thought,” Hamrick said.
“To be honest, in my worst dreams, it was never this bad. I don’t know what else to say. It’s unbelievable,” she told Land Bank board members on Wednesday afternoon.
She estimated it will cost about $700,000 for the new excavation and debris removal and the Land Bank will then pay the company $44,915 to restore the entire site to straw and grass, per the contract.
Hamrick said the Land Bank had obtained a $400,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Development for the project.
The question remains, however, whether or not the city can recoup the $500,000 it paid Page Excavating or the original work.
“It’s at the (City of Mansfield) law director’s office at this point,” said Bart Hamilton, chair of the Land Bank board and also the Richland County treasurer.
According to the legislation, the city agrees to share with the Land Bank as “a joint party all legal and equitable claims existing or may exist against Page Excavating Inc. arising from Page’s contracted excavation.”
Weeds return to City Council agenda
Lawmakers are scheduled to vote whether to amend city weeds and trees ordinances to reduce the height at which weeds become illegal, and also make it more expensive for property owners if the city has to have lots mowed.
Currently, the law states, “No owner, lessee, agent or tenant having charge or responsibility for, the maintenance of the following described lots or lands within the City shall permit noxious weeds, grasses or other types of vegetation as described in subsection (a) hereof to grow or be upon such lots or lands at a height exceeding 10 inches above the ground.
That height would change to six inches, if approved by council.
Adrian Ackerman, the city’s community development and housing director, said in February the time it takes for the city to act on a weed complaint helps to make the change necessary.
Letters must be sent to property owners to give them 10 days to get the weeds cut down.
“Those weeds can then be two feet high by the time we get a (private) crew on the site,” she said. “If we catch it sooner, we can take action sooner.”
There will be exceptions made for “native plants,” provided there is “purposeful maintenance.”
According to the change, “the city shall allow and encourage the purposeful
maintenance of native plants that can be left unmowed without a height limit on a case by case basis, based on visual inspection that allows for such growth when a reasonable number of the following cues are present:
(1) Clean edges and boundaries such as mown strips along bordering properties, pathways, driveways and sidewalks, except the tree lawn and within 6 feet of a public street
(2) Fences and borders
(3) Obvious regular maintenance is occurring
(4) Flowering plants and trees
(5) Wildlife feeders and houses
(6) Familiar layouts and design elements
(The complete planned agenda for Wednesday’s City Council meeting is below in PDF form.)