MANSFIELD — Lots of folks have used social media in the last two weeks to express an opinion about a proposed crackdown on “cruising” on the so-called “Miracle Mile.”
Starting Tuesday, they have a few chances to get out from behind their keyboards and offer actual opinions to local lawmakers.
City Council is expected Tuesday evening to give a first read to an ordinance that would reduce weekend evening “cruising” in the area along Park Avenue West between Home and Trimble roads.
Local lawmakers, who discussed the proposal in caucus on March 20, seemed generally supportive of the plan. No members of the public attended the meeting, though many expressed vitriol in social media in the days after.
Public participation is ordinally scheduled at the beginning of council legislative sessions when lawmakers have finished committee meetings and their caucus period. Residents must sign up to speak and are allotted three minutes to address council.
New Mansfield police chief Jason Bammann told council March 20 that the “tradition” once observed by cars circling along the popular strip of four-lane road has changed since when he was growing up in the city.
“When we were out there, (when) my parents were out there, people were truly out there to socialize. This crowd is out there to just wreak havoc. It’s a totally different crowd. We’ve had gun calls out there. We’ve had overdose calls out there. So it’s not the social gathering that it once was,” Bammann said.
The idea behind a proposed ordinance discussed during council caucus 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 legislation is not scheduled for a vote until May with readings planned Tuesday and again on April 16.
The ordinance 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.
Bammann said department saw in 2023 the problem in the area was motorcycles, drag racing and out-of-town visitors.
“We found we had an influx of people coming from out of county as far away as around Cleveland and down around Columbus. The word was out on Facebook. We found that there were some Facebook groups kind of underground that were promoting this.
“So it was bringing people into our community for one purpose, and that was to just wreak havoc and act out of control,” Bammann said.
Local lawmakers discussed similar legislation in September 2023 before shelving it for the winter. The current proposal is modeled after similar legislation approved by the City of Wooster that helped with a similar problem, Bammann said.
“I don’t think this is the end-all correct-all, (but) this is definitely something to grab their attention. You take away the excitement of the drag racing, because we have that component of people coming to just watch,” he said.
“I’ve seen people out there with little kids sitting right on the edge (of the street). So it is a dangerous situation. We had that fatal out there last year and we don’t want to travel down that path, either,” Bammann said.
At the previous meeting, At-large Councilwoman Stephanie Zader said she spent a lot of time on the “Miracle Mile” while growing up.
“I get what you’re saying. I look at the numbers provided by (Safety Service Director Keith Porch). I look at the significant increase of the Friday and Saturday calls. It’s alarming to me because I did spend a lot of time mean my late teens, early adulthood (there). I was out there probably just about every weekend. We didn’t have all that drama back then.
“I get the tradition. I do. I’ve taken my girls down there. I’ve shown them. We haven’t been down there in a long time. But we have to keep our children safe,” Zader said.
2nd Ward Councilwoman Cheryl Meier agreed.
“This might not be the end-all, be-all, but anything that provides (police) with another tool in your tool belt, I’m all for that,” she said.
In other scheduled activity Tuesday, council is expected to:
(Below is a PDF with legislation scheduled to come before Mansfield City Council on Tuesday evening.)
— vote on an ordinance amending current laws reducing the height at which weeds become illegal, and also make it more expensive for property owners if the city has to have lots mowed.
There are 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
— vote on a proposal to pay Catalis Court and Land Records, LLC, $33,911 by affirming a “then-and-now” certificate. The funds were expended by the Mansfield Municipal Clerk of Courts office for software maintenance from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024. According to the request for the legislation, the city was not notified of the costs until late February, creating the need for a “then-and-now.”
— vote on the appropriation of $30,000 from the unappropriated water fund to the Clear Fork Reservoir Marina capital fund to repair and resurface the marina parking lot, campground entrance and boat ramps. According to the legislation, $10,000 was previously appropriated for the project, but an additional $30,000 is needed “to make proper repairs and long-term upgrades.”