Trending
SALEM -- A proposed resolution which would have laid the groundwork to potentially form a new historic district within the city has been withdrawn for the time being.
City council was originally slated to review a resolution that would authorize the chairperson of the design review board to apply for and receive a $23,000 certified local government grant from the Ohio History Connection State Preservation office to fund a reconnaissance survey of the Southeast Boulevard district. However, City Councilwoman Jayne Bricker elected not to introduce the resolution pending further discussion at the committee level.
Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey said that she was not in favor of the ordinance as she had not been able to find any residents within the area that would potentially be affected by the formation of a historic district that would be in favor of one.
"The general feeling that I get when I talk to people about it in that area, and I try to be very neutral when I talk about it, so I'm not influencing them one way or another, is that they have a lot of fears about being in a historic district," Dickey said. "They worry that they will be kept from doing some of the things they want to do to modernize their homes and that they will be under control of another board."
She also argued that while the homes in that area meet the age requirements for a historic designation, they lack novel architecture and "they really are not at-risk historic sites." City Councilman Jeff Stockman said that he also hadn't been approached about potentially forming a historic district despite representing that section of the city.
"Before this [resolution] was to come out, I have not been able to find anyone who has been approached about whether they want to be in a historic district. Most of the comments were negative about that," Dickey said. "We did have an issue like this come up at one time in the past, and the community was not in support of doing that. I have concerns about applying for grants that are going to come to nothing if the community doesn't support them."
Council also approved three pieces of legislation concerning special energy improvements in cooperation with the Columbiana County Energy Special Improvement District.
City Councilwoman Sara Baer said that legislation would "allow for special assessments for property owners and developers who are making improvements to commercial properties inside the city of Salem," and that it would be "the second project of this type being done inside the county." Baer said that the first was in Leetonia, and that Salem would be following its structure and collaborating with the port authority to implement it.
Other matters approved included a resolution authorizing City Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello to advertise for bids and enter a contract for the purchase of police radios, and a routine ordinance approving the editing and inclusion of certain ordinances as parts of the various component codes of the codified ordinances of Salem, Ohio which the city approves each year as part of its ordinance codification service.
During the report of standing committees, Baer and Stockman announced that the economic development committee meeting that had initially been slated to precede the council's meeting Tuesday would instead meet at 6 p.m. on Sept. 1. Consequently, the rules and ordinances committee meeting that was originally scheduled for Sept. 1 will instead meet at 6 p.m. on Sept. 15, and the committee of the whole meeting that was scheduled for Sept. 15, will meet at 6 p.m. on Oct. 20.
Council will meet next at 7 p.m. on Sept 8.