Council hears info on apartment project

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert City Council members heard details of a senior citizen apartment complex planned for the south side of the city and also adopted several pieces of legislation during their meeting Monday evening.

Robert Hellmuth, president of RLH Partners Inc., provided plans and other information for a 32-unit complex planned for an area long Westwood Drive during a public hearing held prior to Council’s regular meeting.

According to Hellmuth, the project would include one- and two-bedroom apartments for local residents age 55 and over, although spouses could be younger, although not younger than 40 — the cutoff age for residency in the complex.

The project, which would be under the aegis of the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, would be similar to a project completed late last year in Celina.

In addition to the apartments, which would include several different floor plans and kitchen and living room areas, the complex would also feature a community room with kitchen facilities.

Hellmuth said he hopes to begin the project this fall for completion by December 2012. No objections to the project were raised during the public hearing.

In legislative action Monday evening, City Council adopted a then-and-now certificate that included an invoice for $6,629, unanimously approved an ordinance allowing Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming to bid out a summer street painting project and also passed on third and final reading ordinances prohibiting parking on both sides of North Franklin Street, from Sycamore Street to the city limits on the north side of the city, and repealing old legislation prohibiting loud speakers on city streets.

Mayor Louis Ehmer proposed reappointing two members of the Design Review Board, Dick Waters and Fleming, and Council unanimously approved doing so.

Fleming also reported on the South Shannon Street project, noting that the project is approximately on schedule despite the rain the area has received this spring. “We’re within a week,” he noted.

The safety-service director did note, though, that some problems may arise later this summer because the intersection with Ervin Road would likely need to be closed to complete construction in that area. A meeting will be scheduled soon to discuss that problem, Fleming noted.

A public hearing was also scheduled for 7:15 p.m. Monday, June 13, to get public input on a proposed zoning change for land south of Fox Road, east of the railroad crossing, owned by the Van Wert County Fair Board, from R-1 to B-3.

City Auditor Martha Balyeat also discussed opposition among city auditors to a proposal by state officials for centralized collection of municipal taxes. Balyeat said opposition is growing to the plan, which would include a fee of 5 percent by the state for collecting municipal taxes. She noted problems were already arising from the collection of school income tax levies by the state, with school districts often having to wait for months to receive tax revenues, and added that delays in receiving municipal income tax revenues would cause cash-flow problems for the city, if tight budgets like those seen the past few years continue into the future.

Fourth Ward councilman-elect Pete Weir also addressed City Council on the issue of trash bags being placed outside well before they are collected, since the bags are often ripped open by animals, causing health and safety problems for city residents. A meeting of the Health, Service and Safety Committee was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. June 13 to discuss the issue.