Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Oregon city council members unanimously approved a special use permit for 2225 Brown Rd., which will allow single-family mid-term and long-term rentals at the residence.
The approval is contingent upon three items: no short-term rentals are permitted at the location, issuance of a new certificate of occupancy for residential use complying with the 2024 Residential Code of Ohio is required, and the SUE expires upon a change in ownership.
Property owner David Carr confirmed the property won’t be used as a short-term Airbnb, for example. His intent is for long-term, three-to-six-month rentals only. More specifically, he intends to make it available to traveling nurses.
The planning commission previously voted 4-0 on May 19 to support the zoning change. Council member Dennis Walendzak asked what mechanism will be in place to make sure the length of stays are more than 30 days, and the city’s director of public service, Paul Roman, said it would be up to buildings and zoning to make sure it is followed.
Any issues with the property going forward will be complaint driven.
Data center update
Another key topic at the meeting, which was brought up by resident Knute Huber, who questioned about the latest on the data center. He wanted to know if the questions he asked council, including one about the six-month extension for data center developer Will Turner of Capacity LLC, had any answers. Council approved the extension earlier this year.
Mayor Steve Salander responded.
“I reached out to the mayor of New Albany to try to get some information on the impacts to their city, positives and negatives, and I received no response,” Salander said. “Second, where is it right now? I can tell it for myself, and I can only speak for myself. The last time I spoke with Mr. Turner was probably a month ago, maybe three, four weeks, somewhere in there. And I was told at that point in time that we should be seeing something from the economic development agreement and hearing the end-user soon. As of this moment, I have not heard any of that. That's the last I've heard of anything.
“I do know that they were doing some sort of, I don't know the specifics of it off the top of my head, but some environmental study out there as well. That's the only thing I know. I haven't heard anything. I have not seen any economic development agreement or any movement to complete anything within this extension.
“I can tell you for myself that if we get to the point of this extension coming to the end, which would be in September, I am completely opposed to any further extensions. We've already waited two years. We're holding land. We're losing money on doing so.”
Oregon Community Theater
Beth Giller, the director of the Oregon Community Children’s Summer Theater, was on hand with several of her young actors for the upcoming production of Mary Poppins Jr.
Giller said is her 15th summer of doing this.
“The community theater children's show started in 1999,” she said. “This summer, we have 93 students from second through eighth grade involved in the production. We also have 23 high schoolers who are there virtually every day that we call wranglers, as well as some college students and young adults who volunteer regularly as well. There are at least 10 adults who spend, I would say, 20 to 30 hours a week of volunteer time on this in the summer. People like the producer, the costumers, the builders, they're just there. It's our job, essentially, for the summer.
“It is a lot of community involvement, and we really appreciate that. Lots of other adults are involved as well, especially as we get closer to the production. This year, we are doing flying again. We've done flying in our summer shows before using a man who comes from Canton to rig the flying. This year, for the first time, we're not just going up and down. We're going side to side. That's pretty exciting because that means Mary gets to fly in instead of just dropping down from the ceiling.
“We so appreciate the financial contribution that the city makes to help support this program. You really get a big bang for your buck when you total up all the hours that the students and the adults and the community put into this program.”
Six cast members were on hand, and they performed a brief excerpt of the beginning of the show, which will be hosted at the Fassett Auditorium on July 16-18 at 7 p.m. and July 19 at 3 p.m. Those on hand were Elliot Gallaher, who is playing Mr. Banks; Madelyn Biehl, who is Mrs. Banks; Ryleigh Hess, who is Mrs. Brill; Violet Marier, who is Mary Poppins; Ella Krytus, who is Michael and Jada Kamelesky, who is Jane.
“Because we have so many kids, so many extremely talented kids, we double cast the leads, so each one of these students has another person playing that role on a different night and then, when it is not their on-night, they’re all in the ensemble,” Giller said. “Everybody is in every show — kind of a blocking nightmare, but hey, it works for them.”
Other business
Council approved an ordinance to enter into a construction agreement with United Roofing to repair several sections of the roof on the water treatment plant that were damaged from an event on March 13.
Council members also waived the need for a hearing for Eagles Landing Golf Club, which requested a liquor permit. Thus, it is approved.
Salander, in his mayor’s report, thanked the children of the Oregon Community Theater for coming, and he also discussed the addition of the Northwest Ohio Rib Off to Oregon next year.
Additionally, Dana Kriner was approved for promotion to sergeant in the police department. She recently completed her five years, which made her eligible, and she will replace the retiring Sgt. Ken Reno.
Council member Beth Ackerman brought up a complaint she received about e-bikes going excessively fast on the bike paths, as well as underage drivers of golf carts on the same paths.
The Oregon Parks & Rec department issued a Facebook statement on June 22 regarding the matter. They said they had an incident over the previous weekend where a girl was almost hit by a bike under electric power. In general, they urged residents to practice caution when using e-bikes.
