The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Council ponders new zoning administrator
Lorain City Council has voted to create the position for a new zoning administrator to manage the city’s new zoning code.
Council this fall started work sessions to review the city’s updated zoning code.
On Nov. 2, council voted to send the issue to its Finance and Claims Committee. Two weeks later, council brought it back to the floor for a vote, and approved the position on Nov. 16.
New city planning
Ward 3 Councilwoman Pamela Carter asked why the position would be a management position.
The Building, Housing and Planning Department intends to take on planning as a discipline, said Department Director Max Upton.
The zoning administrator would supervise the neighborhood development specialist in the department, he said.
For 10 years, Chief Building Official Richard Klinar has served as de facto zoning administrator in the department, Upton said.
Now, when residents, businesses or developers submit blueprints for projects, city staff consult and may suggest the need for a variance, he said.
“That’s the long and short of what our planning is,” Upton said.
But Lorain has a number of projects in development and a new zoning code that would require staff analysis and reports to the City Planning Commission.
That is a process management piece that Lorain has
not employed for quite some time, Upton said.
Some grants deal with urban planning as much as they deal with road construction, he said.
The city’s elected officials may view issues with attention to the immediate effects during their terms of office.
A zoning administrator and planning staff can employ a five-, 10- or 20-year view to avoid trading shortterm gains for long-term losses, Upton said.
More than personnel management, the zoning administrator would deal with project and process management, he said.
Carter commended the
restructuring within the department and asked how the city would select the zoning administrator.
The department and city administration would form a panel that uses identical questions for applicants during interviews, Upton said.
The city would advertise for candidates for the post, he said, and the panel will recommend the best and brightest applicant for the job
orain has not updated its zoning code since the 1980s, said Ward 6 Councilman Rey Carrion.
If the city adopts a new code without someone to
oversee it, Council should throw away the new code as a waste of time, Carrion said.
He also asked if the city has the money to pay for the post.
Building permit revenues and federal Community Development Block Grant money would cover the salary, Upton said.
City Auditor Karen Shawver said city officials and staff are in the beginning stages of drafting the 2021 budget.
Shawver suggested Council and the administration use caution as they consider hiring the new position at the end of 2020 with
out having this year’s final numbers or the 2021 budget.
With salary and benefits, the position could cost the city up to $100,000 a year, she said.
Ward 8 Councilman Joshua Thornsberry said council members are leery about creating new positions, but this one is fundamentally important to go with a new zoning code.
“Without enforcement and oversight and management, it is like a lot of things that we’ve done in the city of Lorain, which is, great ideas,” he said. “But, if you don’t have the enforcement component on the back end, that’s all it is, is an idea.”
Seeing development on the city’s west side and speaking to developers, it’s clear Lorain is behind the times with its zoning code and master plan, Thornsberry said.
There are some weird zoning things in Lorain and a zoning administrator would help fix those, he said.
Councilman at-Large Mitch Fallis called it a vital and critical role and he would welcome advisory analysis from a zoning administrator to make better plans for Lorain.
Councilwoman at-Large Mary Springowski agreed with the need for a zoning administrator.