Public Hearing

MINUTES OF THE PUBLIC HEARING OF THE COUNCIL 
OF THE CITY OF NORTH OLMSTED 
FEBRUARY 24, 2026 
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
The Public Hearing of February 24, 2026, will now please come to order at 6:45 p.m.  
 
Will the Clerk please call the roll? 
 
Council Clerk: 
Mr. Brossard: [absent] 
Ms. Carr: Here 
Ms. Gilchrist: Here 
Mr. Limpert: Present 
Mr. Madden: Here 
Mr. Marrie: Here 
Mr. Scarl: Present 
Mr. Shymske: Here  
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
Thank you. I would like to recommend, I'm sorry, I would like to remind Council that public 
hearings allow us to hear public comments.  You may follow up to audience comments, but there 
will be a committee meeting scheduled for more in-depth questioning.  
 
Will the clerk please read the first issue before Council this evening? 
 
Council Clerk: 
Ordinance 2025-100. An Ordinance providing for the amendment of the Zone Map of the City of 
North Olmsted by rezoning Permanent Parcel No. 236-10-015, from A-One Family Residence 
District to Planned Development (1157).  
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
As information for the audience, there is no vote taken on this rezoning legislation this evening. 
This public hearing allows the public to speak to the specific rezoning piece of legislation. The 
public hearing is required by our Charter and we, the Administration and Council, are required to 
follow the process. The next step in this process is a Building, Zoning and Development 
Committee meeting, which is Council's work session, of sorts. It is open to the public, but there's 
no public comment period. Once the legislation is moved out of that committee, the legislation 
will go on to have its second and third readings and will be voted on after its third reading.  
 
So if there's anyone in the audience who would like to address Council on Ordinance 2025-100 
only, please come to the podium, state, and spell your name and address for the clerk. If you live 
in any other city than North Olmsted, please state your name of that city and proceed with your 
comments. You will have up to five minutes.

02-24-26 Public Hearing Minutes  - Page 2 
 
 
Robert Perry: 
My name is Robert Perry. I live at 27150 Butternut Ridge Road. I've lived there since about 1974, 
and I'd like to make a few additional comments. I made previous comments to the Council. I'd 
like to make comments of why I think this rezoning is really inappropriate for this location and 
for this street. And I'm saying that from my experience in two areas. One, as a homeowner of a 
house that's a hundred years old, and I understand the work and the cost of trying to maintain a 
century home. And also, as a city planner and a development director for over 60 years.  I've 
worked on zoning plans, land use plans, testified in Common Pleas Court, testified in federal 
courts on zoning matters. I have a lot of experience in land use and zoning, and the effects of 
actions that planning commissions and Councils take on various zoning issues. And I can say that 
if the Council decides to rezone land to allow multifamily homes or apartments, common houses 
or whatever you want to call it, on Butternut Ridge Road Historic District and is all single-family 
zoning, this will not be the last of that kind of rezoning. It will just be the first that will have a 
tremendous effect on the Historic District, a tremendous effect on the people who live on this 
street. Two things are probably going to happen if the Council so decides to vote for this rezoning 
and it gets developed as multifamily. One, it will send up a flag to developers in the area that 
Butternut Ridge Road is open for development of not single-family homes, but multifamily 
homes. They could already build single-family homes on this property but it will alert developers 
that this is the first step and it's going to be a precedent set that will be used by future developers 
and future attorneys to nibble away at the Historic District. And there'll be more rezoning 
requests and you'll be hard-pressed to say no.  If you do say no, you'll certainly end up in court, 
and the other effect it will have is a lot of people who live in historic homes and have spent a lot 
of blood, sweat, and tears and money maintaining those homes will probably stop maintaining 
those homes as they have. And the homes will start to deteriorate which will then make it easier 
for developers to come in, tear down the house, and put in new development.  So I would say 
you have a big decision to make that will have lasting result on this community and I certainly 
hope that you determine that this is really an inappropriate rezoning for this location. Thank you. 
 
Robert Sharp: 
My name is Robert Sharp, 25407 Butternut Ridge, a resident here for 47 years. I've already 
submitted written reports analyzing the 2025 master plan and the Historic District guidelines and 
shown the inappropriateness of this development. When we first started this out, I got these 
documents and I was looking for the information in there that would support this proposal. 
There's nothing. I was stunned reading these. There is nothing in either document, quite the 
contrary, public opinion was used in planning putting together the 2025 master plan. Both 
documents are saturated with information and intentions of preserving the Historic District. The 
exact opposite of what's been proposed. When, and I've submitted these reports, and I'm not 
going to go over that again. When the attorney was in here last time representing the developer, 
he made a couple of interesting points that have stuck in my mind. One was that, one reason was 
that, well the developer has already spent a   lot of money. Well, so have we all spent a lot of 
money living in this Historic District.  Hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase and maintain 
our homes and maintain the character of the Historic District. These old homes are expensive to 
maintain. He also made a mention here and I'll paraphrase because I don't remember exactly

02-24-26 Public Hearing Minutes  - Page 3 
 
that.  He drove down Butternut Ridge, and he saw all the preserve the Historic District signs. But, 
and again, I'm just paraphrasing was that these really don't, public opinion really doesn't matter. 
It matters what's in the written documents, if I'm correct on this, what was said and the 2025 
master plan.  But input from the residents was used to form the master plan. So it does matter. 
The public opinion was strongly shown in these documents that they want this Historic District 
preserved. It's been chipped away at enough over the years. We've lost a lot on Butternut. It's 
been a struggle. But I hope that the analysis that's been submitted of these two documents 
should put this over the top for you making your decision to deny this request because it's 
saturated with information on why you should deny it. Thank you very much. 
 
John Adamczyk: 
My name is John Adamczyk, 6014 Sand Piper Lane. Last time I asked a simple question, and I have 
yet to hear an answer. And the question is this… someone counseled who at some point in time 
thought it was important to establish a Historic District, and that's lasted [inaudible]. And now 
there seems to be a moment to change. I know you're not going to answer that question as to 
why, but may I suggest something? At some point in time, whatever the outcome, why don't you 
consider writing a letter to Westlife explaining why the change or why the need to stop 
maintaining the district?  Inform the residents of North Olmsted about your decision. That would 
go a long way to establish the credibility of the [inaudible]. Thank you. 
 
Councilman Limpert: 
Mr. President. 
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
Mr. Limpert. 
 
Councilman Limpert: 
You asked the question, sir. I'm not aware of any Council Member who said they want to abandon 
the Historic District. I mean, unless you have heard something different? I've been in meetings. 
I've been in these sessions. I haven't heard any Council Person say they want to get rid of the 
Historic District in any of these sessions. Yea, that’s factually…  
 
John Adamczyk: 
Do you think that putting a multi-family homes will destroy the Historic District? 
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
Sir, we're not going to discuss that. 
 
Councilman Limpert: 
No, but I will comment. I don't think any of us has said that we want to.  I don't think any of us 
has made the proposal to do so. This is the first time that this is before this Council in the public 
hearing. 
 
John Adamczyk: 
I’ve been here once before, this is not the first time.

02-24-26 Public Hearing Minutes  - Page 4 
 
 
Councilman Limpert: 
This is the first time that this piece of proposal is in front of our Council for a public hearing, for 
us to review and have a meeting on and vote on. 
 
John Adamczyk: 
Well maybe you can inform me, what was the previous meeting about? 
 
Law Director Gareau: 
Mr. Chairman, the previous meetings were the Planning and Design Commission. It was also a 
meeting before the Landmarks Commission. This issue, although it has been spoken about over 
a number of different months at this meeting, was because people wanted to come up and speak. 
It wasn't actually an issue before this body until now. 
 
[Mr. Adamczyk is inaudible walking away from the mic having discussion with Law Director 
Gareau] 
 
Law Director Gareau: 
We're splitting hairs because the issue is that this is the first time that the issue was formally 
before this board. You could come up to any meeting to speak about any issue at any point, but 
it hasn't been set for an actual hearing with these guys.  Good point.  That’s fine. 
 
Councilman Limpert: 
Thank you, Law Director.  
 
Hannah Matthews: 
Good evening.  My name is Hannah Matthews and I live at 26610 Butternut Ridge Road. I first 
want to just acknowledge what a beautiful group of people has been coming here before you on 
a regular basis with peace and kindness and compassion and real community, and I think that 
that speaks volumes.  I've spoken about this before, so just a little reminder. Rezoning this 
property is a bit of a slap in the face. I've had two very close neighbors who have asked to split a 
property, where there are two homes on one parcel. That was met with a hard no. Another family 
asked to build a mother-in-law suite for their family, also hard no.  And these are pretty recent 
requests that have been denied. So if you can't offer that to our community members personally, 
it just feels like an attack. Or maybe not an attack, but just injustice if you're going to let 
somebody else have those opportunities. That's all. Thank you. 
 
Bill Rhodes: 
Hello everyone. My name is Bill Rhodes. I live at 25800 Butternut Ridge Road. I'm coming before 
you on a personal note on how this is going to affect me as an individual. My property is right 
next door. I have a 93-year-old mother, and her bedroom will be 25 feet from the entrance to 
the subdivision, and her heart is broken. She's going to die listening to chainsaws, and the front 
loaders, concrete trucks, all those things that are going to tear Butternut Ridge Road up. You 
know, this is going to go on for one and a half to three years. Bull. Three plus years. I don't think 
anybody quite realizes what this entails. I live next door. Have you seen it back there? Oh my

02-24-26 Public Hearing Minutes  - Page 5 
 
God. Chainsaws, front loaders, dump truck. It will be holy, excuse my language, but hell. Thank 
you for your time.  
 
Ed Wiles: 
My name is Ed Wiles. I'm at 25746 Butternut Ridge Road. I think it's a good reminder that that 
gentleman made, that this is really the first time this legislation is before the committee that 
makes a decision on really the future of our neighborhood. And just a reminder, I mean, many of 
us, I don't want to say fight, but we've been defending our homes, it's what it feels like, and our 
properties and the value of that property and our neighbors for many months with a little bit of 
frustration. And just to summate, the initial issue was the historic value, and we want to preserve 
that of our neighborhood. Most of us moved to this neighborhood because we fell in love with 
our homes and have invested in them ever since. The other issues of traffic and infrastructure 
have been mentioned several times, but no clear-cut solutions have been offered. And it just 
seems to me foolish to add to both those issues, you know, water issues and traffic issues. You 
don't want to add to a problem that you already have, by adding and changing, again, the fabric 
of the neighborhood. So I would just ask that you preserve any open bodies of land along 
Butternut Ridge, and there are several, just maintain them as single-family home dwellings. 
Thank you. 
 
Steve Clark: 
Steve Clark, 25795 Butternut Ridge Road. I want to thank all of you. You have heard a lot over 
the past months.  And it's a tough call. I've said that from day one. You've got a very difficult job. 
But it's just inappropriate that the historic district of Butternut, which is sort of, and I'm kind of 
very historically, you know, motivated, but also we moved there because we just love the 
community. What this gentleman said, they all said, reflects our heartfelt thing. We don't need 
any more controversy in North Olmsted. We need to move forward, and so we respectfully ask 
you to assert your conscience. Thank you. 
 
Dale Hukill: 
My name is Dale Hukill, 5370 Columbia Road. I live outside of the actual district, but pretty 
adjacent to it. And my wife and I spent many years in another state in New Jersey where they 
have historic districts that are multi-hundreds of years old. And when we saw the proposal, we 
were just in absolute shock and horror that the City of North Olmsted would consider altering a 
historic district. It just goes against every fiber of what we should be doing as a community. Lately, 
we've been developing every square inch in this city that we seem to be able to develop, and 
some of that seems to make sense. It's good land and good purpose. But in this case, we are 
totally opposed to this. Thank you. 
 
Councilman Shymske: 
Chairman, if I may. Can the Council tell the people what Planning and Design Commission did on 
December 17th, the memo, or would you like me to speak on it? 
 
Law Director Gareau: 
Oh, you can speak on it, that’s fine.   Mr. President, just to note, we're sensitive to time here 
because we only have 10 minutes left.

02-24-26 Public Hearing Minutes  - Page 6 
 
 
Councilman Shymske: 
The motion to recommend approval to City Council, with the condition that the preliminary plan 
be finalized, was approved and made by Mr. David and seconded by Mr. D'Alessandro, and the 
motion was denied 4-0.  That's where we take our recommendations from, so just so you guys 
know that. That's all. 
 
Catherine Soltis: 
My name is Catherine Soltis. I live at 26723 Butternut Ridge Road. I have also, believe it or not, 
lived there for 47 years. I moved there when I was a child. My parents bought the house. And 
then later my husband and I bought it from my mom before she passed away. So, I mean, I've 
been there a very long time. And I don't understand why Butternut is targeted like the way it is 
because it's just going to be awful. I mean, the traffic is already bad. It took us like 10 minutes to 
get out of the driveway tonight. It's just going to change everything. So hopefully it is decided not 
to do it. I just don't think it's a good idea. I mean, there are other areas in the city that are going 
to be open. Like the school lots that have been sold, the old primary schools, there will be 
redevelopment there. There's land at the end of North Olmsted by North Ridgeville. So I'm just 
not sure why, if this is a designated a historic district, why we want to go changing that. Thanks. 
 
Mary Ellen Hemann: 
Good evening. Mary Ellen Hemann, 132 Greenward Way South, North Olmsted, Ohio. Average 
regular citizen. Good to see you guys. A couple things. The first is that, as you know, I have 
represented this group of people proudly in the past for 12 years. I have stood with them on 
many issues regarding windows for their homes. They've been denied vinyl windows. No, you 
have to redo your windows. There's no expert to redo their windows. They wanted siding. I had 
to come up here and take landmarks commission to the mat to get someone siding. Siding that 
was the same siding that they used to repair the Jefferson Memorial. That was the investment 
that that resident was making just to not have to paint his house every two or three years because 
of the cost and his age. So I have been with them for a very long time. The biggest thing that I 
want you to know was that I was with Mayor Jones when she campaigned for her first term. We 
stood in the living rooms of some of these folks. We stood on their front porches and at their 
doors, and she promised them that there would be no development because apparently 10 or 20 
years ago, however long it was, another mayor had tried to make a development on Butternut 
Ridge and that, you know, failed spectacularly. Thank God. So that was a campaign promise. Two 
years into the first term, I felt a little betrayed because the Economic Development Director 
brought a development to be placed on the south side of Butternut and in part taking a corner 
of the golf course, our crown jewel, and that shut down very quickly. Grateful I am that it got 
shut down quickly. And then now here it is again, you know, another development proposed. 
And the thing that I will tell you that in my 12 years of representing these folks and that historic 
district, they don't get a budget for pretty flowers or brick walkways. They don't get anything. 
They are only burdened with the requirements imposed by the Landmarks Commission. They 
have to spend a lot of money on their homes, and they don't get anything except the enjoyment 
of their homes. They're happy to do that. The biggest issue really is so in 12 years of representing 
this group of people and their historic district, this is the very first time a developer ever got

02-24-26 Public Hearing Minutes  - Page 7 
 
through this far. And the reason is because as their council person, that developer would start 
with me. Tony George even called me one day. I had a 40-minute meeting with him going no, no, 
no, no. So you know what? The only reason that this got this far is because somehow somewhere 
in our process I believe that they were encouraged, and I think that that's wrong. I stood firm and 
told every developer that called me I'm a hard no. I will always be. We have to put, if you want 
that, you have to go through Landmarks. You have to, you know, go through planning, zoning. It 
has to be rezoned. You have to put in sewers and pay for them. Unfortunately now, wheeling and 
dealing, you know, a developer thought, well, they were going to get what they wanted. And I 
strongly am asking that you just reject this fully because it is not necessary. The project doesn't 
fit at all into the scheme of things in the single-family homes. These are custom-built homes. Each 
one of them is different, and honestly, I just hope that you hear all of that and, you know, vote 
no, and do not let this go forward, thank you.  
 
Tony Sapienza: 
Tony Sapienza, 25760 Butternut Ridge Road. 
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
Excuse me, Mr. Sapienza. Excuse me. Right here. 
 
You will be the last speaker. This will end at 7:15, okay. 
 
Tony Sapienza: 
Okay. I'll make it quick. Before the winter, if you drove down Butternut Ridge, you've seen a sign 
in front of everybody's house. Maybe one or two there wasn't a sign. But there was a sign in front 
of everybody's house. The adjacent streets, signs in front. It shows you how passionate people 
are, the residents of North Olmsted, not just the Butternut Ridge, on preserving our historic 
district. If it gets rezoned, there's no going back. There's no stopping what will be in the future. 
We need to stop this here, protect and preserve our historic district for the future of everybody. 
There's need for development. Nobody's against development.  But where we develop is the key 
here, is the question. Right now, Butternut Ridge is not the place to target cluster homes. It's a 
single-family residence.  And that's the way we want to keep it. We want to keep it that way. We 
want to keep it historical. We don't want it destroyed, wiped out by cluster homes, one 
development, then the next development, then the next development. Then there is no historic 
district. We lost the heart of North Olmsted if we allow this proposal to rezone Butternut Ridge.  
So I just respectfully ask all of you to keep all of these residents in mind, all the city of North 
Olmsted. Help us protect Butternut Ridge. Preserve our historic district. Thank you very much. 
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
Is there anyone else that would like to speak for two minutes? Please come to the podium. 
 
Marcus Masello: 
I'll give this a shot. Marcus Masello. I'm at 27875 Gardenia Drive. So if you take a look at me, this 
is my first meeting here, but if you take a look, I'm about, I wouldn't say, about 20 years younger 
than the average age here. So the reason I came here is because I moved here less than two years 
ago. So I'm a very new member here of this community. I love it. My wife and I lived here. I'm an

02-24-26 Public Hearing Minutes  - Page 8 
 
Army Veteran, I’ve  lived down in Georgia. I grew up in Youngstown. My wife's from Detroit, and 
we made North Olmsted our home here. So I just decided to come to this meeting on a whim 
because I love history, and I heard about this development, and I thought it was a shame, but I 
know we have to follow our procedures. We must do what's right. We must give this developer 
their due, up to a certain point, but I do urge you to vote no. I drive that road every day. I drive. 
I'm a federal employee. I drive Butternut Ridge down to 480. It's already congested, I can only 
imagine, and I admire the history every day, whether it's winter, fall, summer. I get to see these 
beautiful century homes that I can only hope that my grandchildren will get to see one day in the 
future. So I just urge you, you know, if anything, please don't do these multi-cluster homes. 
Maybe consider single-family homes, but let's not get there just yet. So let's settle this now and 
represent the new generation of North Olmsted at my age as we make our way into this great 
new community.  Thank you. 
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
Thank you. The public comment is now closed. Council appreciates you coming out this evening 
and sharing your opinions on this matter. Thank you. 
 
The time is now 7:15 p.m., will the clerk please read the next issue before Council this evening? 
 
Council Clerk: 
Ordinance 2026-6. An Ordinance providing for the amendment of the Zone Map of the City of 
North Olmsted by rezoning Permanent Parcel No. 236-17-018, from mixed use “A” District to 
General Business District “B-3”. 
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
Statement from… The Economic Development Director could not be here this evening; however, I will 
read his statement with regard to this rezoning legislation. The Economic and community development 
department has been in contact with the applicant regarding the limitations of the existing zoning code.  As 
a reminder the subject parcel was re-zoned in furtherance of the goals set forth in the 2015 Comprehensive 
plan. The existing site and building do not conform to the current zoning code currently the minimum 
development area for a mixed-use district is 10 Acres AND restaurants WITHOUT a drive through are 
permitted. The current mixed-use code does not allow for a drive through. Due to the significant 
restrictions on the site imposed upon it by its current zoning and with the advice of the Law Department I 
advised the applicant to pursue a rezoning.   The contemplated use for the rezoning is a Culvers, however 
it is our task to look at this NARROWLY as a matter of whether or not this parcel can be appropriately 
developed under the code and whether or not it is in conformance with the 2025 comprehensive plan. It is 
the position of the department that rezoning the parcel in congruent with the goal of "encouraging in-fill 
development on vacant and underutilized parcels to maximize infrastructure investments and reduce 
pressure on undeveloped land.  Further, the subject parcel has sat vacant since the rezoning  the lack of 
redevelopment can be, in part,  attributed to the limitations of the current zoning. The rezoning matter 
was unanimously approved by planning commission. That concludes the statement.

02-24-26 Public Hearing Minutes  - Page 9 
 
So, If there is anyone in the audience who would like to address council on Ordinance 2026-6 only, please 
come to the podium, state and spell your name and address for the Clerk.  If you live in a city other than 
North Olmsted, please state the name of that City and proceed with your comments.  You will have up to 
three minutes. 
[no speakers] 
Seeing none, thank you. The public comment is now closed.  
 
Is there a motion on the floor to excuse the absence of Council President Brossard? 
 
Councilman Limpert: 
So moved. 
 
Councilman Madden: 
So moved. 
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
Motion made by Councilman Limpert, seconded by Councilman Madden. Roll call, please. 
 
Council Clerk: 
Mr. Limpert: Yes 
Mr. Madden: Yes 
Mr. Marrie: Yes 
Ms. Carr: Yes 
Ms. Gilchrist: Yes 
Mr. Shymske: Yes 
Mr. Scarl: Yes 
 
President Pro Tem Scarl: 
Council President Brossard is excused by a vote of 7-0.  
 
With the agenda being completed, this Public Hearing of February 24, 2026, is adjourned at 7:19 
p.m. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Beatrice Taylor, Clerk of Council 
 
 
Louis J. Brossard, President of Council