Citizens seek ballot issue to overturn city's approval of 'Project Gumbo'

TWINSBURG – An effort is underway by a group of city residents to place a referendum issue on the Nov. 8 ballot to overturn City Council’s recent approval of a site plan to build two large spec warehouses on Old Mill Road.

Council approved Scannell Properties’ site plan for what is being dubbed “Project Gumbo” at its June 14 meeting despite vast opposition from residents who live adjacent to the industrially-zoned property, plus some who live elsewhere in the city.

Scannell plans to erect two spec buildings measuring a total of 455,000 square feet, with a potential future 60,000-square-foot expansion of the smaller building. Council OK’d the site plan 5-2, with Councilmembers Daisy Walker and Karen Labbe voting “no.”

City Council clerk Shannon Collins, acting Mayor Sam Scaffide and law director Matt Vazzana all confirmed that a group of residents have taken out petitions to have the issue placed on the Nov. 8 ballot for registered voters to uphold or overturn Council’s decision.

Scaffide would not comment further and referred the Twinsburg Bulletin to Vazzana, who indicated the referendum process would follow the Constitution and laws of Ohio.

When contacted, Matt Weber from Weber Engineering, who is handling the Twinsburg warehouse project, said he had no comment on the possible referendum issue.

At the May planning meeting, some revisions to the original plans were outlined by Weber, including reducing one building’s frontage width from 240 to 210 feet, eliminating an 18-foot high barrier wall and relocating a truck port driveway.

“We’ve worked within the guidelines that have been put before us,” said Weber. “We’ve completed studies, received approval from several regulatory agencies and received or applied for wetlands permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”

Council’s vote followed the planning commission’s recommendation. City planner Lynn Muter said Scannell’s proposal is in compliance with various aspects of city codes and regulations after review by many professionals and agencies.

To get the issue on the ballot, the Ohio Revised Code states residents must collect signatures from at least 10 percent of the nearly 7,700 city residents who voted in the last gubernatorial election (2018).

The ORC indicates signatures must be turned in to Collins by within 30 days of Council's action, which would be July 14.

Once the signatures are turned in, the ORC says Collins has 10 days to forward them to the Summit County Board of Elections, which will determine whether enough valid signatures were obtained. The board then will inform Collins of its findings within another 10 days.

For the issue to go on the fall ballot, it must be forwarded to the board of elections by Aug. 10. At this time, Council’s approval of the site plan cannot go into effect until it's ruled there are insufficient signatures for the ballot or the matter is decided at the polls.

At Council’s June 28 meeting, resident Michael Turle, one of the leaders of the signature gathering campaign, thanked Walker and Labbe for supporting the Old Mill residents by voting “no” on the site plan. “They know this is not right,” he said.

He noted the planning commission back in the 1980s said that any development of that vacant land in the future must have access to Route 91 and not Old Mill Road. “You guys all ignored that; well, the two ladies didn’t,” said Turle.

He said it is unfortunate that the other five Council reps ignored the citizens’ concerns. “Why are we finding ways to aid a developer, but not standing up for our residents?” he asked. “That really gets under my craw.

“It’s just not right the way Council is treating the public, and it’s difficult to believe that you guys [the five Council reps and some other city officials] really care about the citizens.”

Residents surrounding the proposed development site have voiced concerns at meetings in the last few months. They are concerned the industrial project would negatively effect their way of life in what has been a quiet residential neighborhood.

Concerns expressed included truck and car traffic accessing the property from Old Mill, how the project will affect their water wells, streams and wetlands, fumes from the trucks, bright lighting and noise.

Residents have said they fear the values of their properties will be negatively impacted and that the industrial development “is not harmonious with the surrounding neighborhood,” even though the 33-acre parcel is zoned for industrial use.

During the site plan review process, other residents accused some Council reps and other city officials of not caring about city residents.

Contact the newspaper at twinsburgbulletin@recordpub.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Citizens seek referendum issue to overturn 'Project Gumbo' approval