POLAND Village council OKs ordinance enabling it to challenge decisions

A judge then decides whether the committee or board decision stands.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- Village council has approved a new ordinance it hopes will block future unfavorable decisions by village boards and committees.
Village Solicitor Damian DeGenova said council can now challenge any decision made by a board or committee in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court if council so desires. A judge will then decide whether the board or committee decision should stand.
DeGenova said the ordinance is in response to two decisions by the village zoning board of appeals in relation to the proposed Walgreens store.
The appeals board, late last month, granted the drugstore a variance reducing required parking spaces from 75 to 55. The appeals board in May also granted Walgreens a variance permitting the store to be built at just over 14,000 square feet. The area along U.S. Route 224, where the store may be built, is zoned village center commercial with a 4,000-square-foot maximum for retail businesses.
"The ordinance was needed because council most recently disagrees with what some of the administrative bodies are doing and needs a recourse," DeGenova said.
Walgreens variances
While the Walgreens variances may have been the catalyst to council approving the ordinance, it will not be retroactive and will not affect the two variances given on the property.
Any future variance request by the Walgreens property owners, however, may be subject to council scrutiny.
Council, earlier this year, by another ordinance, tried to have some say in the zoning appeals board variance request for the property on which the proposed Walgreens will sit. That ordinance gave council the ability to strike down any decision by the appeals board.
The ordinance was rescinded, however.
DeGenova said the ordinance had to be rescinded because it specifically targeted Walgreens and a procedural error had been made in approving the ordinance.
DeGenova said the new ordinance is different in that a judge has the final say, and the new ordinance does not specifically target Walgreens.
jgoodwin@vindy.com