New law in city addresses cul-de-sacs

Residents are unhappy with Timber Run Drive the way it is now.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- City council now has options that would help Timber Run Drive homeowners who are upset with the way their street dead-ends.
Residents told council at a meeting in September that large vehicles such as snowplows, school buses and garbage trucks have no room to turn around at the end of the street, so they back up on lawns and in driveways, causing damage and presenting a safety hazard.
Timber Run is in the Stonebridge housing development. At the same time the residents were complaining about their dead-end street, the developer, Stonebridge Land Corp., was asking the city to accept it. But the city could not accept Timber Run without a cul-de-sac that included the curbs and sidewalks shown in the developer's original plan. Tieche said city subdivision regulations require that the city accept the streets in the subdivision as they were originally shown.
Tieche said the developer did not want to finish the street into a cul-de-sac with curbs and sidewalks because the intent was to eventually extend the street into a future phase of the development. The developer would have to tear out the curbs and sidewalks to extend the street.
Amending regulations
At its Wednesday meeting, council passed an ordinance that amends the subdivision regulations.
The ordinance allows a developer and the city to enter into an agreement that would allow a temporary cul-de-sac without curbs and sidewalks. The developer must post a bond so the city can finish the work if it's still not done at the end of two years. Tieche said the end of the street must include a turnaround wide enough for large vehicles. The ordinance takes effect in 30 days.
Council also passed a motion directing Tieche to prepare specifications and advertise for bids on the city's extending Timber Run Drive.
Tieche said the city has the authority to extend the road, and if it decides to go through with the project, he will recommend that council assess landowners whose property fronts the extension to recoup the costs for it.
Right now, there are no subdivided plats along the proposed 400-foot extension, so the costs would be assessed to the developer, he said.