Senior Center Deal Approved, Dick’s Moving Forward and Other Council News
Law Director Pick, Commission on Flag Cause Debate
City Council approved several big projects for the City of Stow as well as the appointment of a new law director to replace Jaime Syx, who resigned on Jan. 4.
The big news out of the Jan. 25 meeting was the unanimous 7-0 vote in support of the purchase of Cornerstone Church by the city for a new senior center. In its last two meetings, council had failed to advance the legislation for discussion and a vote, with Councilman At-Large Jeremy McIntire and Ward 4 Councilman Mario Fiocca voting against a motion to suspend the rules, which would have allowed the deal to go to an immediate vote.
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McIntire and Fiocca justified their prior No votes by explaining that they felt City Council needed to perform due diligence before approving the deal.
Ward 3 Councilman John Baranek, representing the area of Stow in which the new senior center will be located, voiced his support of the project as one that made sense as it would provide enough space for senior activities, plus potential additional rental space, it is fully ADA-compliant, and the cost is about one-fourth of what it would cost to build a new facility.
Councilman At-Large and Council President Cyle Feldman said he was grateful to have met with a group of seniors to discuss the project and acknowledged that seniors represent the fastest-growing population in Stow. He said not only would the purchase enable the expansion of senior activities, but it would also open up additional revenue opportunities for the city, which may turn the existing senior center into a rentable facility.
Chief of Staff and Public Service Director Nick Wren was asked when the facility would be ready to open.
“Our goal is to be ready to go before July 4,” he said. “I was just getting ready to text the agent as soon as you guys vote, she’s dropping off the keys to me tomorrow morning.”
“The church is letting us go in early so we can get our architect there so we can start working on the plans,” Wren said.
Dick’s Sporting Goods Project Approved
City Council’s Planning Committee advanced a site plan and variance request for a 50,000-sq.-ft. retail store on the site of the former Macy’s on Kent Road. City Council subsequently approved the project on a 7-0 vote.
The variance request was required because Stow’s current zoning code does not allow buildings to have expansive blank walls. The approved plan allows for blank walls on the North and East sides of the building, with the store’s entrance on the South side of the building, facing Kent Road, and the West side of the building, facing the Meijer’s parking lot, having decorative horizontal striping.
A representative from Dick’s Sporting Goods said the company was hoping for quick approval in order to begin site work as its lease for the land begins in April.
New Law Director Confirmed
Former Deputy Law Director Drew Reilly, who was elevated to Acting Law Director on Jan. 15 after the resignation of Jaime Syx, was confirmed as the new Law Director on a 6-1 vote.
McIntire voted against suspending the rules, but was overridden in a 6-1 vote, and he was the only council member to vote against the appointment, protesting the process by which Reilly was appointed.
During the meeting, McIntire stated that since council had 75 days to approve the appointment, City Council should require the mayor to seek other resumes, even though McIntire ultimately said that he had no doubt that Reilly was qualified.
Council At-Large Kyle Herman countered that as Jaime Syx had run unopposed for re-election in the November election and had appointed Reilly to the deputy post, it was reasonable to assume that Stow residents would be satisfied with the appointment and that it was unlikely that more qualified applicants would emerge just two months after the unopposed election.
The appointment of Reilly is in effect only until Stow’s next general election in November 2025, when Reilly would need to run for election to fill the remainder of the four-year term.
As an aside, for those who have been Stow Sunshine Project readers from the time of its launch in October 2023, you may recall the article about the appointment of Matt Riehl to the vacant Ward 1 council position after Dennis Altieri died in November 2021. Although council did follow its process to seek out applicants for the vacancy, none of the 9 applicants was interviewed for the position and McIntire pushed through former term-limited council Riehl, a fellow member of the Stow Conservative Coalition, inviting no public discussion of the nomination from the rest of council prior to the vote. See that story.
Planning for New Cemetery to Begin
City Council unanimously approved legislation authorizing a contract for the design of a cemetery master plan for 6 acres of property, formerly the Hanson Tree Farm, across from Fox Den Golf Course along Young and Call Roads.
According to Chief of Staff Wren, the city is down to 112 vacant spaces at the Silver Springs cemetery, the only facility with any remaining space in the city. He anticipated that the city could get by for the next year as fewer people request burial compared to years past, but that the process to create the master plan, get approvals and prepare the site could take between one to two years.
Commission to Review City Flag
On April 12, 2023, Stow-Munroe Falls High School student Andrew Brantsch made a presentation to City Council’s Committee of the Whole regarding Stow’s city flag and his recommendation that the city redesign its flag to conform with accepted standards of the North American Vexillogical Association.
In his presentation, Brantsch cited the flag’s overcomplicated design and poor color choice as among some of the reasons to consider redesigning the city flag, which was adopted some time in the 1970s.
During the Committee of the Whole meeting last week, Council President Feldman introduced an ordinance to create a Commission on the City Flag, which would review the flag against stated best practices and make recommendations on whether to update or keep the current flag.
In presenting the ordinance to council, Feldman said he was impressed with the original presentation and felt such a commission would provide an opportunity for Stow residents, including students, to become involved in our city to make an important contribution. The proposal provided for a commission of seven people with four picked by members of council and three picked by the elected officials – one each by the mayor, law director and finance director.
What Feldman proposed as a project to foster teamwork among city council members and the administration immediately devolved into a discussion by McIntire over who should have the authority to appoint members of the temporary commission. He objected to the law director and finance director having commission picks as he said no other city commissions were picked in that fashion.
Additionally, McIntire and Fiocca objected to the ordinance specifying that the mayor’s pick, which was intended to be Brantsch, would automatically be the chair of that commission. McIntire said he would not support the commission as currently written to allow the law director and finance director to have commission picks.
Feldman then suggested that each elected official (7 council members, plus the mayor, finance director and law director) could recommend a commission member. McIntire acknowledged that there were many ways the commission could be put together, but that he wouldn’t support all elected officials having a say in its composition.
Acknowledging that he hadn’t anticipated the creation of this committee becoming a contentious issue, Feldman elected to leave the ordinance in committee so that the composition issue could be worked out and a revised draft prepared.
See video of the council's debate on this commission:
Update on Former Bowling Alley
Contrary to social media images depicting what will be a new family entertainment facility at the site of the now-closed Sto-Kent Family Entertainment bowling and outdoor volleyball facility, there are no imminent plans for the location.
McIntire asked Wren to address the social media posts, which were posted by an architect who is no longer affiliated with the project.
Wren said he’d had a conversation with the owner of the property, Diamond Properties, which owns local Spins Bowl facilities in Akron, Kent and Independence, and confirmed that the project is now on hold as the company makes plans to open a new concept entertainment facility in Hartford, Conn. The company plans to test the new concept in Hartford before moving forward with the Stow property.
The locally owned Stow facility fell into foreclosure and closed in September 2021.
The next City Council meeting is Feb. 8. All council meetings are open to the public.
