Colony Lane Residents Question Burton Council
Ronyak Told to Cease Excavating New Driveway
Burton Village Mayor Jim Koster told village council Nov. 14 he sent a cease and desist letter Nov. 10 to stop Ronyak Bros Paving Inc. from further excavation on their Colony Lane property.
Burton Village Mayor Jim Koster told village council Nov. 14 he sent a cease and desist letter Nov. 10 to stop Ronyak Bros Paving Inc. from further excavation on their Colony Lane property.
Ronyak Paving, which has a facility on North Cheshire Street, has purchased property behind their facility that fronts on the village section of Colony Lane.
Recently, a lot of excavation has occurred on the Colony Lane property with the purpose of creating a driveway for Ronyak Paving trucks onto Colony Lane.
Three Colony Lane homeowners attended the Burton Village Council meeting Monday to ask what action, if any, the village will be taking regarding the driveway.
All three owners live further south on Colony Lane in Burton Township, where the road is unimproved and the surface is gravel.
The road starts in the village as Garden Street at state Route 87, west of the square, goes north past Spring Street and curves back south, becoming Colony Lane somewhere along that curve.
Koster said Ronyak Paving has not presented any plans to the village for a driveway to their property, but if they disturb more than 1 acre of soil, they need to install erosion control and apply for a permit from the village zoning inspector, Rick Gruber.
“A lot of this is still brewing,” Koster said. “We’ve taken the position (Ronyak must) cease until they meet our zoning requirements.”
Truck traffic is prohibited on the village part of Colony Lane and on Garden Street, but the only posting is on Garden Street, he said
Burton Township Trustee Jim Dvorak said residents along Colony Lane in the township have voiced concerns about possible truck traffic using Colony Lane.
One resident has asked trustees if they would vacate the township part of Colony Lane so it can be closed to through traffic, Dvorak said.
“We’re not vacating the road,” he told council, adding he understands the resident has been contacting the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations that might be interested.
At Monday’s meeting, Joseph Walkos,
13549 Colony Lane in Burton Township, said those residents along Colony Lane in the township understood they were buying property in a subdivision, indicating that justifies blocking off the road at the township line.
Walkos’ neighbors, Candace and Daniel De Santis, voiced concern about accidents due to speed.
“It’s a drag strip,” Daniel said.
Because the gravel road is unmarked, the speed limit is 50 mph, Candace said, so it is essentially unpatrolled, adding a culvert on Colony Lane is in poor repair.
“It cannot sustain the weight of truck traffic,” she said.
At the request of township trustees, the Geauga County Engineer’s Office will be verifying the road right-of-way and checking out the culverts along Colony Lane, county Engineer Joe Cattell said Monday.
“I understand (Walkos’) position. It’s a tough situation,” Cattell said.
Monday, Koster said it will be up to the village board of zoning appeals to determine if the driveway will be permitted, which will allow the truck traffic on Colony Lane.
“There is not much industrial land in the village,” he said.
Koster said he authorized village Fiscal Officer Christopher Paquette to send a letter notifying Ronyak Paving they need to stop excavating.
The letter, dated Nov. 8, reads, in part, “Please stop all work and contact the village office … to discuss this project before proceeding any farther.”
The letter said the village requires a site and grading plan and a deposit of $300 to cover the cost of the village engineer’s review process.
When contacted Tuesday, company CEO Dave Ronyak said he received the letter in Tuesday’s mail and had not been aware of the requirement of a grading plan.
Excavation started about a month ago and involves about a quarter of an acre, he said. Ronyak said excavation will cease until the grading plan can be approved.
“Nothing will happen until after Thanksgiving,” he said, adding the area that has been excavated will be seeded and mulched this week.
The purpose of the driveway is primarily so Ronyak Paving can operate when traffic through the village is especially heavy, such as during the Great Geauga County Fair, Ronyak said.
“Basically, we have to shut down our business during the fair,” he said, because getting out of the North Cheshire Street driveway is difficult.
Otherwise, the back driveway would only be used by trucks coming into town from the west or going out westbound, Ronyak said, adding about 15 trucks are sent out every morning from the yard.
The company will also need to apply for a variance, since the property is zoned residential and will be used for commercial/industrial purposes, zoning inspector Rick Gruber said.
That will require a hearing before the board of zoning appeals, he said.
According to the Geauga County Auditor’s Office website, the driveway goes through a parcel of 11.53 acres behind the Ronyak Paving truck yard, listed as East Walden Properties LLC. The property was purchased in 2013 for $103,800.
