Hearing for Group Home in Munson Delayed 60 Days
May 7, 2020 by Ann Wishart

The zoning hearing for the proposed Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers Inc. group home on Ravenna Road will be delayed due to COVID-19-required social distancing.

The zoning hearing for the proposed Lake-Geauga Recovery Centers Inc. group home on Ravenna Road will be delayed due to COVID-19-required social distancing.

Munson Township Trustee Irene McMullen said April 28 the township community room is not large enough to accommodate the number of people she expects would attend the hearing on the group home on Ravenna Road.

LGRC plans to turn the property — on the corner of Ravenna Road and Waterfowl Lane in Munson Township — into a group home for several recovering addicts. Some neighbors have been opposed to the change, according to banners in yards near the intersection earlier this year.

“Some requests (for other hearings) would be helpful to homeowners if (the board) takes them up sooner,” McMullen said during the trustees meeting, held virtually through Zoom.

Meetings usually are scheduled as they are submitted, said township Zoning Inspector James Herringshaw in a phone interview May 1.

Once they are scheduled, neighbors within 1,000 feet of the property in question are informed by mail of the hearing date, he said, adding anyone may attend the meetings to support or object to the changes.

The LGRC property hearing has been granted a continuance of 60 days based on the space limitations, as recommended by the Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office, Herringshaw said, adding LGRC Director Melanie Blasko agreed May 1 to the continuance.

When contacted via email, Blasko said, “As far as making any comments about a pending zoning appeal, I have been advised not to, upon the advice of our attorney.”

The Munson Township Board of Zoning Appeals has six or seven less contentious cases to be heard, including lot splits and use variances, which likely won’t draw as large of a crowd as the LGRC case, he said.

“Some have been waiting since March,” Herringshaw said.

If possible, all will be heard in the same BZA meeting sometime in May, he said.

Trustee Andy Bushman said during the meeting last Tuesday, social distancing would still be maintained.

Bushman volunteered to call in the interested parties for each case as the BZA hears it, thereby keeping down the number of people in the community room, Herringshaw said.

When seated six feet apart, the room should accommodate about 40 individuals, he said.

McMullen said more than 300 chairs can be set up side by side in the community room under normal circumstances.

While regular township and municipal boards have been meeting virtually via Zoom over the last few weeks, Herringshaw said the BZA agreed there could be complications using that method, so they would make accommodations to have the hearings in-person.

Trustees also discussed having township staff start working in the office again instead of from home — as they have since Gov. Mike DeWine’s stay-at-home order issued in March to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Office Manager Paula Friebertshauser said access to reference materials is limited when she works for home and she feels less productive. She said she and zoning commission Secretary Julie Johnston could stagger their hours so they would be at the office at different times. The office would not be open to the public until further notice.

Bushman recommended waiting until May 12 to decide.

“Let’s see what unfolds as to the state and county recommendations,” he said, adding trustees can discuss the matter again at the May 12 trustees meeting.