Three Kenston High School students proposed lowering the speed limit on Lucky Bell Lane so it is safer for children and pedestrians at the Dec. 1 Auburn Township Trustees meeting.
Three Kenston High School students proposed lowering the speed limit on Lucky Bell Lane so it is safer for children and pedestrians at the Dec. 1 Auburn Township Trustees meeting.
As part of a school project, Graysen Bischof, Adrian Guirguis and Lincoln Bobnar attended the meeting to seek support for lowering the 35 mph speed limit on the residential street in the northwest corner of Auburn Township.
Graysen, who lives off Lucky Bell, would like to see the speed limit dropped to 25 mph, he said.
“I feel the speed limit is an issue for pedestrians, school kids getting off the bus, walkers and strollers,” he said, adding the speed limit in similar neighborhoods is lower.
Lucky Bell is the main road through a housing development with seven side streets branching off in a heavily-populated neighborhood. It is also a through street — connecting on the south end with Stafford Road and on the north end with Bell Street in Newbury Township — so the speed limit on Lucky Bell falls under the control of the Geauga County Engineer’s Office.
Trustee P.J. Cavanagh said the township cannot arbitrarily set a speed limit on a through street without permission from the county engineer.
Lucky Bell became a through street around 2002 and the county engineer lowered the speed limit from 45 to 35 m.p.h. in 2003, said Trustee Mike Troyan.
A speed study may not yield the results Grayson would hope for and, instead, could end up leading to a higher speed limit, he said.
Other options to slow traffic down could include having the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office place a deputy or a portable speed sign along Lucky Bell, Troyan said, but admitted those are only short-term fixes.
“If you are going to do this project, start at the county level and work your way down,” Trustee Gene McCune recommended.
In other business, trustees passed two resolutions to improve Crackle Road, a two-mile stretch of pavement between Thorpe and Ravenna roads.
Crackle straddles the Mantua Township line, so a memorandum of understanding between the two townships is necessary.
The county engineer’s office said the joint project, with Auburn taking the lead, is estimated to cost about $600,000, trustees said, adding they will apply for a $300,000 grant from the Ohio Public Works Commission.
Cavanagh said engineers from both counties have agreed the road needs serious work and the process is well underway.
Keith Blaser, secretary for the Auburn Volunteer Fire Department, presented trustees with a contract proposal for 2026.
Glaser said the proposal does not include any changes from the current contract other than the bottom line – an increase of more than $31,000 for the year.
Troyan, fire liaison for the trustees, supported the increase based on cost of living projections.
“I’ve seen too many years where the contract goes on with no changes (to cost), then when they try to catch up, you have a mess on your hands,” he said. “We have to keep our people paid appropriately.”
Trustees voted to accept the 2026 contract with the fire department.
