PAGE 10 SUNDAY, APRIL 22, 2012
LOCAL
CUYAHOGA FALLS NEWS•PRESS | WWW.FALLSNEWSPRESS.COM
Krieger’s still against road widening Falls Board of Education by STEVE WIANDT | REPORTER Krieger’s Health Foods Market is still against the road widening project planned in front of the store, according to the company’s attorney. “The negative impact on the Krieger’s Market property will be high,” Robert A. Hager, Krieger’s legal representative, stated in an April 11 letter to James McCleary, the project manager. Falls councilperson Diana Colavecchio (D), who represents Ward 5 where Krieger’s is located, said she does not plan to issue a response to Hager’s letter. Falls Law Director Paul Janis and City Engineer Tony Demasi did not respond to requests for comment by press time. McCleary did not respond to a phone call message for comment by press time. For the past two years, Krieger’s Market in Cuyahoga Falls, owned by Mike and Jean Krieger, has been a vocal opponent of a road-widening project on Graham Road led by Stow’s engineering department. The road is scheduled to be widened by 6 feet, from 52 feet to 58 feet, from Bath Road to the Silver Lake border. The estimated project construction cost is $4.3 million, of which $3.6 million is being provided by federal funds. Construction is slated to begin in the winter of 2013 and 2014.
In the letter, submitted as the market’s official public comment on the project, Hager states Krieger’s maintains it is “not necessary to expand the existing lane width for the onetenth-mile area of Graham Road in front of its real estate.” He said that the adjoining section of Graham Road between Bath and State roads was recently repaved without any road widening. “The roadway in front of Krieger’s Market,” Hager said, “… is not unsafe and has not been identified as a high crash section in the AMATS [Akron Metropolitan Area Traffic Study] studies. Wade Trim, an ODOT-approved engineer the Kriegers hired to examine the project, concluded that if the project is limited to pavement repair and resurfacing, traffic signal upgrades and improved signs and striping, safety will be “enhanced” without impacting private property owners, Hager said. The Ohio Department of Transportation found, Hager said, that Stow, Cuyahoga Falls and Arcadis had not addressed the actual impacts on Krieger’s Market of widening the road to the north including the elimination of “at least 64 percent” of the Krieger’s Market front parking spaces. In January 2011, citing an independent traffic consulting engineer, Krieger’s
Market told Cuyahoga Falls City Council it would lose approximately 18 spaces under the current project design, Hager said, adding that the city claimed only “one to five of the parking spaces” would be lost. Wade Trim confirmed, Hager said, if the project would proceed as planned, the market would lose “19 to 20 parking spaces from its main parking lot.” Arcadis agreed with ODOT’s suggestion that the section bordering Krieger’s can be widened without adding a sidewalk. That issue was discussed at the meeting in March, however, Hager noted the Arcadis report “did not incorporate” ODOT’s additional recommendations to reduce each road shoulder by one foot, and to relocate the existing utilities underground. There is currently 3.5 to 4 feet of existing right of way to the north of Graham Road and 7 feet of existing right of way to the south, Hager’s letter stated. “Any widening must utilize the full extent of the existing right of way to minimize impacts to private property owners, including Krieger’s Market,” he said. “There is no valid reason to take additional right-of-way property from Krieger’s Market.” Email: swiandt@recordpub.com Phone: 330-686-3915
interviews treasurer candidates
by ELLIN WALSH | REPORTER Cuyahoga Falls — Six candidates will be interviewed in the weeks ahead as the Cuyahoga Falls City School District searches for its next treasurer. Applicants chosen for first round interviews include: Brenda M. (Dragon) Brcak of Chardon, who served more than 20 years as a government finance officer in the state of Ohio; Teresa L. Emmerling of Massillon, who has experience in governmental accounting; David M. Hoskin of Garrettsville, who’s been the treasurer of the Newbury Local Schools since 2004; Kelly Moore of Independence, the present treasurer for the Ledgemont Board of Education in Thompson; Michael F. Robinson of Canton, the treasurer/CFO for the Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools, in Zoarville, and Jill A. Rowe of Hartville, the present treasurer of the Salem City School District. Forty-three people applied for the vacancy. The Board hopes to select a new treasurer by the first week in May, according to Paul Pendleton of Finding Leaders, a consulting firm assisting the Board in the search. Jerry Zelenka is serving as the school district’s interim treasurer/CFO, through June 30. The Cuyahoga Falls Board of Education hired Zelenka in January to take over the post, which Kathryn L. Sines vacated to become the treasurer of the Hudson City School District. Email: swiandt@recordpub.com Phone: 330-686-3915
AROUND OHIO Police find suspect after four kids taken Cleveland — Police have found a man who they say abducted his four children and then told his wife that he was going to kill the kids and himself. Authorities said April 18 that they found Octavia Hatchell and the children in Euclid. The children were unharmed and Hatchell was taken into custody without incident. Police had initially said he might have been headed to New York or Pennsylvania. Officials say Hatchell picked up his children from two different schools in Cleveland after he and his wife got into argument and she called police. — Associated Press