Zoning Code Public Meetings...

It feels like we’ve been talking about updating the City’s Zoning Code for years — probably because that’s exactly how long it’s taken to hold all of the preliminary meetings and have public discussions about what’s working and what we need to improve when it comes to the Zoning Code.  

It turns out we’re in the home stretch.  The Community Development Director has prepared the final drafts for all the changes that the staff, the community members, and the Boards and Commission members expressed an interest in updating — and those drafts will be the topic of conversation for the last couple of public meetings planned in November and December after which City Council will take an official vote.  So speak now or forever hold your peace (at least until the next round of Zoning changes).

Here’s the memo from the Community Development Director outlining the final steps:

Chasing Turkeys...

In recent months, chickens have stole more headlines in Kent (and I’m guessing the turkeys are ok with that) but in this holiday week folks will be chasing turkeys all over town – both the fine feathered and the fleet footed ones on Thanksgiving morning.

Kent Parks and Recreation is hosting the annual Tree City Turkey Trot Race in Fred Fuller Park.  The race begins at 9:00 a.m. 

I hung up the running shoes years ago when my knees started to give me grief but I know folks that run this race and they say it’s a fun family style race (rather than a hyper competitive elite runner sort of thing).  Maybe the whole family would want to run it?

If interested please see the attached registration form.  Download the Race Registration Form

Happy Thanksgiving!!

(It’s a great way to feel less guilt when you’re on the couch later after enjoying your Thanksgiving feast.)

Cancer Fund Raiser At The Kent Stage...

The Kent Stage does a great job of giving music afficiandos a lot of a little something different.  Like Kent itself, the Kent Stage doesn’t fall into any nice neat categories — it’s music outside the lines — which is exactly why it’s so popular. 

The Kent Stage is an iconic part of Kent — it’s become a gathering place for the youth of all ages that want to experience artistic expression in its natural habitat, outside the bright lights and big city.  In an era dominated by glammed, glittered and packaged stage acts, the Stage is an old school throwback — it’s a venue that is intimate and authentic.   It’s the musical equivalent of home cooking at the holidays. 

The Stage has carved out an extra special niche for matters that touch the Kent community.  The Stage opens it’s doors not only to the professionals, but also to local acts that dreamed of being on stage, or community groups that need a gathering hall for talking important Kent business.  The Stage is a second home to Kent acolytes and I was reminded of this role when I received word that the Stage is hosting a cancer fund raiser benefit concert this Wednesday, November 24th beginning at 7 pm. 

It’s a great example of how the Kent Stage fills a local need, mixing music — some fine home brewed hops beverage — to tell a story – and you’re invited to join them.    See the details below: 

Music and Rare Beer on Tap at Kent Stage
Event is a Labor of Love to Support Cancer Research  

For Immediate Release                                         Contact: Jennifer Hermann
                                                                                              330-780-3887
                                                                                Bathingotis@yahoo.com

A special night of live music and the opportunity to taste a rare beer will be on tap Wednesday, Nov. 24 at the Kent Stage.  The Hopsichord Concert for Cancer Research is a fund-raiser to support cancer research. The event is a labor of love orchestrated by Jennifer Hermann, an avid home brewer in Kent, but was the brainchild of her niece, Shaelynn, who watched her beloved grandfather battle brain cancer.

According to Hermann, “Two years ago, my 10-year-old niece, Shaelynn, saw my father, Dr. Kenn Hermann, battling brain cancer and asked me if I would help her organize a fundraiser for brain cancer research. I told her, ‘Grandpa needs us right now, but someday we will.’”  A year after Dr. Hermann succumbed to Stage IV brain cancer, the fund-raising event is about to become a reality.

Four popular Kent-based bands – the TwistOffs, Xtra Crispy, Root Doctor’s Revenge and the Kent African Drum Community – have donated their time and talents for the concert and beer-tasting event.  Its primary intent, Hermann says, is “to honor loved ones lost to cancer; support those currently battling the disease; recognize the family and friends they left behind; and remind us all that cancer will never trump love.” 

All admission and Hopsichord sales will benefit the Cancer Research Foundation. Tickets are $10 and are available online at www.kentstage.org and at Woodsy’s Music and Spin-More Records in downtown Kent.  The Kent Stage is located at 175 E. Main St. in downtown Kent.

Hermann’s father, Kenn Hermann, a historian who taught at Kent State University and Akron University, was diagnosed with Stage IV brain cancer (the same kind of brain cancer that attacked Se, Ted Kennedy) in June 2008 and died 16 months later. “My family and friends had the same reaction that anybody does when something evil invades their life:  ‘This is something that happens to other people. It’s not supposed to happen to us.’” Her family, including her mother, Linda Hermann, of Kent, and sister, Michelle Hilliard, and niece, Shaelynn, of Stow, banded together as the disease took its course.  The fund-raiser, Hermann says, “is about believing in something worthwhile. It’s about passion, hope and love. Without the persistence of my niece and a fortunate happenstance, I don’t know if I would have been able to come up with this idea on my own.” 

That “fortunate happenstance” was winning a trip to “Beer Camp,” an event hosted by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico, Calif. Last September, Hermann was one of 10 winners who received rock-star treatment and tour of the company’s brewing facility, including the opportunity to develop a recipe to be brewed on their 10 bbl pilot system.  As part of her prize, the company shipped an allocation of the resulting specialty brew to Ohio for Hermann’s use. “We brewed an Imperial IPA that we named Hopsichord, a play on words describing both the plethora of hops used in the brew and the number of music lovers in our beer camp,” Hermann explained.  “I thought I could hoard the beer for myself, but kept thinking about my niece and her idea to do a fundraiser,” she added. “It dawned on me that tapping this beer would be a terrific draw for a fund-raising event, and that if we added live music, we could have an incredible benefit concert.”

Kent Community Liaison On-Line...

The Kent State University Graduate Assistant, Neal Stefanko, who was hired to serve as the Kent community’s first neighborhood liaison has been a busy guy.  This Fall Neal walked his beat — those neighborhoods that are predominantly student rentals — to introduce himself, to listen and to get a lay of the land. 

Bridging the town gown gap is not an easy task, but by all accounts Neal has navigated these waters very well.  And although we were realistic in our expectations for what he could accomplish in his first 6 months, I still think he’s done a great job at communicating with the neighbors and I think it’s working. 

With a couple of long warm stretches late into Fall there were plenty of late night outdoor festivities in the neighborhoods that could have turned ugly but at the end of the night the revelers went home on their own usually without a police escort — which is always a good thing for everyone involved. 

I can’t say that Neal is the reason we had a safe and civil Fall but I think it’s fair to say that his personal touch has helped take some of the edge off of the town gown relations. 

Neal let me know that he’s uploaded information for folks to access and download that he thinks offer the kind of sound advice that students and permanent residents need to know.  Here’s the welcome message that Neal posted on his site as part of his first neighborhood newsletter called the Kent Communicator:

Welcome to “The Kent Communicator!”

My name is Neal Stefanko and I am the University-Community Liaison and I would like to welcome you to the new “The Kent Communicator.” First, let me explain my position. I am a vital communication tool that will be used between Kent State University and The City of Kent Community. One way I am working to obtaining communication has been to walk through the community going door to door talking to residents and students. Throughout this process I am pleased to say I am enjoying meeting everyone and look forward to meeting those residents and students that I have not yet met. The feedback I am receiving will help in my position continue to make informed communications and educate where needed to obtain a well balanced approach to the University and Community residing in harmony.

Second, I want to welcome everyone to “The Kent Communicator”. This newsletter will be of great value to students and residents alike. Every article will be vital information for students and residents with emphasis on important issues that are needed to help educate and inform students and residents alike. There will be a blend of information streaming from University and Community sources. As this newsletter continues to grow I would encourage anyone and everyone to submit ideas or articles to my email. This may include pictures and graphs or any other information that would be considered vital for everyone from students to community to read about.

In closing, I welcome your feedback at anytime. Feel free to contact me at UniversityCommunityLiaison@kent.edu or 330-672-2480. I cannot wait to hear many more good stories about our amazing student body as well as the opportunity to answer your questions.

Sincerely

Neal A. Stefanko
University-Community Liaison

You can read the entire newsletter by clicking here.  (I particularly like his column on How to Get Caught By the Police — good message delivered with a sense of humor.)

Holiday Safe Driving...

Staying safe is a full time job and in all the hustle bustle of the holidays it’s easy to get caught up in the flow and lose sight of the big picture.  Although I tend to avoid public service types of messages in the Blog, I decided to make an exception after I had a chance to view a safe driving video that made it’s way through cyber-space to my desktop via the medical examiner’s office and the Kent Police. 

It’s not everyday (thankfully) that I get notes from the medical examiner’s office so when I got this one recently, I read it.  The medical examiner said that the video was “Very graphic, very sobering, very effective. More folks should see this.”  It turned out to be a powerful message about the fine line between life and death when you mix drinking and driving. 

The video was produced in Australia so you might think there’d by some cultural differences but after watching the video it was pretty clear that life and death is the same down under as it is here in the states.  The Aussies are renowned for their party tendencies so it’s probably no surprise that they struggle with drunk driving fears much like we do here in the states, and it seems that this video message was prepared for that very purpose. 

I’m not necessarily a scared straight advocate but I’ve got enough friends in the Kent Fire and Police Departments to know how sobering the consequences of drinking and driving are even here in Kent.  Our crews have seen some things none of us should have to see and phone calls have had to go out to parents that should never have to be made.  Please, stay safe this holiday season. 

Watch the Video.

Kent Folk Festival...

The 44th Annual Kent State University Folk Festival gets underway this week in Kent, November 17th through November 20th. 

True to it’s folk and blues roots the Folk Festival is all about the people and their music.  It’s not a choreographed, in-sync, glam rock, big hair-a-palooza.  It’s gritty, sometimes grimey, and always expressive musical storytelling.  You won’t find pyrotechnics at these shows that are held in the kind of small, intimate venues that Kent is famous for where the musicians and their music take center stage.

One of the best parts of the Festival is the ’Round Town series.  The Folk Alley ‘Round Town tradition continues, stretching the definition of “Folk Music” with a variety of performers stationed in clubs, pubs, churches, stores and more throughout Kent. Free concerts begin during lunch and continue into the wee hours. Have a bite to eat, do a little shopping and enjoy live music wherever you go.

Here’s a link to the full event schedule and below is a snapshot of the Round Town venues and performers.

Zoning Changes Public Meeting...

There are few words that can cause your eyes to gloss over and your head to start doing the nap-bob as quickly as the phrases, Zoning and Public Hearing — I get that — but that’s actually a shame because a ton of work has gone into updating the City’s zoning code so that it is relevant to Kent today and helps guide us towards where we want to be tomorrow. 

Zoning is mis-understood and under-appreciated.  It has a wide reaching impact on our community and although it tends to be written in legal prose (blame the lawyers) which can suck the life out of you, you can’t be deterred.  Be strong and participate in what the Kent of tomorrow will look like by attending the Public meetings that are planned for Monday, November 29th at 7:00 PM and Thursday, December 2 at 2:30 PM in City Council Chambers. 

These meetings are the culmination of over 18 months of public meetings where input was received on what’s working in the current zoning and what’s not.  An enormous amount of time was invested in this initiative because in the world of cities you’ve got to get the zoning right.  There is no absolute zoning standard, it’s relative to each community, which is why public participation is so vital. 

Don’t like the way certain signs are around town?  Here’s a way to change that.
Want to see more opportunities for home based businesses?  Here’s a way to do that too.

Zoning is a tool that we adopt as a community that is meant to mirror our aspirations but that only works when people speak up.  I’ve been tracking what’s been talked about over the last 18 months on the blog so if you want a refresher just visit the Zoning Page. 

The process will involve the repeal of some of the chapters of the Zoning Code (that will be replaced) as well as the adoption of new items. The Planning Director reports that this will take several months starting with a public hearing on the various items by Planning Commission and ending with Council approval or denial. 

The Planning Commission will hold their official public hearing in December as now planned. Prior to the Planning Commission public hearing, the Planning Director would like to hold at least two public information sessions where the general public can hear about the amendments, discuss and provide input. These meetings would be open to anyone and are set for November 29th and December 2nd as noted above. 

Fire Pre-Inspection Forms On-Line...

We’ve got high hopes for where we’re going with some new software modules that we’re slowly purchasing (it’s expensive) that will give us a lot more technological horsepower so that you’ll be able to pay your water bill or permit fees or even your taxes on-line — and with a credit card!  Imagine that.

I know that’s not exactly state of the art technology but considering how little (both cash or IT staff) resources we have available to devote to this we’re actually working wonders.  Years ago the City Clerk saw the writing on the wall and she got the City on the web train by scraping together enough cash to hire an outside firm to give us a functional web site where people can take care of basic City business.  That got us in the game but it’s been hard to do much more without any in-house IT staff or IT budget.  That being said, we are making progress.

I launched the City into the blogosphere with Kent360 three years ago and that’s turned out to be a great ride as we put a lot of information out there for people to keep them engaged in their community. 

Over the last couple of months we also crept our way onto Facebook and Twitter, and we even set up an emergency notification network through Nixle.

We’re proud of these initiatives but we’re still frustrated by how much more we could be doing if we knew how or had the cash to pay someone to do it for us.  In the meantime, we’ll keep taking small baby steps towards our goal of being a ubiquitously on-line City.

One small step for Kent-kind was taken last week as we added a new on-line form — Life Safety Pre-Inspection Checklist.  It’s not quantum mechanics but it should definitely be useful for those businesses that are preparing for their annual fire inspections.  See for yourself.

Affordable Living...

On the list of the City’s strategic priorities you’ll see mention of great quality of life, great neighborhoods, and abundant college town lifestyle amenities – all at an affordable price.  Ambitious I admit, but that’s what setting strategic goals is all about — dreaming big and striving every day to get a couple of steps closer to your aspirations.  

Certainly, much of the downtown redevelopment is oriented to living up to the promise of being the kind of vibrant college town that university cities have become known for.  Although the strategic goals are really big stuff that can mean different things to different people, and are often more qualitative than quantitative, we still have measures that we use to try to track our progress and manage our efforts. 

It turns out that this week Forbes Magazine gave us a bonus measure as Kent turned up in the top 10 on their list of most affordable college towns nationwide.  Here’s the Forbes article: 

Real Estate
The Most Affordable College Towns
Katie Evans, 11.11.10, 6:00 AM ET

Going to college used to mean trading in personal space and privacy to live in ugly but functional dorms. But many of today’s college students will never have to share a bathroom with 20 strangers or climb into a top bunk while tipsy. 

According to a new national study by Coldwell Banker Real Estate, more parents are buying houses for their kids to live in while they attend school–or moving the whole family near campus so their kids can live at home. 

“College markets are quintessential America,” says Jim Gillespie, chief executive of Coldwell Banker. “The economies, traditionally, in university and college towns are pretty good. There’s a stable employment base, a lot of culture and sports, and strong medical facilities, research and development.” 

Of course some towns are a better place to buy than others. To see how college towns stack up in home price affordability, Coldwell Banker looked at the average listing prices of four-bedroom, two-bath properties listed for sale between April and September 2010, in markets home to the 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and which had at least six homes on the market during those months. 

The No. 1 most affordable college town in America? Muncie, Ind., home to Ball State University. A four-bedroom home close to the Ball State campus costs an average $105,115, according the report. “It’s the quality of life issues that are driving folks here,” said Jay Julian, president and chief executive of the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce. There are perks to living near Ball State, Julian explained, like safety, university facilities and affordable things to do. 

Ball State isn’t unique in its region. The study shows that a significant number of the most affordable campus markets–eight out of the top 15–are in the Midwest. Ohio alone is home to four of the top 15 affordable college towns: Akron–University of Akron (No. 5); Athens–Ohio University (No. 7); Kent–Kent State University (No. 8) and Toledo–University of Toledo (No. 9). 

The south also fares well for affordability; Tennessee’s University of Memphis placed third, followed closely by Columbia, South Carolina’s University of South Carolina in fourth. Louisiana Tech in Ruston and Tulane University in New Orleans, La., were also among the top college towns. 

The least affordable markets in the survey tend to be located on the coasts, particularly in California: Palo Alto, Calif., home to Stanford University, is the most expensive, followed by Honolulu, Hawaii (University of Hawaii) and Los Angeles, Calif. (University of California and the University of Southern California).

 

But even in pricier towns, more parents are making the move to buy near their kid’s schools. According to Coldwell Banker’s study, 64% of 425 real estate professionals surveyed across the United States report a “significant number” of parent investors buying near campus. And while real estate investors have long purchased homes near campuses and rented them out, parents are increasingly making their investments work in a similar fashion, says Gillespie, collecting rent from their kid’s roommates and selling the houses upon graduation.  

Allan Ackerman, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Lakes and Land who covers real estate in Columbia, S.C., says many parents of incoming students are looking to invest in homes because the cost of boarding in schools has gone up.  

“It’s the right time to buy,” Ackerman says, though he cautions prospective parent investors to avoid overspending, even in the depressed market. “The best thing would probably be to find someone who bought a house for their kid four years ago and is trying to get rid of it.”

Save The Dream...

Given my position as City Manager it’s probably not a stretch to accuse me of being biased — guilty as charged – but I happen to think that the City of Kent has some exceptional people on staff.   I know they have good days and bad days (who doesn’t?) but overall this is a talented bunch of professionals and I’m grateful that I was given the chance to lead this organization with them.  

One of our best free agent pick ups over the last couple of years was Bridget Susel, who among a lot of things that she does really well, somehow finds the time to be a great manager of our Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) programs — not easy, she just makes it look that way. 

CDBG programs are extremely important in our community but they have so many accounting and documentation requirements that it would push most of us to the brink.  Somehow Bridget finds ways to grind through the minutae without losing sight of the larger goals and that’s what separates our CDBG programs from so many others that I’ve seen sufficate under the weight of their administrative burdens.

So when Bridget asked me to share information about a couple of new Federal and State programs for housing assistance that can help people in distress here in Kent, I was happy to do so:

Foreclosure Prevention Assistance

The City of Kent continues to see a rise in foreclosures throughout the community.  Although the majority of these foreclosures seem to be adversely affecting lower income households, there has been a significant number foreclosures occurring in middle and upper income households as well. 

In an attempt to assist those hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has been providing funds to states, including Ohio, that are reporting a disproportionately large number of foreclosures and high unemployment rates.  Ohio was awarded $570 million to support the Restoring Stability: A Save the Dream Ohio Initiative which provides funding assistance to Ohio residents who are at a high risk of mortgage loan default or foreclosure.

The Restoring Stability: A Save the Dream Ohio Initiative is comprised of four programs that provide assistance to Ohio homeowners who have a temporary or permanent reduction in income and as a result, are at a high risk of mortgage loan default or foreclosure.  The four available programs include:

1)     Rescue Payment Assistance Program:  Provides a payment to the mortgage lender to help delinquent borrowers become current on their first mortgage.

2)     Partial Mortgage Payment Assistance Program: Provides up to 15 months of assistance for unemployed homeowners while they search for employment or participate in job training.

3)     Modification Assistance with Principal Reduction Program: Provides an incentive payment, matched by an investor, to reduce the mortgage principal balance so a loan modification may be possible.

4)     Transition Assistance Program: Provides an incentive payment to the mortgage lender and homeowner to assist with short sale or deed-in-lieu agreements to help homeowners exit their homes with dignity.

Any City of Kent homeowner who is experiencing difficulty with meeting their monthly mortgage payment obligations is encouraged to apply for assistance.  Information and applications for the program are available online at www.savethedream.ohio.gov or through the Save the Dream Ohio hotline at 888-404-4674.