UPDATED: City Council Postpones Rental Occupancy Vote

Before last night's City Council meeting even began, Vice Mayor Edward Kraus announced that he would like to hold a work session to go over all the facts of the controversial rental occupancy ordinance one more time. The work session date and time has yet to be determined.

"We're going to take a work session shortly so council can decide if there are any amendments or deletions that need to be made to the ordinance so we can give them to Mr. Frankland," Kraus said. "There were many comments made at the last council meeting and they are very much appreciated. We want to use all those comments again in our decision."

Council hosted a public hearing on the issue, which debates whether a rental registration fee should be implemented for landlords and whether each rented property should be inspected by the city. 

Several residents and landlords had their say on the matter.

A Miles Road resident who is also a registered contractor with the city said the inspections and registration have to be done.

"When it comes to owning a rental, we have nothing whatsoever and it's kind of hard to believe with the way the city is run," he said. "I'm really happy with the city but I'm really surprised we don't have it. We need to protect the city."

A Bainbridge Road resident and landlord said she doesn't understand why the city is saying that renters or rental units are any different than owner-occupied homes, and she questioned whether existing rental homes would be grandfathered into new ordinance requirements.

"The owners of the rental units are being singled out when all the houses in Solon should be considered as one," she said. "When the owner lives in the duplex, I'm sharing my home with the people I'm renting to."

Other residents said they believe the registration should be implemented because they want to know who their neighbors are, and they don't want the people who don't actually live in the city to take advantage of the school system.

Jennifer Leinweber-Ritz, a spokeswoman for Zaremba Management, spoke about the inspection process Solon Park Apartments uses.

"Our insurance companies inspect us, our banks inspect us," Leinweber-Ritz said. "We do an annual inspection and we are regularly entering suites to make sure they are a safe environment for residents and we take great pride in that."

But she questioned how city-required inspections will work.

"Looking through inspection items, depending on how far you go with it, what are we going to have to do to bring our establishment up to code?" she asked. "This could be a huge financial offset to the property, and how is that going to be managed? This isn't a home. We have 240 units."

Council members were mum on adding any comments after the public hearing, saying they'd discuss more at the work session. Kraus encouraged any residents to turn in articles or research they had done about the pending legislation to be used at the work session.

"Different legal issues were brought up and we will address those," Kraus said. "It's a very important issue."

Ward 4 Councilman William Mooney made the comment that he is in favor of the registration, but he has questions in terms of the inspections.

"People who live in Northeast Ohio pay too many taxes and fees as it is," Mooney said. "Inspections would increase the size and scope of Solon government. The proposed ordinance would require every property to be inspected every two years. That's a lot of work and would require additional resources. Instead of shrinking, we would have to bring back staff."

Also at the meeting, council approved the purchase of three new police vehicles at the price of more than $105,000. Police Chief Christopher Paul Viland said this purchase was already approved in the city's budget.