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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Hudson City Council Workshop Meeting - October 28, 2025

City Council — Tuesday, October 28, 2025

BodyHudson, Ohio

SessionCity Council

DateTuesday, October 28, 2025

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:38:01

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:01

We're gonna go ahead and get started.

0:04

I'd like to call this meeting to order.

0:07

This is a duly noticed workshop meeting of Hudson City Council held in accordance with the Sunshine Laws of the State of Ohio, Section 121.22 and the City of Hudson Charter, Article 3, Section 3.02 for Tuesday, October 28th, 2025.

0:22

It is 7.30 p.m.

0:24

And per ordinance 220.031 titled workshop meetings and item C.

0:29

Would now like to turn the meeting over to Council President Foster so as to continue through the remaining workshop agenda items.

0:36

Council President Foster, the floor and workshop meeting is yours.

0:39

Thank you, Mayor.

0:40

We'll move on to section two, which is correspondence and council comments.

0:44

Any council members have anything they would like to share with the community.

0:46

Please get my attention so I can assign you the floor.

0:53

So I attended the Tinkers Creek watershed public meeting uh last Thursday.

0:59

And uh Brad and his team did it and the consultants did a great job of sort of explaining the process, the analysis, the next steps, um kind of educating people about how huge uh stormwater is and and uh how there are no simple and easy fixes.

1:22

Um but that that program lasted about an hour, and then at the end there was another hour where uh residents had a chance to come up and have just direct dialogues with uh Brad and the team and the consultants.

1:35

So it was a really good really good program, and uh I think uh everyone got on of it.

1:42

Thank you.

1:44

Any other comments?

1:45

Mayor.

1:46

Um, I'll just reiterate what we talked about last Tuesday with the merchant trick or treat uh is this Thursday, the 30th from 5 to 7 p.m.

1:54

There is some rain in the forecast, so we will be watching that closely.

1:57

Um and then Friday, even though there is a Hudson High School playoff football game at 7 p.m.

2:03

The citywide trick retreat is still on schedule from 6 to 8 p.m.

2:07

on Halloween Friday, October 31st.

2:10

And Mr.

2:11

Griffiths, I don't know if somebody did ask me this.

2:14

We have never had a rain date for the trick or treat.

2:17

So it's rain or shine.

2:18

Yeah, okay, just to clarify that for the record.

2:21

And that was it.

2:22

Thank you.

2:22

Okay.

2:23

Um Planning Commission update.

2:25

There were three items on the agenda last night.

2:28

Um, the first was a conditional use for a sales office for the Pulti condos that are on state routes uh 91, just south of the optritian.

2:37

Uh that was approved 6-0.

2:40

Uh there was a compatibility request for Canterbury Crossings, which is a prestige home development over by Ravenna and Stowe Road.

2:50

Um, there is no finding on uh compatibility um studies, so it's a first step in the planning commission.

3:02

Um, but the planning commission gave them some fairly negative feedback in that they did not find the development to be compatible.

3:10

Uh the third item were a number of uh zoning changes that we sent to the planning commission to rezone the Joanne Fabrics district.

3:20

Um they are working their way through it.

3:23

They got a staff introduction, and uh they'll continue to work on that over the next meeting or two.

3:29

So they seemed uh pretty open to it.

3:33

Moving on to section three, we have discussion items a 25-0125, which is a discussion of the community calendar.

3:42

Jody's here to talk about it.

3:49

Good evening.

3:52

Um we I sent around a memo, so you know a little bit about it.

3:55

I wanted to just kind of backtrack and let everybody know how we got to what we're where we are and what we're recommending.

4:02

Um, at a council retreat, um, it was council's desire for staff to investigate how we could create a community calendar that would include a lot of other um events and activities in the city all in one place.

4:19

Right now, our calendar on our website is just for the um city meetings and special events that occur and are receive uh permits through our special event permitting process.

4:35

Um so we looked at um ways that we can ensure legal compliance and and a broad participation.

4:43

So the way we can do that is to create to have a third party organization actually be the owner and operator of the calendar.

4:52

Um we have looked at a variety of different things, and Hudson Community Foundation stepped up with interest to do it.

5:00

They have the staff and the ability to do it and the willingness to do it, which is another important part.

5:08

And they are a third party at an arm's distance from the city to be in legal compliance with what we were looking to do.

5:18

We wanted to establish a foundation of core group members that would be part of this calendar.

5:27

So we met with the Hudson City Schools, the Hudson Library and Historical Society, and the Chamber of Commerce as well as Hudson Community Foundation.

5:39

And we got together and talked about what they need, what we need, what we're looking at doing, and they were all interested in participating because we went to the major organizations in town that hold a lot of events because our events alone with the city, if you count all of our boards and commission meetings as well as our events.

6:01

We have over a thousand of them a year.

6:04

So they all have to go on a calendar.

6:06

So and the schools, same thing, they have a lot of things.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Public Engagement███████████████15%

Technology and Innovation████████████12%

Community Engagement███████████11%

Engineering And Infrastructure██████████10%

Transportation Safety██████████10%

Budget Equity Analysis█████████9%

Public Works███████7%

Personnel Matters██████6%

Procedural████4%

Summary of Proceedings

Hudson City Council Workshop Meeting - October 28, 2025

The Hudson City Council held a duly noticed workshop meeting on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:07 p.m. The meeting covered several topics including a community calendar proposal, transportation issues at SR 91 and 303, an update on the visitor center, and the preliminary 2026-2030 five-year plan. Council also received a planning commission update and reviewed proposed consent agenda and legislation for the November 18 meeting.

Planning Commission Update

Council received an update from a council member on the October 27 Planning Commission meeting. Three items were on the agenda:
- A conditional use for a sales office for Pulti condos on SR 91 was approved 6-0.
- A compatibility request for Canterbury Crossings (Prestige Home development near Ravenna and Stowe Road) received negative feedback; no finding of compatibility.
- Zoning changes for the Joanne Fabrics district were introduced and will be continued at the next meeting; the commission appeared open to the changes.

Discussion Items

Community Calendar (25-0125)

Jody presented a proposal to create a community calendar owned and operated by the Hudson Community Foundation (HCF) to include events from the city, schools, library, chamber, and others. The software selected is Localist Concept 3D, costing about $12,000 the first year and $11,000 in subsequent years. The city would donate the first year's cost to HCF. Key features: mass import, RSS feeds, unlimited events/users, mobile-friendly, searchable. Council expressed strong support (e.g., Councilor Sutton said it fills a void; Councilor Heater saw it as a way to increase foot traffic). Some members (e.g., Dr. Guts) wanted to see draft agreements before committing. Direction given to proceed with developing agreements and bring back for approval.

Turn Radius at SR 91 & 303 and Traffic Data in West Haven Colony Area (25-0126)

Brad presented on truck turning issues at the intersection. A major improvement (moving curbs 20-30 ft into greens) would cost about $2 million and impact greens. A minor improvement (moving curbs 18-36 inches) would cost about $200,000 but not solve the problem. A third option of moving the stop bar back along West Streetsboro Street was discussed but could reduce Q length. Councilors: Sutton not interested in funding without state money; Benwick suggested trying the stop bar move; Mayor concerned about pedestrian safety; Byrd agreed not worth funding minor option. Staff will research low-cost solutions along the corridor and answer questions.
For the West Haven Colony area, Brad presented speed and traffic data for East Case, West Case, Hartford, and Milford. Data showed traffic volume and speeds generally down or stable except for Milford (increase due to Veterans Way bypass). No speeding concern identified. Councilor Heater noted concerns about cut-through traffic on Hartford; more data pending.

Visitor Center Update (25-0127)

Jennifer, Jenna, and Aaron provided an update. The Visitor Center began operations on April 19, 2025. It includes a gift shop, community display area, and city workspace. Staffed by one part-time employee and three seasonal part-time clerks. Community engagement included hosting a bus tour (lasting impression tour group on August 8), supporting local nonprofits, and partnering with library/historical society. Financial summary: about $36,000 negative this year, mostly due to a $30,000 inventory payment to Destination Hudson. Annual expenses projected at ~$40,000 with ~$12,000 revenue. Council praised the progress and noted it is not expected to be revenue-positive.

Preliminary 2026-2030 Five-Year Plan (25-0128)

Staff (Margaret and Tom) presented updates from the previous capital discussion. Changes included adjustments to the general fund expenses (access changed from $202,500 to $425,000 in 2026), cemetery fund (columbarium moved from unfunded to 2027), dispatch workstations moved to 2029, and broadband personnel moved from operating to capital (decrease of $153,750 from 2027-2030). Assumptions: 2% income tax, 100% credit; projected 3.7% decrease from Joanne loss but actual trending better (down 0.9% overall, general fund flat); 2.5% annual growth in income tax from 2026-2030; 3% COLA; 10% health insurance increase; 1% growth in other expenses. Council agreed to make economic development the top priority. General fund debt ratio remains below 10% (cautionary at 12%). General fund carryover is above 40% (improving to ~42%). Staff noted the cemetery fund and HCTV fund have declining balances needing address. Broadband expansion includes two new employees paid from capital and three additional planned. Council will follow up on November 18.

Key Outcomes

Direction: Staff directed to proceed with the community calendar proposal and bring back draft agreements.
Direction: Staff to research low-cost solutions for the SR 91/303 intersection and answer questions on stop bar and truck restrictions.
Direction: Visitor center update received; council expressed support.
Direction: Five-year plan discussion to continue on November 18; economic development moved to top priority.
Consent and Legislation: Proposed items for November 18 meeting were reviewed; no votes taken at this workshop.

Meeting Transcript

We're gonna go ahead and get started. I'd like to call this meeting to order. This is a duly noticed workshop meeting of Hudson City Council held in accordance with the Sunshine Laws of the State of Ohio, Section 121.22 and the City of Hudson Charter, Article 3, Section 3.02 for Tuesday, October 28th, 2025. It is 7.30 p.m. And per ordinance 220.031 titled workshop meetings and item C. Would now like to turn the meeting over to Council President Foster so as to continue through the remaining workshop agenda items. Council President Foster, the floor and workshop meeting is yours. Thank you, Mayor. We'll move on to section two, which is correspondence and council comments. Any council members have anything they would like to share with the community. Please get my attention so I can assign you the floor. So I attended the Tinkers Creek watershed public meeting uh last Thursday. And uh Brad and his team did it and the consultants did a great job of sort of explaining the process, the analysis, the next steps, um kind of educating people about how huge uh stormwater is and and uh how there are no simple and easy fixes. Um but that that program lasted about an hour, and then at the end there was another hour where uh residents had a chance to come up and have just direct dialogues with uh Brad and the team and the consultants. So it was a really good really good program, and uh I think uh everyone got on of it. Thank you. Any other comments? Mayor. Um, I'll just reiterate what we talked about last Tuesday with the merchant trick or treat uh is this Thursday, the 30th from 5 to 7 p.m. There is some rain in the forecast, so we will be watching that closely. Um and then Friday, even though there is a Hudson High School playoff football game at 7 p.m. The citywide trick retreat is still on schedule from 6 to 8 p.m. on Halloween Friday, October 31st. And Mr. Griffiths, I don't know if somebody did ask me this. We have never had a rain date for the trick or treat. So it's rain or shine. Yeah, okay, just to clarify that for the record. And that was it. Thank you. Okay. Um Planning Commission update. There were three items on the agenda last night. Um, the first was a conditional use for a sales office for the Pulti condos that are on state routes uh 91, just south of the optritian. Uh that was approved 6-0. Uh there was a compatibility request for Canterbury Crossings, which is a prestige home development over by Ravenna and Stowe Road. Um, there is no finding on uh compatibility um studies, so it's a first step in the planning commission. Um, but the planning commission gave them some fairly negative feedback in that they did not find the development to be compatible. Uh the third item were a number of uh zoning changes that we sent to the planning commission to rezone the Joanne Fabrics district. Um they are working their way through it. They got a staff introduction, and uh they'll continue to work on that over the next meeting or two. So they seemed uh pretty open to it. Moving on to section three, we have discussion items a 25-0125, which is a discussion of the community calendar. Jody's here to talk about it. Good evening. Um we I sent around a memo, so you know a little bit about it. I wanted to just kind of backtrack and let everybody know how we got to what we're where we are and what we're recommending. Um, at a council retreat, um, it was council's desire for staff to investigate how we could create a community calendar that would include a lot of other um events and activities in the city all in one place. Right now, our calendar on our website is just for the um city meetings and special events that occur and are receive uh permits through our special event permitting process. Um so we looked at um ways that we can ensure legal compliance and and a broad participation.

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