Before adjourning for regular meetings until mid-July, Cleveland City Council lowered parking rates, passed new regulations for short-term rentals and gave City Hall the go-ahead to try to buy a controversial piece of West Side property.
Here’s a look at some of the legislation that council passed on Monday in its last meeting before the summer.
A new plan for parking fees
Saying it had become too expensive to park downtown, council cut back on the city’s parking rates and hours.
Under the legislation, the city could charge between $1 and $3 per hour downtown Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday parking would be free except during special events.
Rates could jump as high as $8 per hour during special events, but only in designated areas around the ballpark and arena — in what is known as the Gateway District — and at the lakefront.
Outside of downtown, the city would charge $1 per hour for up to 8 hours and $3 per hour after that. Those rates would be in effect Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Currently, on-street parking costs $1.50 for the first hour and can run as high as $4.50 for the fourth hour. The city enforces paid parking 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day of the week downtown and Monday through Saturday in Ohio City.
New rules for Airbnbs, Vrbos and other short-term rentals
Cleveland will now require all short-term rentals offered through services such as Airbnb and Vrbo to be licensed with City Hall. Owners and operators must maintain a local representative to respond to complaints.
The city is also limiting the density of short-term rentals. No more than 10% of residential units on a block or in a multi-unit building can be rented as Airbnbs and the like.
Owners and operators lose their licenses after three or more nuisance activities in a 12-month period. City Hall can revoke licenses after just one case of rioting, disorderly conduct, assault and weapons and explosives violations.
Council heard public comment from Dave Stokley, who owns a short-term rental management company and has been following the legislation. He said that he supported licensing requirements for short-term rental operators — but not the density requirements.
“We want bad hosts shut down, because they create a bad name for us and they hurt Cleveland’s reputation,” he said.
Stokely disagreed that the “party house image” — the complaints about wild gatherings at short-term rentals that drove council to pass legislation — was representative of the industry.
Ward 14 Council Member Jasmin Santana said that the 10% limitation amounted to three to six homes per street.
“Three to six homes per street is a lot of properties,” she said.
But Santana said she was open to amending the law after seeing how it works over the next year.
An up to $1 million offer on a vacant CVS
Council approved City Hall’s effort to buy a former CVS site near Cudell Park that has become a West Side political flashpoint.
The city plans to build a new firehouse there to replace one that is in disrepair — and it is prepared to go to court to acquire the property through eminent domain if it has to.
Activists lobbied against the ownership’s original plan to turn the site into a gas station just steps from the park. The company’s attempt to change the zoning to allow for a gas station to hit a dead end in the courts.
On Monday, council authorized City Hall to buy the site for up to just more than $1 million — $725,000 for the property and $300,000 for additional costs. That’s what the city offered in April of last year. Earlier this year, the city offered $635,000.
TJ Weyls, an attorney who represents the developer, said his client is willing to negotiate but that the city is undervaluing the property.
“They know that’s below the number that we agreed to accept,” he told Signal Cleveland.
Shaker Madison commissioned an appraisal that values the site at $1.7 million to $2.2 million. The company has scrapped the gas station idea. Now it is proposing to develop the property into a retail center with a pizza place, coffee shop, cell phone store and convenience mart, Weyls said.
There are other costs he said are tied up in the project. Owner Ibrahim Shehadeh bought out his business partners in Shaker Madison, Weyls said. Plus, there are property taxes and attorney’s fees to consider, he said.
City officials told council members on Monday that they would come back for permission to offer more than $1 million if that’s where negotiations land.
Several council members are wary about going to court to claim private property. Council’s Development, Planning and Sustainability Committee recommended against the purchase legislation last month.
Monday’s vote did not give the city permission to take the property through eminent domain. Council’s Safety Committee will discuss a related piece of legislation Wednesday that would lay the groundwork for going to court to acquire the land.
On Monday, Ward 1 Council Member Joe Jones said he opposed using eminent domain to acquire the property.
“We want to make sure that this is fair,” he said.
Ward 12 Council Member Tanmay Shah, whose ward includes the vacant CVS, said the city should consider using eminent domain more often.
“It is not government using its amazing powers to railroad small businesses or developers,” Shah said.
