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Planning committee advances ordinances including sale of vacant lots for six Welcome Home Akron houses
Summary
The Akron Planning Committee recommended consent for five zoning and property ordinances, including a conditional sale of six city-owned parcels to Integrity New Construction LLC under the Welcome Home Akron program; developer Rick Kiffin introduced his firm’s plans.
The Akron Planning Committee on Thursday recommended placing five ordinances on the consent agenda, including an ordinance to sell six city-owned parcels in Goodyear Heights and Ellet to Integrity New Construction LLC to support the Welcome Home Akron homebuilding program.
The sale ordinance authorizes the conveyance of City parcels (identified in committee as parcel IDs read into the record) to Integrity New Construction LLC “in order to facilitate the productive reuse of the property, construct 6 new homes, and reduce the cost to the city and taxpayers in maintaining vacant lots,” and declares an emergency. Planning staff said four homes will be built in Goodyear Heights and two in Ellet; one existing parcel must be combined with another and one parcel will be split to create the six home sites.
The sale drew brief comment from Rick Kiffin of Integrity New Construction, who told the committee he has built in Summit County since about 2007 and said the company is “going all in with the city of Akron” to place homes on long-vacant lots. “Akron needs housing. People need housing. And so we’re here to do that very thing,” Kiffin said.
Committee members placed the item and four other planning ordinances on the consent agenda. Those other items read into the record were conditional-use ordinances to establish used auto sales at 1475 Maslin Road (item 1), and to establish two-family dwellings at 480 Bell Street (item 2) and 894 North Main Street (item 3), plus a conditional use to construct a commercial addition at 1477 Copley Road (item 4). Each ordinance as read into the committee record included an emergency clause.
Committee members asked no substantive follow-up questions on the sale ordinance. Planning staff noted the parcel adjustments required to create six home sites and said the Welcome Home Akron program would facilitate sale terms to a developer. The committee voted to recommend consent for the group of items; there was no roll-call vote read into the public committee record beyond the committee’s voice approval.
Next steps: Items placed on the consent agenda will proceed to a subsequent council meeting for formal adoption unless removed from consent for separate consideration.
Ending: The Planning Committee adjourned after recommending the five items for consent. The developer and staff thanked the committee for the opportunity to present and left the meeting.
