Multiple residents told the Development Committee on July 8 they felt the zoning rewrite’s public outreach lagged the work and urged more timely, clearer engagement before final rules are proposed.

A resident said the draft has been before council for 13 months and “should have been done in 60 to 90 days,” adding that residents are now playing catch up. Committee members acknowledged the delay but said they prefer a deliberate, well‑documented process that includes multiple public sessions once draft 2 is ready. The committee’s chair said communication will be expanded through mailers, the city magazine, email and social channels and recommended coordination with the city communications staff.

Residents proposed concrete engagement and design ideas: hold focused community sessions by neighborhood, show built examples from comparable municipalities (for instance two‑story garden apartments and townhouses rather than four‑story blocks), create pocket parks to provide neighborhood focal points, and use traffic analysis to justify lane widths and on‑street parking on Warrensville Center Road. Multiple speakers urged committee members to be specific about intended ground‑floor uses in the code so permitted use lists cannot be interpreted to allow high‑intensity retail or automotive uses that would disrupt adjacent neighborhoods.

The committee committed to additional outreach once it receives a consultant second draft and emphasized that public hearings will be real opportunities to change the draft. No formal votes were taken; the committee will reconvene to continue the matrix review and to finalize guidance to ZoneCo.