Home builder warns new consolidated Medina County regulations will 'stop building'; county staff says code consolidates prior rules and will review concerns

Mark Michaels, a Wadsworth home builder, told the Medina County Board of Commissioners at its June 3 meeting that he and others in the development community discovered a consolidated 2025 sanitary and subdivision code only the day before and were taken aback by provisions he said require "100% financial guarantees" and new maintenance-camera inspections that he argued would effectively halt local building projects.

"We feel this is a crusade to stop building in Medina County," Michaels said, adding that his company and many subcontractors depend on ongoing work and that the newly compiled regulations were not widely communicated to builders before adoption.

County staff responded that the "code of regulations" presented to the board is a compilation of rules and standards previously adopted across various documents and consolidated into a single reference for clarity. A staff speaker said, "There is no intent to stop development," and that the consolidation was meant to make existing requirements transparent and easier for developers to follow.

The exchange centered on two issues: process and practical impact. Michaels and other builders said they received little notice and that several items in the consolidated document go beyond the standards they had been operating under. County staff acknowledged a communication lapse — noting that a developer-provided document was not shared with the sanitary engineer until the morning of June 3 — and committed to sit down with Michaels, members of the Home Builders Association and departmental staff to review the specific provisions and reconcile the records.

Commissioners framed the next steps as both immediate and evaluative. They asked staff to meet with developers to resolve outstanding questions and said the success of the changes should be judged over time to determine whether the consolidated approach fosters clearer rules without unduly burdening small builders.

What happens next: county staff and the sanitary and planning departments said they will meet with the developer representatives and the HBA at an upcoming session to review the consolidated regulations and the developer's concerns. Commissioners also noted there will be further meetings in the process and that they intend to monitor whether smaller builders continue to find opportunities to work in Medina County.