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Volume 53, No. 2
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CHESTERLAND NEWS Wednesday, June 9, 2021
Your Community Newspaper Since 1967 Chester Township
Residents Argue Against Completing Intersection By Ann Wishart ann@geaugamapleleaf.com
For the second time in two weeks, Chester Township Trustees heard arguments from residents of Whiting Drive and Reserve Lane opposing plans to pave a 9-foot-wide area and connect the two development roads. Safety – seen from two perspectives – divided the parties at both meetings. Whiting Drive comes off Chillicothe Road and goes west, with about 15 homes built along it. Reserve Lane connects with Sherman Road on the south end and goes north to a cul-de-sac with about 19 homes along it. Trustees assert the two roads should meet at a paved intersection at the end of Whiting Drive. Currently, there is a 9-foot-wide strip of unpaved road and what appears on the map on the Geauga County Auditor’s Office website to be bollards prohibiting traffic on Whiting Drive from turning left or right onto Reserve Lane. About a dozen residents attended the trustees’ regular meeting June 3 to object to the plan proposed by the Geauga County Engineer’s Office to build a paved road connecting the roads. Trustee Skip Claypool told the
ANN WISHART/KMG
A Chester Township resident Linda Gifford talks to township Trustee Skip Claypool about the proposed connection of Whiting Drive and Reserve Lane during the June 3 trustees meeting.
crowd the township had received a letter mid-afternoon from Deputy Engineer Shane Hajjar, but trustees hadn’t had time to digest its contents. Still, Trustee Ken Radtke recommended opening the meeting up to a discussion. Claypool said he’d talked to Hajjar, who recommended completing the intersection. “That’s the way it was platted,” Claypool said. Reserve Lane resident Ralph
Delligatti disagreed, presenting documents he said show the original plan did not call for the two roads to be connected. If the connection is made, traffic might increase and speeding could become a problem, said Bruce Lombardi, another Reserve Lane resident. “What are we waiting for, the first kid to get killed?” Lombardi asked, adding he expects the connection would negatively affect
property values along the quiet neighborhood road. Trustees provided copies of Hajjar’s letter, dated June 3. In it, Hajjar refers to a previous meeting on May 24. The engineer noted the Whiting Drive plat from 1954 shows a 25-foot strip of land dedicated to a future street. Then in 1986, the Geauga County Planning Commission waived the developer’s requirements to connect the two roads. At the west end of Whiting Drive, an unofficial access driveway on private property has provided vehicles enough space to turn around and go back east on Whiting, but it is far from satisfactory, Hajjar explained. “The existing make-shift turnaround on Whiting significantly fails to meet the standards for all legal, long-axel vehicles, and a large portion of it currently sits on private property,” he wrote. He also included points the residents made during the May 24 meeting including: • Residents want the roads to stay separated; • Residents feel the turnaround has been sufficient for turning of buses, fire trucks and semis; • “Opening this intersection See Intersection • Page 5
Perennial Gardeners Awards Scholarship to West G Grad Submitted The Perennial Gardeners of Chesterland make a strong presence in the community. One of their popular events is the annual plant sale held just before Mother’s Day. It was a coming out event of sorts this year following a year of meetings held online due to Covid-19. The 30 degree temperatures could
not hold back the community and loyal followers from turning out for the popular event. Their support contributed to a very successful sale, raising money to sustain ongoing club projects and community contributions, including scholarships. The club presented a scholarship to Caleb Kautz, a graduate of West Geauga High School and Gates Mills Environmental Education Center.
The $1,000 scholarship will assist Caleb in pursuing an education in the plant science and landscape technology program with a minor in business at Cuyahoga Community College. Caleb was selected for the scholarship because of his enthusiasm for landscaping from a young age, his strong academic record, his leadership skills and his service to the community.
Kautz
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