Niles OKs moratorium on storage facilities

NILES -- City council has approved placing a one-year moratorium on the issuing of permits for storage units, storage facilities, storage pods and self-storage establishments.

Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz said the city has two such storage establishments operating in the community and another that has submitted drawings and applied for permits from the zoning department, meaning there will be three in the city.

"We want a one-year moratorium so we can evaluate storage facilities and individual storage units. We will review whether the city will permit any additional storage facilities,'' he said.

The ordinance received an emergency reading with a 6-0 vote by council at a recent meeting.

Girard is in the process of placing a moratorium on the number of dollar stores there and Boardman Township has amended its zoning ordinances to make it more difficult for storage units and car washes to locate there.

In other business, the city has received approval for the painting of two train bridges -- one on Robbins Avenue near the bike trail and the other on North Main Street. Mientkiewicz said the city has $300,000 in state capital funding, $70,000 in funding from the county commissioners and $25,000 in city funds to use for the bridge painting project.

He said the work will be done in spring 2025.

"The county commissioners now own the two train bridges as part of Phase 4 of the bike trail expansion. We have been meeting for the past several years on how to get these bridges painted," Mientkiewicz said.

He said Jim Taylor from the Western Reserve Building Trades was instrumental in helping the city through the process of working with the painters' union and bridge painters' unions.

Mientkiewicz said last week, the county commissioners approved the bridge project at their weekly meeting.

Council also gave first readings to ordinances for stormwater management control, illegal utility connections and new standards for erosion and sediment control, which are all being updated per Ohio Environmental Protection Agency guidelines and regulations.