NORTH RIDGEVILLE, Ohio — North Ridgeville voters could soon have a say over whether the city opts into an urban county designation through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Watch the citizen group explain the value of the HUD urban designation:
A citizen group, which calls itself “We the People of North Ridgeville,” said it submitted more than 1,000 signatures on Tuesday evening, which is above the roughly 900 necessary to put a referendum on the ballot.
“We don’t just represent an issue or a party. We represent the people of North Ridgeville,” said Robert Baumgardner, a North Ridgeville resident who’s part of the effort.
Baumgardner and others began circulating a petition in early August after the city council voted to opt into a HUD urban designation with other Lorain County communities.
RELATED: What Lorain County’s ‘urban’ designation could mean and why some residents are concerned
“When you’re not happy with what your government does, you have the right, the constitutional right, to petition your government. And that’s exactly what we did,” said Susan Olson, who helped with the petition efforts.
The urban designation is a legal definition under HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. To qualify, a county’s population must exceed 200,000 people, excluding metropolitan areas like Elyria and Lorain.
The CDBG program provides annual grants for local projects that support low- and moderate-income individuals, including infrastructure and housing improvements, job creation initiatives and programs for seniors, like Meals on Wheels.
County leaders have previously said the designation would unlock millions in additional funding, and it would be foolish not to apply.
“This is hurting people. This is hurting the poor, low-income people all for political gain,” Commissioner Dave Moore said in July when asked about pushback over the program.
Ahead of a July deadline, several township and village leaders hand-delivered notices to downtown Elyria, informing the county commissioners that their communities were opting out.
RELATED: Lorain County townships push back against 'urban county' designation
In North Ridgeville, the program has provided funding for street paving, ADA accessibility improvements and most recently, a $150,000 grant to replace a waterline on Behm Drive.
On Monday, Mayor Kevin Corcoran said neither the HUD program nor an overhaul of the city’s zoning code was an attempt to make North Ridgeville less rural.
“Not at all,” Corcoran said. “One is a formal process through HUD and has nothing to do with our local efforts here.”
On Wednesday, he said submitting petition signatures is just part of the process to put a referendum on the ballot, and voters would not likely see a ballot measure until the spring election at the earliest.
The mayor said the city charter gives the Clerk of Council 15 days to send the petition to the Lorain County Board of Elections for verification. If the BOE verifies the petition, the City Council has 30 days to repeal its previous decision or let it stand. If it’s going to the voters, the Charter requires it to be no sooner than 90 days after the petition was filed.
Petition organizers said they’re not attempting to influence voters to support or oppose the urban designation, but they want everyone to have a say.
“A lot of people complained about that, like this is something we should be voting on. Well then you’ll have your chance, either this November or whenever it can get to a ballot.”
Six other communities, including Avon, Avon Lake, Sheffield Lake, Sheffield Village, Berlin and Kipton, have opted into the program.
North Ridgeville currently still qualifies for the CDBG funding under its current program.
Catherine Ross is the Lorain County reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @CatherineRossTV, on Facebook CatherineRossTV or email her at Catherine.Ross@wews.com.
