City of Ravenna
The present water tower that can be seen from State Route 14 will be demolished and replaced by a water tank that will be built by Tank Industry Consultants.
“We had trouble keeping fresh water in the present water tower,” Mayor Frank Seman said. “The new water tank will be raised up and will have less water in it than a water tower has in it, and therefore we believe the water will stay fresh the way it’s supposed to.”
The majority of the project, which should cost between $2 to $3 million, will be paid for from grants received and possible future grants.
The Ravenna Police Department asked city council to purchase four solar-powered speed limit signs at a cost of $15,240.
“We have certain areas around town where people are speeding,” Seman said. “These signs will remind people of the speed going. The signs are movable, too, so we can move them around.”
The city is going to install downtown signage to help people find things in the city, such as a sign with an arrow on in it that points to the hospital. These signs are all going to be coordinated and adapted to help the city look good as well. It will be at a cost of $4,000.
The project will get underway very soon.
The City of Ravenna is trying to make it more user-friendly for people who ride bicycles. The city purchased eight bollard bike racks at a cost of $2,500.
“We’re going to distribute them around town,” Seman said, “so that people have a place to park and lock up their bikes.”
The City of Ravenna passed an ordinance to allow the State of Ohio to crack and seal state Route 5 and state Route 88 (Freedom Street).
The Ravenna Holiday Celebration Midnite Madness & Holiday Raffle will be from 5-10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24 downtown. Included will be a Balloon A-Fair light-up parade, photos with Santa and Mrs. Claus, a tree lighting, horse and carriage rides, an elf workshop, a scavenger hunt, cookie decorating, reindeer and more at Reed Memorial Library, downtown merchants open late, holiday vendors and much more! Holiday Raffle donations are needed. The prizes include an Epiphone Les Paul (right-handed) guitar, a Lyx Pro (left-handed) guitar, two Cedar Point passes and a one-year membership to the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce. More prizes are to come! For more information, call (330) 296-3886 or email [email protected].
Join the Ravenna Area Chamber of Commerce at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24 at the courthouse lawn immediately following the Christmas tree lighting to honor Fallon Schwab-Davis, the 2023 Northern Ohio Area Chambers of Commerce Honorary Way and Bright Star award winner. Schwab-Davis has collaborated and donated her talents and skills to her hometown of Ravenna for the betterment of the community. She has been a longstanding Ravenna community member who has continued to give back to Ravenna in positive ways.
Main Street Ravenna is hosting its Deck The Downtown Holiday Window Contest. Businesses may submit their participation by contacting Main Street Ravenna at (330) 235-9509 or [email protected].
Reed Memorial Library, located at 167 E. Main St., will host the following events in December:
- Holiday Gift Wrapping Drop-In Hours: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 4 — Do you hate wrapping presents alone at home? Stop by the library to wrap gifts with friends. Enjoy a cozy atmosphere while you do a little last-minute prep for the holidays. A selection of wrapping paper, tape and bags will be provided, though you are welcome to bring your own wrapping supplies as well. Have any wrapping paper you don’t like anymore? Bring it with you! Supplies will be limited, so first-come, first-serve. This is geared toward adults.
- Craft a Gift: 5 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 6, Wednesday, Dec. 13 and Wednesday, Dec. 20 — Pressed flower ornament (Dec. 6), birdhouse ornament (Dec. 13) and hot chocolate mix in a jar (Dec. 20). These are limited to 12 participants and are geared toward children in kindergarten through fifth grade.
- Craft: Diamond Dot Snowflakes: 2 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9 — Join Darlene in creating a fun Diamond Dot craft by making a snowflake keychain that you can take home. This is a fun, easy craft that requires some dexterity and the ability to see the numbers of the dots to put on the keychain. All materials will be provided. This craft is limited to 10 people and is geared toward adults.
- Books and Babies: Holiday Edition: 10:30 to 10:50 a.m., Monday, Dec. 11 — Join the library for the special holiday edition of its baby storytime program. Grow a happy, healthy baby one rhyme at a time! The library’s Books and Babies class features fun songs, movement activities, colorful toys, board books and great resources for parents. This storytime is especially for babies ages 0-24 months who are not yet confident walkers; however, older siblings are welcome.
- Early Industrial Development of Ravenna: 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Monday, Dec. 11 — In the 19th century, Ravenna grew to become the largest industrial center in Portage County. Learn why that happened and which businesses prospered during this lecture with historic photos. Limited to 30 people. This is geared toward adults and teens.
- Winter Solstice Celebration: 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21 — Celebrate the shortest day and the longest night of the year with cozy stories, warm drinks and crafts!
Venues and dates for Paint & Sip by Blue Tree Designs are as follows:
- Christmas Flamingos (West Main Street Winery & Brewery): 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21.
- Grinch (Tavern 1888): 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29.
- Santa Owl (West Main Street Winery & Brewery): 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30.
- Santa Gnome (West Main Street Winery & Brewery): 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14.
- Red Truck (Tavern 1888): 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16.
- Santa Mickey (West Main Street Winery & Brewery): 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 21.
Main Street Ravenna’s Mural Project has been completed! Artist Lisa Quine worked from Oct. 16 to Nov. 14 to complete the gorgeous “Welcome to Ravenna” mural that welcomes residents and visitors to downtown. Main Street Ravenna thanks the Salvation Army and Megan’s Family Restaurant for their kind cooperation as well as the Portage Foundation and several local donors who helped fund this beautiful work of art.
The Horseshoe Diner will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24 at 250 W. Main St., Unit 204 (inside the Buckeye Mall).
Ravenna Township
The Ravenna Township trustees recently spoke with Dan Morganti from the Portage County Land Bank. Morganti spoke about the Land Bank’s demolition program in which it has received grant money from the State of Ohio to do blighted teardowns in the county.
“There’s a piece of property in a residential neighborhood now on Lakewood Road that has a commercial building on it that back in the day was grandfathered in,” township Trustee Vince Coia said. “We’re trying to see if we can get it torn down. It’s just fallen on disrepair, and it would look a lot better to the neighborhood if we could get it torn down. Going through the Land Bank would be more cost effective than just hiring a company to tear the building down.”
Ten years ago, a young girl was killed at the Norfolk Southern private rail crossing off of Prospect Street when the car she was riding in was struck by a train while trying to cross the tracks.
“There are no gates or lights or anything at that crossing. It’s a private drive,” Coia said. “We found out that Norfolk Southern and the Ohio Rail Development Commission are going to split the cost of putting in an alternative road to access the people who live back there and close that private drive down.”
Todd Peetz of Regional Planning spoke to the township trustees about doing a comprehensive land-use plan, similar to the one it did for Brimfield.
Main Street Ravenna approached the township about decorating Ravenna Township Park for the holidays. The park is located at the corner of East Main Street and Sycamore Street.
“We gave them permission to decorate it,” Coia said.
Aurora
City council has taken action on a number of items recently, including:
- Passing a proposal for Zoneco to do a zoning evaluation and update to modernize Aurora’s existing zoning codes and subdivision regulations.
- Approving a five-year, $87,500 contract with Flock Safety for the lease and maintenance of Aurora’s license plate readers, which are a law enforcement tool.
- Approving a $192,000 contract for another upgrade to one of Aurora’s wastewater treatment plants. The upgrade is for ultraviolet light disinfection equipment at the city’s central wastewater treatment facility.
- Meanwhile, council will consider enacting a one-year moratorium on any kind of marijuana-related activity as it reviews the city’s zoning code.
The 2023 Person & Business of the Year Celebration and Holiday Luncheon will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8 at The Bertram Inn Hotel & Conference Center’s Garfield Ballroom at 600 N. Aurora Rd. The Person of the Year is Tony Dockus, and the Business of the Year is LayerZero. Cost is $35 per person. Register at allaboutaurora.com.
Registration closes at 3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1.
The Giving Tree Toy Drive is being held through Sunday, Dec. 10. Drop off any unwrapped toy to The Orchid House Winery at 155 Treat Rd. and receive a $25 gift card to be used at the winery in either January or February. Toys will be donated to the Geauga County Department of Job and Family Services.
The Toys for Tots PuroClean (located in Chardon) toy drive is being held through Friday, Dec. 15. Donations can be dropped off at the Aurora Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau at 9 E. Garfield Rd.
The Winter Blanket Drive will be held through Friday, Dec. 15. Help hospice patients by donating blankets (all blankets must be new!). The drop-off location is the Walker Building at 129 W. Pioneer Trl. Blankets will be donated to Hospice of the Western Reserve. For more information, call (330) 562-4333.
For the Winter Coat Collection 2023, drop off donations to Howard Hanna Aurora at 195 Barrington Town Square Dr. Donations will benefit the Phyllis Zumkehr Portage County Clothing Center.
The City of Aurora will present the Holiday Tree Lighting Festival from 4:30 to 7 p.m. (note the earlier start time) Saturday, Nov. 25 at Bicentennial Park at 115 E. Pioneer Trl. The tree lighting ceremony will be at 5 p.m. Also included will be food trucks, a petting zoo, a Santa meet-and-greet, live ice carving, a scavenger hunt, s’more roasting and a trackless train.
From Friday, Nov. 24 through Sunday, Dec. 24, if you spend $100 or more at any Aurora business (per receipt, not cumulative total), you can win prizes! The more you shop, the more chances you have to win! Each weekly drawing will be live on Facebook. Each week’s drawing will be from current receipts received. The previous week’s receipts will be excluded. If you shop at an Aurora Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau member business, you get double entries! Email copies of your receipts to [email protected] with your name and phone number to be entered into the weekly drawings for prizes.
Enter the Charitable Wine Raffle to support the Aurora Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Bureau Foundation Scholarship Fund. The prize is a five-liter bottle of Centine wine (the equivalent of 6.75 bottles of wine). Tickets cost $10 and are available at the Chamber office at 9 E. Garfield Rd. and at the 2023 Holiday Luncheon, which will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8 at The Bertram Inn Hotel & Conference Center’s Garfield Ballroom at 600 N. Aurora Rd.
“Storytime with Santa” will be held Friday, Dec. 8 at The Aurora Inn Hotel & Event Center’s overnight guest room at 30 Shawnee Trl. Have your kids listen to Santa read to them in their PJs under a huge tree! The package includes overnight guest room, pizza for dinner, and cookies and hot cocoa after Storytime. For reservations, call (330) 562-0767.
The Orchid House Winery will host a Holiday Shop & Sip, a free event to kick off the holiday season, from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 155 Treat Rd. Guests will be able to shop from local vendors, sip on their favorite wines and holiday cocktails, and enjoy bites from the winery’s Happy Hour menu all evening. Sign up through Eventbrite. For more information, email [email protected].
The Friends of the Aurora Memorial Library will host a book sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 24 and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 25 at 115 E. Pioneer Trl. (lower level).
Veterans will receive a 20% discount. Cash or checks will be accepted. Proceeds will be used to purchase new library books and support activities, programs and events that enrich the lives of children, teens and adults in the community. For more information, call (330) 562-6502.
Aurora’s annual Turkey Trot will take place Thanksgiving morning Thursday, Nov. 23.
A ribbon cutting was held Oct. 25 for Lotus Wellness and MedSpa, located at 251 W. Garfield Rd., Ste. 290 in the Marc’s plaza.
A ribbon cutting took place Nov. 13 for Carrie’s Weight and Wellness at 36 N. Aurora Rd.
Streetsboro
The City of Streetsboro had a moratorium placed on hotels and car washes a while back. A study was done, and it showed that the city’s hotels are suffering somewhat financially and that any more hotels would add to their suffering. The study also showed that the city’s five car washes (including one that was approved prior to the moratorium) would suffer financially with the addition of any more car washes in town.
“With that in mind, the planning department and the law department got together and created some text amendments to address those two issues,” Mayor Glenn Broska said. “What they’ve done is remove some of the zoning areas where hotels can be placed and reduce the footprint to where they could be placed, which would successfully inhibit any more hotels from coming in, which is essentially what we want to do. There’s not going to be a limit of the number of hotels, but there will be a limit of where they can be built. They’re currently allowed in the business district, but we’re going to take that off. They’ll only be allowed in the area close to the Ohio Turnpike and I-480.
“The legislation actually placed a limit on the number of car washes that the city can have, and that number is going to be five. It’s going to successfully stop any more chances of car washes coming into the city.
“Now it’s up to city council to enact the legislation.”
Streetsboro Middle School hosted its annual Veterans Day program Nov. 10. There were 50-60 vets – most of them from Streetsboro – who came up to the stage, and there was a celebration for them as they were honored after snacking on doughnuts and coffee. There were three speakers, including Broska.
“They did a real nice job of putting the program together,” Broska said. “All of the vets and their families and naturally the sixth, seventh and eighth graders were there.”
The city is going to be sending out a Request for Qualifications to hire a Construction Manager at Risk to assist it in building the new City Hall.
“The old City Hall was torn down six years ago. We’ve been in a temporary location since then due to not enough money,” Broska said. “We’ll sell municipal bonds to help pay for the project.”
Honey Baked Ham will have an open house Friday, Dec. 1 at 9438 state Route 14.
Jim’s Open Kitchen Too has redone its façade, while three businesses are in the process of updating their façades — El Campesino, Dunkin’ Donuts and Buffalo Wild Wings. All four restaurants are located on State Route 14.
Shalersville
“Christmas on the Farm” will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Green Clover Farm and Venue at 5522 Goodell Rd. There will be decorations and activities for children.
