SOLON, Ohio -- Demolition appears imminent for the Lynch property -- a 114-year-old house at 34025 Bainbridge Road -- after City Council rejected a lease agreement with the Solon Historical Society for occupancy of the city-owned property.

On Tuesday (Jan. 21), council voted 3-2 to authorize Mayor Ed Kraus to enter into the lease agreement with the historical society’s Board of Trustees. But the ordinance failed because at least four affirmative votes from council were needed to pass it as an emergency measure, city Law Director Thomas Lobe said.

Ward 7 Councilman William Russo and Ward 1 Councilman Macke Bentley cast the dissenting votes.

Ward 6 Councilman Bob Shimits, president of the Solon Historical Society, and Ward 5 Councilwoman and Vice Mayor Nancy Meany, who also serves on the society’s board, both abstained to avoid a conflict of interest.

The lease agreement called for the historical society to place $300,000 into an escrow account for the repairs and renovation of the house, which was built in 1905 and needs extensive repairs. The city would have been responsible for choosing an architect and engineer for design of the house, as well as a contractor.

Council’s safety and public properties committee had recommended acceptance of the lease agreement Jan. 8.

Council has wrestled with what to do with the Lynch house, which the city purchased around 2005, for many years.

In an interview Wednesday (Jan. 22), Shimits said it was “a very sad day for the city.”

“We had a very good beginning to our bicentennial celebration with Winterfest (Jan. 11), and we’ve followed that up with (a decision that will result in) demolition of one of our century homes,” he said. “It's very unfortunate.

“The city had the opportunity to have a historical home completely paid for -- every aspect of the renovation of this century home. But, unfortunately, they decided not to give it a chance.”

Shimits noted that the Lynch house is adjacent to the historical society’s main building at 33975 Bainbridge Road.

“That’s what made it so perfect for our needs,” he said. “We are very cramped for space in our current building, and (the Lynch house) would give us very much-needed storage space in the basement, so we could get our displays in order in the main building. We were hoping to display it to a particular time period.”

Shimits said the Lynch house would also have been used as a research area and for office space, “which we currently don't have.”

Shimits said Kraus deserves much credit “for backing up his commitment to not bulldoze the home, if we could come up with a lease agreement.”

“We did get it, finally, but it's so disheartening (that the ordinance failed),” he said. “We were in complete agreement with the terms. I didn’t think we were going to have a problem coming up with $300,000. It’s just very disappointing.”

3-2 vote not good enough

Before the vote, Lobe explained that if council chose to vote on the ordinance as an “emergency” -- thereby suspending the three-reading rule -- with only five members voting, all five would have to vote in favor for it to take effect immediately.

Four affirmative votes would still pass the measure, but it would not take effect for 40 days, per the city’s charter, Lobe said. A 3-2 vote would result in failure of the ordinance, he said.

Russo, who ran this portion of the meeting as alternate vice mayor with Meany having recused herself, expressed strong opposition to the lease agreement. He also voted to suspend the rules so the ordinance could be declared an emergency. That vote was 5-0.

“I think this has gone on long enough,” Russo said. “We need to make a decision and move forward.”

Bentley, council’s newest member who was elected in November, initially voted in favor of the ordinance, which would have passed it, 4-1. But then he said he “voted the wrong way” and asked if council could vote again.

“I thought we were voting again on the emergency,” Bentley said. “I apologize.”

Lobe again explained the procedural aspects of the voting, and another vote was taken, this time resulting in a 3-2 outcome.

In an interview Wednesday (Jan. 22), Kraus said he was “not completely surprised” with the way council voted.

“I think members of council spent some time going through the house,” he said. “It's in a real state of disrepair, so it would have taken a yeoman’s work just to get it up to code, even to be accessible to the public. Council sort of struggled with that.”

Kraus said he supported the lease agreement on two conditions: that no funds to repair or renovate the house would come from the city and that the city would have complete control over the project.

“I made up my mind that (the city) was not going to spend a dime on the house,” he said. “I felt that if the historical society decided that they wanted to preserve it with their funds, I would agree to that agreement.

“It was equally important to me that we weren’t going to spend a dime on the hard costs of (fixing up) the house and that the city would run the construction.”

Kraus said he believes the city’s original plan after purchasing the house was “to keep it and fix it, make it something nice that the public could have access to.”

“But these old homes need a lot of work,” he said.

Kraus said that since the lease was not approved, the city will seek bids for demolition of the house.

“The (city's) two choices were to enter into a lease agreement with the historical society or tear the house down,” he said. “The public works commissioner (William Drsek) will get quotes, along with quotes on one or two other city-owned houses that may have to be demolished.”

Russo: ‘Adhere to master plan’

Russo’s primary issue with repairing and renovating the Lynch house was that the property did not appear on two maps of the city’s master plan crafted in 2010.

That fact was confirmed by city Planning Director Rob Frankland, who at Russo’s request presented a master plan map to council that showed the house removed and an amphitheater on the property. Another version of the map shows it as open space, Frankland said.

Russo also asked Angee Shaker, the city’s director of business development and marketing, to show council a conceptual video produced last year for the city, titled “Reimagining Solon.” The Lynch house does not appear in the video, which focuses on making Solon “a more welcoming community,” Shaker said.

Finally, Russo asked Drsek to show council photos of what the house looks like.

William Drsek, Solon’s public works commissioner, shows photos of the interior and exterior of the Lynch property to City Council. (Ed Wittenberg, special to cleveland.com)

Drsek produced a number of photos showing the exterior and interior of the house. He noted that the sandstone foundation shows some deterioration, the front porch “probably needs full reconstruction” and windows are boarded up.

Photos of the house’s interior also showed extensive damage, some of which could be “expected with a century-old home,” Drsek said.

“Solon’s charter does require the mayor and council to adhere to the master plan,” Russo said. “Based on a map of the master plan and the economic development video, there’s no evidence to support that we are adhering to the master plan (by preserving the Lynch property).

“If the city cannot adhere to the master plan with property it owns, how can we ask other property owners or developers to integrate the concept of the master plan with their development plans?" he asked.

Russo also noted that the city is expected to spend about $20 million on infrastructure this year, similar to the amount it spent last year. He added that the city will likely do work on the Bull house -- a historic property on Bainbridge Road that dates to the 1830s and is named for one of the city’s founders -- this year.

“I don’t believe we need to have public works or other departments spend additional time for something that is not benefiting the majority of residents in Solon,” Russo said. “To me, focus should be on the Bull home during this bicentennial year, getting that up to speed.”

Russo prefaced his comments by saying his opposition “has nothing to do with the people involved with the historical society.”

“I believe the people involved are very well intended, and I believe Bob and Mary Shimits have done an outstanding job of taking the time to make sure that residents are aware of the history of Solon,” he said.

Mary Shimits, Bob Shimits’ wife, serves as the historical society’s secretary.

But Russo later said that the items on display in the historical society are collectible items “that may or may not have anything to do with Solon.”

“They are displayed in a cramped, unorganized manner in the upper level,” he said. “What little has been done over the last four years to fix up the current building the historical society is using doesn’t give me confidence that the Lynch house will be anything more than space to store more old items.”

‘Soft costs’ concern Bentley

In an interview after the meeting, Bentley said he voted no because, after touring the house, he concluded that the city’s resources toward the project would have been significant.

“The hard costs would have been paid for by the historical society, but the soft costs the city would have incurred would have been major,” he said.

Ward 3 Councilman Jeremy Zelwin said he supported the lease agreement “as long as the historical society pays for all hard costs related to the lease and the improvement of the project.”

“I will not support the city spending any money toward the hard costs of the project,” he said.

Ward 4 Councilman Marc Kotora said he was “somewhat torn” on the issue and also questioned why the Lynch house was not shown in the “Reimagining Solon” video. He also asked why the city would enter into negotiations on a property that wasn’t part of its master plan.

But ultimately, after hearing Kraus’ rationale for moving forward, Kotora voted for the ordinance.

The proposed lease agreement stated that if the historical society’s board were to fail to deposit all funds, default or not abide by its terms, the city would raze the building within 30 days. Terms of the agreement would have continued through Dec. 31, 2025.

The historical society leases its headquarters -- the former Disciples of Christ Church building -- from the city.

Officers earn promotions

At the beginning of the meeting, Kraus administered the oath of office to three members of the city’s safety forces who earned promotions: Police Sgt. Steven Wagner, Fire Lt. Neil Kaptein and Fire Battalion Chief Steve Tajgiszer.

Council also voted to move its Feb. 17 meeting to Feb. 18 due to Presidents’ Day.

Read more from the Chagrin Solon Sun.