NORTH RIDGEVILLE - Worries that Value Place, a $25-a-night hotel planned for Lear-Nagle Road, might become a community problem child prompted City Council members to propose regulations for hotels and motels.
And now those regulations, which are on their second reading, are coming under fire by motel owners.
A lawyer representing Value Place, the plans for which have already been approved by the Planning Commission and City Council, has submitted a letter of concern about them.
John Slagter - a lawyer for the Cleveland-based firm Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs - attended the City Council meeting on Monday night and presented a letter that said official con-cerns with the planned legislation would be forthcoming, according to Mayor Dave Gillock.
The proposed regulations require certain standard zoning and inspection procedures as well as more specific rules about room renting.
Each motel/hotel, it states, must record the time each room is rented, never become a guest`s permanent residence, have a clerk at the desk 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and cannot rent a room twice in the same 24-hour period.
And although Value Place did not specifically cite problematic passages, another motel owner did. Michael Ruta, owner of the Super 8 on Lorain Road, told the mayor after the meeting he was concerned about the wording of the regulation requiring that a room could only be rented once a day.
“The way the regulation is written, basically, if someone checks in at 11 p.m. and leaves the next morning, I can`t rent the room for the whole day,” Ruta said.
“I would lose a sale every other day,” he said. “Other than that, I`m happy with the regulations. If I can rent every room, every day, I`m happy.”
Ruta speculated that it was probably intended to forbid rooms from being rented by the hour.
Gillock said the regulations - drafted by Ray McLaughlin, D-at large, - were generally ac-ceptable and would likely go through after a slight revision to the 24-hour required renting win-dow.
“I understand his concerns,” McLaughlin said, referring to Ruta. “I think the best thing is to change it to say that you can`t rent the room more than twice a day.”
McLaughlin said that the impetus for the regulations - which he cobbled together from similar legislation in Strongsville and GrandView Heights - was public concern about bringing Value Place to the city.
“I think it`s important to be proactive and not reactive,” he said.
“I say, let Value Place come and let`s have their business,” McLaughlin said. “But let`s make sure they`ll be a good neighbor.”
Contact Michael Baker at 329-7128 or mbaker@chroniclet.com

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