Mayors Message

Dear Resident,

A recent story on cleveland.com indicated that the median home sale price in Moreland Hills increased by 13% from 2012 to 2013. I am very happy to see this positive trend which indicates that people are finding Moreland Hills a desirable place to live. Others are learning what we already know: our village offers quality services, excellent schools and attractive neighborhoods. The village is consistently named the safest suburb in Cleveland Magazine‘s Rating the Suburbs; furthermore, our police department provides extraordinary services. Similarly, our Service Department offers free trash and recycling pick up at the curb and many other amenities. The village emphasizes environmental initiatives to make it a more attractive place to live. For example, we have added over 150 acres of green space over the last decade, most of which was turned into a passive park. We have undertaken some beautification projects over the last few years to retain the attractive nature of the village. Finally, the village government works very hard to do more with less to keep our taxes reasonable. All this makes Moreland Hills a desirable place to live.

I am asking residents to do their part to keep the village beautiful. Moreland Hills has an Outdoor Maintenance Ordinance which requires that all homes and accessory buildings must be maintained in good repair. Furthermore, they should be maintained so as to resist decay or deterioration from any cause. Any house, whose exterior surface is bare, deteriorated or in poor condition must be repaired. All buckled, rotted or decayed walls, doors, windows, porches, floors, steps and trim must be repaired or replaced. All foundations should be kept in a manner that prevents seepage of water or entrance of rodents into the home. Roofs should be kept weatherproof and downspouts and gutters must be properly supported.

The ordinance also requires that broken or dilapidated fences or walls be repaired. Driveways and service walks must be properly installed and maintained. Broken-down cars, furniture, appliances, etc. cannot be placed in such a manner as to be unsightly to your neighbors. All commercial vehicles, horse and utility trailers, recreational vehicles and boats shall be parked or stored in an enclosed building or garage or parked behind the rear foundation line of the dwelling and be screened from view of the street and adjacent properties by shrubbery or fencing. MBIS, the company which provides building inspection services for the Village, will begin to enforce this ordinance in March or April, depending on the weather. Please do your part to comply with Village ordinances.

This has been a long and trying winter for the Village. Salt supplies were inadequate to meet demand across the entire region. Service Department employees often plowed snow around the clock both during the week and on weekends. They were frustrated that they didn’t have adequate supplies of salt to bring the roads up to their usual standards but they did their best. Let’s hope for an early spring.

The Parks and Green Commissions have combined forces and will roll out some interesting programs this year. Please mark Saturday, April 19 on your calendars and join us at Forest Ridge for our annual garlic mustard removal event. Also on Saturday, May 31 we will plant the flowers at Gateway Park at the corner of SOM at Miles. We would love your help.

Warm regards,
Mayor Susan Renda