by Bob Gaetjens

Editor

Streetsboro -- The city has terminated its contract with a local towing company and told the business to stop impounding vehicles behind the Route 14 property it rents.

City Zoning Inspector Stacey Vadaj said Streetsboro Auto and Truck Inc. has stopped operating an impound lot, which city officials said violated a variety of city ordinances. Until April 14, the business was providing towing services to the city.

Streetsboro Auto and Truck owner Robert Reinard stated in an April 16 letter to Wagner he's doing what he can to clean up the lot.

"I have cleaned up the lot, scrapped everything that I could legally scrap, and the pond has been cleaned," he stated in the letter.

In a February letter, Law Director David Benjamin told Reinard, David and Jennifer Metheney; All County Investments; and Streetsboro Auto and Truck he believes the business or property owners were violating rules prohibiting storage of junked vehicles on private property; and violating the city's litter law.

Mayor Tom Wagner said the city terminated the contract with the towing company last week because of the impound lot. He said the police department is now using Interstate Towing of Twinsburg, which tows vehicles to an out-of-city site.

In a March 31 letter to Benjamin, Reinard stated repairable vehicles are being taken to Action Auto Body and Excalibur, and irreparable vehicles are being taken to a site in Ravenna Township.

Reinard and David Metheney didn't respond to calls from The Gateway News for further comment.

Something has clogged a pipe flowing from a pond within impound lot into an adjacent pond just a few yards away in the Maplewood condominium development, said Vadaj.

Vadaj said the vehicles were located close to the pond on the property owned by All County Investments Ltd., which Streetsboro Auto and Truck rents space from.

"They took the cars that were actually in the water out," she said.

In the letter, Reinard states the business received its last police call for towing April 14.

Benjamin said he believes "the landowner has simply been tolerant of a situation that [he] shouldn't have been tolerant of. Nevertheless, it's their property and they've got to maintain it."

Sugarbush Court resident Dan Ziegler said the impound lot has existed since 2004 or 2005.

"They've cleaned it up somewhat, but not enough to make a big difference," he said. He added the impound lot is "trashing our neighborhood."

Ziegler said he also wants Streetsboro Auto and Truck to replace a fence he says has been ruined by water overflowing the Streetsboro Auto and Truck pond.

He is one of about a half-dozen condominium residents who've expressed concern about the situation, according to Ellen Fitzpatrick of Valley Property Management, which manages the condo development.

E-mail: bgaetjens@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-686-3941