Desperate Brunswick Residents Appeal to DeWine Over I-71 Interchange at Boston Road

The city of Strongsville’s push for a new interchange off I-71 at Boston Road is nothing new, with efforts dating back to the 1980s. However, by adding a measure to the state's transportation budget bill "to ensure that limited access exit and entrance ramps to interstate highways exist at least every 4.5 miles in adjacent municipal corporations,” state Representative Tom Patton has made a breakthrough where other efforts have failed.

But for Brunswick leaders and residents who will be affected by the new entrance and exit ramps, if and when they are built, the process has been anything but fair, they say.

“These are supposedly conservatives that are doing this, which is just pure big government, imposing its will,” Brunswick City Council President and Vice Mayor Nick Hanek said. “Big government taking people, throwing them out of their homes and just imposing catastrophic consequences on a community through utilizing big government.”

Although the stipulation could potentially apply to other places in the future, it currently only applies to the border between Strongsville and Brunswick.

“At the last minute, basically the 11th hour in the Ohio House, Representative Tom Patton out of Strongsville put in a new section of the Ohio Revised Code,” said Hanek. “It doesn't say Brunswick or Strongsville, but it's tailored exactly just for this area.”

Strongsville’s government website cites the desire to,“improve safety and mobility,” but Brunswick residents who will be directly impacted by the interchange have nothing but doubts.

“This will turn a residential neighborhood into a commercial strip,” Hanek said. “And what we believe is with the intention to connect Strongsville’s industrial parkway closer to a highway, wiping out a bunch of people, and so it's very distressing.”

In 2013, then Strongsville councilman Duke Southworth — who is the son-in-law of Tom Patton — said, “We have a huge stake because the whole point of the Boston Road interchange is to connect it to the industrial parkway.” Southworth also acknowledged that Strongsville had more to gain from the interchange, adding, “Our stake in the industrial parkway is a lot bigger than Brunswick’s stake.”

Some Brunswick residents fear that connecting the Foltz Industrial Parkway is indeed the ultimate goal, which could mean massive trucks coming through the residential neighborhood.

“The semis will go down our road and they will be able to expand Foltz Parkway, because, not only do they have a crap-ton of property that they own between Boston and Drake Rd. where the Foltz Industrial Parkway is, they'll be able to expand that Industrial Parkway and have more businesses come in, which is more tax dollars, more income for the city of Strongsville. Nothing, literally nothing for us,” said Monica Weinle, whose house would be impacted by the interchange.

The move is unprecedented. Because highways fall under federal jurisdiction, changes in Ohio like the interchange are supposed to go through the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and the Department of Transportation. When a proposal was previously submitted through these established channels, it was rejected.

“This has never happened as far as I'm aware,” said Hanek. “And what it would lead to is essentially, entire communities throughout the country anywhere in a highway or anywhere in Ohio, being able to just wipe out areas and other communities without any say.”

Since Gov. Mike DeWine signed the budget, Brunswick residents on the border of Strongsville have been left in the lurch. Although no final plan has been made publicly available, a preliminary study commissioned by Strongsville and conducted by Euthenics Inc., a Strongsville-based civil engineering company, looked at the, “impact and feasibility of five alternatives for providing access to I-71 from Boston Rd.”

The report estimates that up to 14 households will have to relocate, though residents say they have their doubts that the number won’t be higher. Neighbors, many of whom are retired and live on fixed income, say housing rates will plummet, leaving them trapped.

“The majority of the community, they're all on fixed incomes,” said Brunswick resident Crystal Riedel, who might lose her house. “Everyone around us is on Social Security, for the most part, and they're going to lose everything.”

The report, as Cleveland.com's Steve Litt noted, used modeling softward to determine that the new interchange wouldn't even solve the problem that Strongsville wants solved — traffic on Route 82: "The study indicates that a new interchange at Boston Road wouldn’t improve conditions 2.5 miles to the north at the intersection of Howe Road and State Route 82."

Riedel says she and her husband only found out about plans for the interchange when a Fox 8 reporter showed up at their house for comment.

“The way we found out is just unbelievably underhanded and slimy,” Riedel said. “We had no idea whatsoever. It was never brought to a vote for the city. The city council was blindsided.”

Ed Radzyminski has lived in his home for 23 years but will likely be forced to leave because of the interchange.

“We have celebrated life here. Births and deaths and weddings and holidays,” Radzyminski said. “We have that emotional value, that emotional connection. Our life is contained within these walls.”

At 69 years old, Radzyminski has been retired for seven years and lives on fixed income. Over the 23 years he and his wife have lived in their home, Radzyminski says they’ve invested a lot of time and money.

“Well, we chose to invest in our home because that's our happy place,” said Radzyminski. “And where are we going to go?”

But the neighborhood’s problems go beyond relocations. For those who won’t lose their houses, residents worry their homes will be drastically devalued and that with induced demand the road will see expansion and more development — gas stations, etc.

“The impact of having that much traffic on a residential road alone is going to impact all the residents on this road in one way shape or form,” said Weinle. “In fact, it would be impossible to sell my house right now…if I wanted to sell my house right now, I would probably have to take a $75,000 hit.”

Residents are also concerned about the Buckeye Pipeline, which carries fuel through many yards in the neighborhood. In order to widen the road, the pipeline may be relocated, which will be both expensive and complicated.
Two decades ago, Buckeye Partners — the company that owns the pipeline —estimated that relocation of 1.7 miles of the pipeline would cost $2.5 million. The ODOT Office of Estimating pegged that, in 2023, that relocation would cost $5.5 million, according to the report.

“That pipeline is going to literally be probably 12 feet from my front door,” said Weinle, whose yard the pipeline runs through, “and I don't know about anybody else but that doesn't seem safe to me.”

Neighbors echoed similar concerns, several of whom cited the chemicals released by train derailment in East Palestine as a fear.

Despite all of these concerns, the report doesn’t identify any. Under the question, “Are there any specific property owner concerns?” the report simply states, “Not known.” All of the property owners who spoke to Scene for this piece detailed many concerns.

The report also gives little information about the interchange’s impact on local wildlife. While it briefly notes that, “Suitable wooded habitat for bats was also identified on both sides of I-71,” it declines to elaborate on further details, instead saying that more research is needed to know how the interchange could affect wetlands, threatened or endangered species and environmental justice.

Neighborhood residents say that, being situated between a lake and a pond, many animals like geese and common snapping turtles would be affected.

“If you increase traffic, not only are you going to kill animals, people are going to get hurt because people are going to try to stop,” Weinle said. “We've had a dump truck try to stop so it wouldn't hit the animals and it came into my front yard, hit my drainage ditch and ended up into the neighbor's front yard. We've had a car rollover”

The city of Brunswick might also have to foot the bill for relocating that pipeline and other improvements to the road.

“We also worry that it could possibly bankrupt the city with all the expenses,” said Brunswick resident Shrea Kellums, who will likely lose her house to the interchange.

Amid all of these issues but without precedent to follow, residents have found little recourse. At Strongsville City Council meetings, Brunswick residents have been unsuccessful in getting answers or help. Several residents who will be directly impacted say they write to DeWine daily, without response.

Every Brunswick resident interviewed by Scene said they want DeWine to visit their neighborhood to see what the interchange will destroy, and many have personally invited the governor.

“He needs to come talk with us,” said Kellums. “I’m very disappointed. I’ve been real pleased with him as a governor, but now I’m very, very disappointed.”

Brunswick city leaders say they’re fighting the interchange and are also appealing to Columbus to intercede.

“I'm going to literally throw everything I can against the wall,” Hanek said. “We are looking heavily at litigation. We are encouraging the state legislature and the governor to understand more about what they're doing and why this is a bad idea. I am shocked about the nature of both our government and the Ohio legislature.

Patton and Strongsville City Council members did not respond to interview requests for this piece.

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