06/22/1993 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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adjacent parking lot was zoned comnercial. Mr. Thomas believed that it would be detrimental to Mr. Benik's business if the Commission did not provide some access other than the ane an Lorain Road. He advised Mr. Benik that the Commission has rejected similar accesses for other businesses, and there is a concern that every time a variance is granted a precedcnt is set for other businesses which could have a greater impact. Mr. Benik had no problem with a conditional variance, however he questioned why the access was taken away without any notification to the owners, and wondered why this access- was not grandfathered in. Mr: Thomas stated that had been approved by the city originally, it would ha.ve been grandfathered, but it was never.an offieial accesso Mr. Skoulis also expressed concern about setting a precedent. -Mr. Dubclko adVised that the members did not have to be overly concerned about- setting precedents, the nature of granting varianees is that any variance should be tmique to the property on which it is being requested, and this is a very small, irregularly shaped lot, without much frontage on'Lorain and there ar.e unique aspects of this lot that are not likely to be duplicated on another lot in the city. H(* further explained that the standard for granting a variance is a practical difficulty or hardship and the owner would have to demonstrate that as would the owner of another lot. Mr. Thomas believed that the na,ture of zhis business would permit the Commission to recommend that variances be granted.- It was clarified that this proposal would return to the Commission after being heard by the Board of Zoning Appeals. Mr.: Conway advised that the lot is about 15,000 square fPet and the building will not cover the 25% of the lot which is the max;,mm, coverage allowed, and he advised Mr. Skoulis that only the serving area or seating would determine the rnnnber of parking spaces, not the area of the entire bui.lding. In this case, he will have to hold the serving area to 1,000 square .feet, because only 20 parking spaces can be provided. In reference to the site plan; N1r. Thomas suggested landbanking the last parking space (marked 9 by 18 on the plan) and opening up the landbanked- spaces in front of the building sinae many customers will not observe the ane way drive and will cut through to get to the front spaces on Whitethorn thus makYng the Whitethorn entrance the main access°instead of the Lorain Road access. Mr. Benik clarified that the front door would probably be on the east side of the building, and he would be willing ?to landbank all three parking spaces. Vice Chairman Orlowski suggested openi.ng the eastern most space and curbirg the drive to identify the traffic pattern, the western space could remain landbanked. If there is enough space, Mr. Benik intended to put an island on the Whitethorn drive to direct traffic to the front of the.building. Mr. Thomas believed that the front one way drive should be from west to east so that traffic entering from Lorain could drive directly to the main parking area and Lorain Road drive be increased to a triple access with two ingress lanes and one egress. Mr. Benik explained'that the front of the buil'ding would be glass, the ma,jority of the east side would be glass, the west wall will be glass for about a quarter to a third back and the rear will be riostly brick with the drive thru pick up window on the east wall. Vice Chairman Or]_owski is concerned because traffic entering from the west drive would have to cross over exiting traffic to get into the drive thru. Mre Benik explained that this is one way all around the building and.the Lorain exit wou3d only be for people who, wanted to- go directl,y, out onto Lorain at certain times of the day when it is possible to turn left. Mr. Thomas agreed, but- is concerned that if the Whitethorn access is the ma.in entrance, most of the traffic will be introduced into the crosswalk on Whitethorn. Mr. Skoulis and Mr. Benik discussed the traffic Fattern privately. Mr. Benik noted that the area with no parking spaces was left open because there would not be enough room to back out. Mr. Thomas stated that if the garking spaces on the east are angled, drivers entering from Whitethorn could not use them without driving all the taay around 2