07/27/1993 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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July 21, 1993 Bethia Kummer 4845 Porter Road North Olmsted, OH 44070 Mayor Ed Boy1e North Olmsted City Hall 5200 Dover Cent:er Road North Olmsted, OH 44070 Dear Mayor Boyle: I am writing in regard to the proposed Wal-Mart store at the corner of Lorain and Dover Center Roads. Recently, the residents of North Olmsted voted to build the Crocker- Bassett extension, in order to alleviate traffic on our narrow, residential streets between I-90 and I-480. At the Planning Commission meeting July 6, 1993, the owner of property at the corner of Whitethorn and Lorain Roads was refused approval of his plan to build an ice cream parlor on that site because of two reasons, as I understood: 1) There is a code stating there must be a buffer of at least twenty feet between Lorain Road and his private parking area; 2) There can be no entrance from Whitethorn Road. The above stated instances show that our city is taking real steps toward a safer and more pleasant environment for its residents. The fact that it could be possible for a retail enterprise the size of Wal-Mart, a far cry from an ice cream parlor, to build on the proposed site, a narrow lot wedged into an already congested intersection and surrounded by narrow residential streets, is a steQ backward, toward a more dangerous and less pleasant environment for our residents. Mz Roger Newberry, the representative hired by Wal-Mart, freely admits that this plan on this site is not ideal for a Wal-Mart store. Yet, he seems to think traffic lights along Mill Road at Dover Center and Porter would alleviate additional traffic on these streets. A traffic light on Porter Road would serve only to back up five to ten cars every minute, all day long, on this narrow, completely residential street. When Porter Road becomes a bottleneck, people from Westlake, Bay Village and Avon wi11 cut througn Iriartin Drive, Nortn rark aad East Park, rather thar, g_t stuek on Porter, creating new traffic on these narrow, residential streets which are now quiet. The proposed site is less than one-half mile from two public elementary schools, two parochial elementary schools, and a high school. It is also less than one-half mile from North Olmsted Park, with a playground, soccer fields and four baseball diamonds, and a nature trail built only last year. We want the streets around this park to remain quiet and safe for our children. We worry that once Wal-Mart is built, they will continue to try to get access from Mill Road, widen these residential streets, or buy up other properties, in order to better their store, at our expense. The proposed site is too small for the tremendous business we know Wal-Mart to be. Let them start out with a site large enough to accomodate such a store.