02/11/1997 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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gas lights. Wal Mart put a sidewalk in on Brookpark Road, and stopped at their.. property, their sidewalk is only about two feet from many elderly peoples windows and doors. Those people are almost terrified because'of what is happening, and Wal-Mart has only been in for a few months. This will happen across the street too. Retail brings erime. Whose responsibility is it if one of their people gets hurt or their home get broken into? She asked that the commission listen to the people of North Olmsted since they have their fill, especially this area. Mr. J: Thomas, Wild Oak Drive, who stated that he lives on the far west side and will not be affected by this development. He understands that they may be seeking a referendum should the city not peimit you to rezone. He stated that the sentiment on the far west end of North Olmsted which is not imTediately affected by the development is totally against any rezoning, either that property or any other properiy to retail. He stated that he had been one of the members of plauuiug commissiou who authored the Master Plan that they were involcing earlier on. He stated he found it interesting when the developer invoked our Master Plan to support their position, because the Master Plan was intended to support the position of a planned and compatible development. He stated that they are doing sometlung that many of our politicians do, they invoke tlie Master Plan when it benefits them and ignore it when it does not benefit them. This is going to benefit his position, even though it is not something he adheres to, the Master Plan is only a guide, so do not take it seriously. Thirdly, there was an interesting statistic, since one of the developers stated that they had no personal experience with the amount of crime that accompanied retail square footage. -The County Planning Commission provided statistics on this and advised that there is an average of 20% higher crime per square foot of retail than any other development. Those statistics were given to them about 3 years ago and he does not know if they are current now, but he does not think that crime has reduced that much over the.past few years. . Mr. Skoulis, president of the Park West Homeowners' Association, stated that the real issue tonight is whether or not Parcel "E" should be rezoned to retail use. The issue is not what a good deal it is going to be for use if this land is developed, it is not about how good a company Home Depot is, anything other " than the question of whether or not Parcel "E" should be rezoned retail, is immaterial. The commission has to consider what the developer has to say about his reasons for asking for rezoning, what the real reasons are, and then you have to listen, to our reasons as to why we do not want it rezoned. Several people have told why they did -not want it rezoned, but there are a number of other reasons why this property should not be rezoned that have not been brought out yet which he will bring out later on. He stated that the developers asked for time for rebuttal, but he has not heard any rebuttaL Now he wants to give his rebuttal to what they (the developers) said at the last planning commission meeting. During that meeting there was something wrong with the sound system, and he could not hear everything that was being said. Some of the experts were droning on and on and mumbling, particularly the tra$?ic expert and it was difficult to keep up with everything that was, being said. It was not until he read the verbatim minutes of that September 24th meeting when he realized what actually what had been said, arid he found a number of statements that he did not agree with and wants to address them this evening. He stated that the developers' representatives passed over some very important issues as though they were nothing, and he wanted to dwell on some of those things because they are very important to the rezoning of Parcel "E". The first statement was made by Mr. Richardson, (apparently one. of the reasons for asking for the rezoning) and he noted that Mr. Richardson is not with Biskind Development, he is with Forest City Enterprises, Biskind Development is not going to be the developer of this land, they are just going to sell this land at a profit. So tlieir people getting up and talking about what a good deal Home Depot is means nothing to them, they, are going to sell the land and walk away from here and leave us with all of the tliings that they have created by rezoning the land and we are going to have to live with it for the rest of our lives, as long as we live here. Mr. Richardson said if the 13