02/11/1997 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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The landscape buffers will be in excess of those required for commercial, there will be a 40 foot zone adjacent to Columbia Road, Niitchell, Westview; and Linda Drives; this landscape zone could be deeded to the individual residential properties, if the owners so desired. . This would be landscaped by the developers, with some existing trees being saved and different varieties of shade trees being added, as well as a berm area that would form from the back side of these trees to the curb line, with a six foot high board on board or shadow box fence on top. Access to this property would be across from the entrance drive of Wal Mart with two right in and right out only drives, one in front of Home Depot and one in front of retail store "A". The buildings have been rotated so that the service areas faced out toward the road with landscape screening to block the view from Brookpark Road and the service area for retail "A" would be in the back, Home Depot would have its service area on the south east corner of the building., Mr. Corsi then presented a seven minute video tape extolling the vurtues of Home Depot, America's largest home improvement retailer, which went on to explain the what this store can do for the customer. In 14 years Home Depot has grown from three stores in Atlanta to a projected 264 by the end of 1994 and by 1996 they expect to operate over 500 stores and employ over 90,000 people. It was stated that one of the advantages of Home Depot was expertise of the employees and the job opportunities that were provided to the area explaining that no one worked for miniinum wages and the benefits were one of the best in retailing, including stock benefits. It fiuther stated what a tremendous asset this would be to a community and that many small specialty stores and hardware stores would t,hrive because they will have their own niche in the market. (A member of the audience asked that the tape be turned off so that the zoning issues could be discussed). The tape continued by mentioning the community service provided by Home Depot employees, and concluded by stating the Home Depot was a lot more than just a retailer, since the words value and commitment go beyond the products and services that are offered. Mr. Corsi introduced Mr. R. Hill, a city planner, giving his extensive references. Mr. H'ill stated that he was trying to provide some good information for the commission's deliberation. He listed the three land uses that would be possible on this site: multi family; office; and retail business. The city planners had concerned with these findings since the comprehensive plan, stated that parcel "E." (site no. 37), the best and primary use would be Mixed Use, Office, Multiple Residence and Senior Housing. Regarding an acceptable altemate future land use, this plan indicates ancillary retail. and service. So basically, the city planners had identified the same three uses as his company had. Parcel "E" is presently zoned for office use and, similar to what is being developed 'm Independence, would allow a four story, (48 to 50 feet high) with 20,000 square feet per flour and would require 280 parking spaces (a land area of 4.5 acres). North Olmsted lies in the west suburban market area where the annual office absorption has been about 50,000 square feet per year, but this would be for the whole southwest office market; North Olmsted's comprehensive plan indicates-that North Olmsted's share of office in the area is about one- third of the totaL So about 15,000 to 16,000 square feet can be expected to be developed in North Olmsted. This site could accommodate about four or five office buildings of this size, so it -would take about 5 years, if the whole office market could be captured for one building. In order to secure money for construction, an office building would need to be 60 or 70% pre-leased. The current vacancy rate in the southwest market area is between 17 and 20% and this market is not strong in terms of office development. They have estimated that by the year 2020 there could be about 85 acres of office area within the city of North Olmsted. The Master Plan indicated a build out acreage of office buildings at 90 acres. In 1992 there were 58 acres of office development and the goal would have been a build out of 32 acres to arrive at the build out of 90 acres and over 150 acres of land were identified as office use, so there is five times the amount of land available for oflice use. He stated there is no viable office market in North Olmsted at this time. Parcel `S" use as an office site was tenuous 2