02/11/1997 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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retail build.ing and there would be more flexibility. He stated that if the right kind of retailers are put in and if the city stays with the leading edge of the retailing the retail base will not unraveL It can start to unravel if the city is not attuned to what is going on, the city must protect this asset base because so much tax base comes from it. He has studied various neighborhoods where there are properties abutting commercial properties and retail properties and those which are not. He has done several of these studies, and has found that there is no adverse economic experience for home owners who abut retail, even though it is hard to believe, since there are examples in this community where prices are going up at the same general rate where there are homes sitting neart to retail as opposed to those which are not. This experience has been repeated elsewhere. Also the velocity of transactions_ also seems to be about the same. It is harder to determine the niunber of -days houses are on the market, but the general conclusion is that they experieuce similar marketing periods. He has one where it was somewhat faster than those.further away from the retaiL He understands the concerns, of the neighbors and the public officials,. but this plan has perfonnance standards far in excess of what there would be in a normal retail situation. The trade-off is the performance standards, there are obvious advantages to doing so. This developer is offering standards that are usually not given. This is an extremely compatible use, and the results should be better than in terms of economic experience than that has happened along the cu1 de- sacs that butt up the retail on Great Northern Boulevard, and even there has been some price escalation. He advised that there were 57 transactions in the study, there were sales and re-sales, so there were 114 different events that occurred to let them make the judgment of this specific area along with the hundreds of other examples that were there in other studies, and he is comfortable in telling them of his conclusions. . Mr. Corsi stated that this is their response to the concerns and questions that were addressed by the neighbors and the planning commission at the last meeting. It is their desire to utilize this land-for this retail development of a Home Depot store. They believe that this is the best plan with a sensitive eye for buffering and setbacks providing a positive and economic benefit to the schools and the city, and adding another company to the long list of commwrity oriented corporate citizens. Chairman Tallon asked for the residents comments at this time. Ms. Juergens, 24874 Randall Drive, stated that she does not have the credentiaLs that the people hired by Biskind have, but she is. a citizen of North Olmsted and is agauist retail saturation, not retail, just retail saturation. She is concerned that North Olmsted has reached the saturation point, and questioned how it can be determined if there is too little retail, enough retail or too much retail. She presented ' guidelines that would determine how much retail is needed. She explained that according to the Wall Street Journal in January 1996 the national average of square feet of retail space per person was 19 square feet. The City.of Westlake has 65 square feet of retail space per person and she noted that the citizens of Westlake successfully fought a developer who wanted. to add to the Promenade by developing a corner that was zoned for office. This developer had promised to add only upscale stores,. not a"big box". The Westlake Planning Commission, the Mayor, and the citizens did not allow it. There were three main reasons, 1) they did not want an outside developer redesigning their zoning for his financial benefit;- 2) they did not want retail sprawl and traffic nightmares; and 3) Westlake already had three times tlie national average retail space. In 1994 the 'Cuyahoga County Planning Cominission listed the square footage of retail space per person by community and Westlake had 65.5 and 19 was the national average. North Olmsted has 109 square feet for every resident in 1994, since then Wal-Mart, Water Tower Square, and according to the North OlmstedaBuilding-Department the commercial space has gone from 3,700,000 square feet of retail space to over 5 million square. feet of retail space. This space does not include parking lots. There is now 151 square feet of retail space for every North 5