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old Diclc's sign, Pro Care Sign, Borders/Petland sign being negotiated, all ingress & egress signs, <br />Olmsted Plaza pole signs along Lorain & Great Northern, and vacant pole sign next to east side <br />plaza sign. Signs which will remain on the site are as follows: Ohio Savings, David's Bridle, <br />National City Petland, Borders and Fire Stone Pole/ground signs. Three ground signs will replace <br />those being removed one sign along Brookpark two along Great Northern Blvd. each of which will <br />include the Olmsted Plaza logo. Ms. Wenger questioned if there were a total of 11 signs being <br />removed including ingress & egress, 4 signs remaining as is and 3 new ground/monument signs <br />being added thereby ending up with a total of 8 ground/monument/exiting pole signs maximum for <br />the entire site. Mr. Schill agreed and adyised that the owner would continue to try to negotiate the <br />removal of the remaining signs. <br />Mr. Yager felt that once the other tenants see the new signs they would also want to replace their <br />signs as well. He feels the plan is a vast improvement to the state the site was currently in and <br />suggested that the main entrance may want more dynamic landscaping to call out that it is the main <br />entrance. He is pleased with the number of signs being removed and the fact that more signs will <br />be removed in the future. He believes that the city should be careful of how many criteria are <br />placed on the applicant as they are not required to do any of the improvements they are addressing <br />the site strictly at the request of the City. The proposal is an extremely ambitious effort and will <br />tremendously improve the aesthetic impression of that area of the city. <br />Mr. Bohlmann asked if the applicant would be removing the 3 vacant utility poles along Lorain <br />Road. Ms. Wenger asked for clarification if there was to be landscape irrigation. The applicant <br />indicated that a full time maintenance company would provide irrigation rather than through <br />underground pipes. Mr. Bohlmann thought the expense would be minimal if there was an existing <br />waterline which could be tapped into along Lorain Road or behind the plaza. Mr. Schill said he <br />would discuss the utility pole issue with CEI. He suggested the water line to the Firestone building <br />was a 1-inch line and could not handle an irrigation system. The owner hired an engineer to look <br />into irrigating the site but the expense involved to irrigate the entire site was astronomical and is <br />not needed as there is a maintenance worker at the site every day that has a watering truck. Along <br />Lorain Road there will be a 5-foot strip of concrete pavers which will look like brick pavers. <br />Along Brookpark Road the existing landscaping will be augmented with mounds, additional trees, <br />and annual plating areas and atop the mounds will be boxwood hedges and dwarf Korean lilacs to <br />screen the parking lot. There will be a uniform 20-foot landscape strip added along the entire <br />length of Great Northern Blvd. Within the strip there will be rolling mounds with trees and shrubs <br />atop of it to soften the parking lots appearance. <br />Mr. Malone reviewed that the center entrance to the site shows landscaping on either sides of the <br />drive and currently has burning bushes which are in very poor condition and suggested removing <br />them and replacing them with boxwoods. He preferred Korean boxwoods (winter-gems) be used <br />throughout the site as they are heartier than common boxwoods. Discussion was had over the <br />preference between stamped concrete and brick pavers. <br />Mr. Schill suggested a performance standard be created to require the city forester to inspect the <br />site quarterly. Mr. Conway advised that there were currently city codes in place which mandates <br />that landscaping plans once approved must be maintained and replaced if it dies out. Mr. Maloney <br />believed if there were codes to ensure the landscaping would be maintained and due to the <br />applicants past history of maintaining his lot he personally would be comfortable approving or <br />recommending an irrigation variance be sought. Although Mr. Bohlmann was in favor of updating <br />the site as it would be a vast improvement from what is currently there he could not justify city <br />codes not being followed. Mr. Conway reviewed that city codes require an underground irrigation <br />system and the applicants propose irrigation just not under ground. They state that there will be a <br />6