05/30/2001 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

l .? of Zoning Appeals motion and they granted the variances upon that condition. Mr. Crook indicated that the inaterials weren't anything unusual; white split face, a smooth ground face tan ban, white E.F.I. S., and then the red E.F.I. S. Mr. Zergott questioned if any E.F.I. S. material would coine down to the ground and if not how low is the lowest E.F.I.S. Mr. Crook explained it doesn't come down to the ground in any places and the lowest it comes down to is 10 ft. off the ground. Mx. Crook passed out photographs of a recently completed Tops prototype store. Mr. Yager questioned if they had an elevation of the fence between Leenders Ln. and Tops. Mr. Olson indicated that they had extended that fence to a height of 8 ft. Mr. Yager questioned if the fire department had reviewed this. Mr. Conway replied absolutely. Mr. Yager replied good, so they don't need the loop. Mr. Crook commented that the trucks would not be going to the north of the parking lot. They will T turn and swing their end in up to the truck dock from the most western entrance. 1VIi-. Yager complimented the area between the neighbors and Tops; he would like to see that kept green with landscape buffer. Mr. Zergott questioned where the new fence would be placed and inquired if they would lose a number of trees. Mr. Crook indicated that it might be a step back and they will try to avoid loosing trees. In reality there is not much room to the top of the embankment. Mr. Zergott questioned if the neighbors realize that by the time they start putting the footers in for the brick pilasters it's going to destroy more trees. Mr. Olson agreed with the residents to use an arborist because some of the same concerns did come up in the meetings with the neighbors. Mr. Zergott recommended Dave Wendell, the City Forester, to spend some time with that because he is very concerned with all the trees in the City. Mr. Yager questioned the "Food and Pliarmacy" sign on the right side of the entrance. He would recommend putting that on the left side of the entrance and delete the word food from that because everybody knows Tops is a place to buy groceries. He would have them look at Babies R Us for the windows because they are also far off of Lorain Rd. and they chose to raise their fagade and put in a larger expanse of windows to draw attention to themselves from Lorain. I,ooking at this building, when it was Gold Circle and Ames it was always so quite, and here is an opportunity where if you raise the windows up almost to the height of where those archways are, you would start to enjoy a better impression and a more visible environment both day and night. The Tops in Westlake has beautiful little market style canopies and he was hoping he would be seeing that kind of character here. He questioned why they didn't consider those homey touches, they really draw people in. The white will be very effective for you, but he would re-think the red. It is a corporate red, but it is the same look as the Guitar Center right across the street from it. He questioned why the rooftop units were in the rear of the building instead of more forward where the roof juts up higher, but if the uriits can't be seen from Brookpark or the residents homes he's O.K. with them. Mr. Crook indicated that the large units would be up about 8 ft. Mr. Saenger commented that if the rooftop units were visible they would be properly screened. Ms. Schulz questioned if the extra retail would be built at the same time as Tops. Mr. Olson indicated that the intention is yes, but until they get through the approval process they will not have a signed agreeinent. The out parcel is tagged for a restaurant. Mr. Zergott questioned if they would bring in the out parcel as a separate submittal since there was no architectural pictures of it. Mr. Olson replied yes. Mr. Yager commented that he thought this project would help Tops and really help Brookpark Ext. all together. Mr. -Zergott questioned if they were that tight on parking spaces that they couldn't jazz up the parking lot with planting beds at all and break up that large expanse of parking with some islands. Ms. Schuiz indicated that they had something like 33 extra parking spaces shown: Mr. Zergott commented that he would love to see the parking ]ot broken up with some trees and beds. Take a drive by some of your competitors in this City and see how they broke up that parking area, which they did a nice job with. Mr. Limpert commented that he thought they did a wonderful job buffering the neighbors to the north, but is there anything they can do to beef up the landscaping along Brookpark Ext. Mr. Zergott agreed. He indicated that if they could come in with a better landscape design, the City won't hold them up longer, but he would make it a point to come in and O.K. it. Mr. Yager commented that 4