11/12/2002 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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there that doesn't cause such a hardship on the residents. She mentioned the speakers creating a noise problem. It will do damage to their property values. Mr. Jeff Sturgeon of Clague Road addressed the board. He said the traffic will be a nightmare. It was bad before the project and it is still a nightmare. He referred to the 2 lanes that Mrs. Smith mentioned. He said it is a drag race. He said where they propose to put a dumpster it appears to be within 10 feet of an apartment building. He mentioned previous meetings when CVS came through back in 1999. The board wanted a removable fence at that time. He said that fence stops for 15 feet away from where the ditch could be maintained. It has not been maintained since and he does not know why they didn't finish the fence. He mentioned Officer Manning, who was with the North Olmsted police, and who said at the time he did not want a fence going across there. He was concerned about crime and blocking that area in. Mr. Sturgeon said with regard to deliveries, he believes Clague Rd. is a no truck road. He asked if they will have trucks going down Clague and wondered if there is a variance they have to apply for. He mentioned the irrigation issue. Any storm sewer or water they do have will run into the ditch where they want to extend the fence. He showed pictures to the board members and pointed out where people's yards are flooded. He said that area will have to be maintained. He pointed out the county is aware of the problem. The county recommended digging it out and maintaining the area. He said there is no place to dump any more water. He then asked how close a drive-through can be to a resident. He said another concern is the smell. He said that CVS put up a fence and it looks terrible. He explained that by his backyard the fence is 4 feet high because there used to be a ditch there. He said before they filled the ditch in, the fence went up. The property is not graded right at all. The fence is 6 feet on one side but because of the grade there is a big drop to it. He suggested looking back at the minutes to see why it was recommended and why it wasn't all fenced in. It was not fenced in because the police wanted better access. Mrs. Phyllis Sturgeon of Clague came forward and said when they came to meetings for the CVS project everything was approved. She said when they came out to do the work there was no grading. She referred to the pictures of the ditch, which she e-mailed to the state board of health, and said the residents have to live with that. She showed the board members the property on the other side of her fence. The drains are higher. She said the city just put a draui in her front yard. The water runs under the fence and into her yard. She said the drain from her front yard is draining into the ditch. She could not have a fence run the length of property because the city told her the ditch had to be cleaned out regularly. Mrs. O'Rourke asked if the situation is worse since CVS went in. Mrs. Sturgeon replied it is worse. She mentioned she had 4 dead birds in her yard this suminer. Mr. Koeth indicated she has to direct those issues to the engineering department. Mrs. Sturgeon said when she goes to pull in her driveway, she looks in her rear view mirror worrying if she will be rear-ended. She knows it will happen one day. She has witnessed road rage in that area and hears bad language constantly. She said part of her property was taken for the road widening which was supposed to alleviate some of the traffic and now it will be even worse. She said when she goes to pull in her driveway she can tie up traffic across Lorain Rd. She asked what will happen when Wendy's goes in. Mr. Allan said when you have a piece of real estate that is a round hole you need to fit it with a round peg. There are so many variances required with this proposal that it is unbelievable and it doesn't make any sense. He said he agrees with the residents. He lives in the area and goes down Clague 2-6 times a day and the traffic is horrendous. The proposal certainly needs to be sent for a traffic survey so the numbers will back up his opinion but, with the number of variances requested and the input from the residents, there is no way on his watch will he ever vote for it. Mr. Spalding indicated he is very familiar with Clague Rd. and agrees with the traffic issues. He said because of the traffic situation, where they are proposing to put the Wendy's is an impossible situation. Another type of commercial facility is the only thing that can go in there. To have the traffic that they are proposing is impractical and is, in fact, a safety hazard. Mr. Willse said that relative to traffic counts, they have factual numbers on what the estimate is in terms of unit, and volume. He said he would like to hear how many cars the residents think go through there every day. He said there are close to 40,000 cars that travel there in a 24 hour period. They do not open until 10:30 a.m. They have an average of 4,500 customers per week. That translates into a little over 200 cars per day. In the grand scheme of traffic volumes on the reports he has received from O.D.O.T. it is not bad. It is important to look at the hard facts instead of what we think the impact is going to be. A little over 200 cars per day spread over almost 12 hours of business operation, the impact should be considered minimal. Mrs. Hoff-Smith said that the 200 car figure does not help her at all. That tells her about 100 of them will be there between 5:30 and 6:30 during rush hour. Mr. Willse said the peak hours are between 3:00 and 4:00 on Clague. A resident asked Mr. Willse if he ever had to wait 5-10 minutes to get out of his driveway. Mr. Willse said he was trying to go northbound on Clague about 5 times within the past week. He does not know if there are issues with the timing of the lights but there were several times where he sat there for over 5 minutes where the light was not even turning green in the northbound direction. He said perhaps that can be addressed and be improved. Mrs. Hoff-Smith asked if Wendy's considered any other sites in the city. W. Willse said they have not. A 1-acre parcel is typical of a Wendy's development. He knows the North Olmsted code is for 1.5 as it relates to free standing restaurants but this is typical of a standard Wendy's. W. 15