05/27/2003 Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilman McKay voiced that although he does not have a strong objection against the proposal, the city has been asking Wal Mart for years to do something with the storage trailers in their rear parking lot. Last year Wal Mart promised that they would take care of the storage trailers when the 8-year remodel took place this year. This year again they were before Board of Building Code of Appeals for a variance to have 6-storage trailers. It is his opinion the reason Wal Mart is not addressing the trailers is that it might be cheaper in the long run to just continually pay the fines then correct the problem. Less than a month ago there were 10-storage trailers taking up parking spaces in the back lot. When the store was approved, the city stipulated that there would be no sales or storage in the parking areas and they have yet to follow that stipulation. The city has tried to work with Wal Mart. When they had a choice of building a tire center in the back or building a garden center they chose the garden center and we accommodated them. He would like to see Wal Mart cooperate with the city for once. Councilman 1dIiller voiced that he agreed with Mr. McKay and that they have continuously worked together to try to get Wal Mart to address their problems. Wal Mart was granted variances with the understanding that they would no longer have storage trailers outside. They have gone beyond storage trailers to now storing old shelving and the area has become an eye sore. He receives multiple complaints from their neighbors including neighboring business that have patrons that have to view their mess daily. They have also had trouble with trash in their parking lot as well as their neighbor's lots. They have no outdoor trash receptacles on their lot. When the snow finally melted in spring, he thought North Olmsted had become the home for a new type of vegetation. A blue flowered bush, but it turned out to be all the blue Wal Mart bags that had blown across the street onto parcel -E. There were hundreds of bags and they had to arrange for court community service people to come out to clean it up. Not until the Mayor put pressure on Wal Mart did they send out employees on "earth day" to pick up some of their trash, but one day a year is not enough to maintain their lot. Council would appreciate any influence Planning Commission can give in assisting council in getting this matter resolved. Mrs. Hoff-Smith thanked the Councilmen for bring the matter to Planning Commissions attention and steered the question of what could be done to the law department. Councilman McKay returned to address additional safety issues; a). The rear wall buffering the condos to the east is atop a mound which has settled quite a bit and the brick wall is becoming unstable. b). They are placing sale items along the sidewalks to the point that the sidewalks are unable to be used and the patrons are forced to walk in the street to access the store. These issues are dangerous and should be taken care of before we grant Wal Mart anything else. Mrs. O'laourke voiced that she thought that it was against code to sale or display retail items along the sidewalks. Law Department Comments: Mr. O'Malley advised the commission that there was a lengthy history involving the trailers and presently there are cases pending in Rocky River Court. He believes that there has been 14 citations issued for violations. He suggested Wal Mart thought their contractor filed for the variances to have storage trailers on the site for construction purposes. However, their contractor never filed and the trailers were delivered. The building departments enforcement efforts included the citations and making them remove the trailers and go before the Board of Building Code of Appeals. They were granted a variance for 6-trailers during the remodeling period. That does not address all the issues the Councilmen have raised or all the problems. As far as outdoor sales the code does not prohibit outdoor sales but there are limitations on the use of sidewalk area that impedes access. Regarding this Commission including conditions on a set of plans, it often becomes an enforcement dilemma for the building department to enforce, i.e. sidewalk sales, clearance items. He recommends referring the proposal to the Architectural Review Board because it relates to the architectural structure of the building, landscaping displacement, and a certain amount of crowding that is going on. The reason it is so crowed is that their business has been so good to the extent that there is adverse impacts due to their business activities. It would behoove Wal Mart to remove those adverse impacts or try to counter balance them with beautification such as adding garbage cans to help improve the site. 8