08/19/1997 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 8/19/97 to put this issue on the ballot, and they are asking Council for their help to fight this when _ the time comes. Communities all over northern Ohio have gone through what North Olmsted is now experiencing--Tallmadge, Westlake, Chardon and Broadview Hts. to name a few. They have all been successful in their fights with developers because the residents and the city administrations worked together. That is what the residents are asking this administration to do. These developers have all the money they need to get what they want. The residents have the administration, City Council and the Planning Commission. The residents are asking for help to fight this crucial issue. Dorothy Jurgens, 24874 Randall Drive, also spoke as a member of C.A.R.S. She said that according to a January, 1996 article in the Wall Street Journal, "The total supply of retail real estate nationwide is nearly 19 square feet for every man, woman and child. That number is too high; it needs to come down." Last year the citizens of Westlake successfully fought a developer who wanted to rezone land on Crocker Road from office use to retail use. Westlake's Planning Commission, the Council Members, the Mayor and the citizens said, "no way". Why? Because they wanted to stop an outside developer from redesigning Westlake's zoning for his own financial benefit. They wanted to prevent retail sprawl and traffic nightmares. But their most compelling reason was that Westlake already had three times the national average of retail space, 65 square feet for every man woman and child. Westlake got their figures from a 1994 Cuyahoga County Planning Commission report. That same report gives North Olmsted's total square feet of retail space at over 3,700,000. But that was in 1994, and since then we have added Wal-Mart, McCormick Place and Water Tower Square. According to the North Olmsted Building Department, we now have over 5,000,000 square feet of retail space, bring the number to 151 square feet for every person in North Olmsted. That is eight times the national average. If we now have eight times the national average, then how can we possibly justify rezoning Parcel E for more retail space? The Wall Street Journal article headline was "Retail Building Surges Despite Store Glut". Even though the retail experts agree that America has too many stores, why is there a building boom? The article said, "The reason is that discount retailers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot, hungry for additional space, have been building more `big box' or huge warehouse-type stores. At the same time, these discount chains have been by-passing the vacant shopping centers that already dot the nation. The result, real estate experts say, is likely to be rising vacancy rates and worsening financial distress for more aging shopping centers." Last Christmas there were 43 empty stores along Lorain Road, Great Northern Boulevard and the strip mall. Thirty- one of those stores are still vacant. How many more North Olmsted stores will go out of business if a "big box" comes in? As the Wall Street Journal article concludes with this question: "If the `big box' tenant goes out of business, what do you do with that enormous box?" C.A.R.S. believes that we do not have to rezone Parcel E from office to retail and hopes that City Council agrees. Tim Bradford, 25747 Butternut Ridge Road, spoke about the DeLorenzo proposed rezoning or lot split of property behind his home. He has been asking a number of questions of city officials and has not received an answer. He would like to put it on record that he is asking these questions. One question pertains to the golf course. There is a strip of land 75 feet by approximately 550 feet long that is located along the 11th 8 .x.NpA'.~-.tii+~vtyxfiw.-. _.. .~~+,.uw_lP~'xYW/`A?b.N,kA~t` ~,.,:... . . . ....... . .... ....