12/15/1998 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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the Crocker/Detroit Westlake store, at 68,000 sq.ft. and the Center Ridge Rocky River store, at under 80,000 sq. ft. They have everything from food to toys to clothing to video tapes, a pharmacy, a bank, and more! And you are proposing a much larger store than those two. In fact, you are proposing possibly the largest "grocery store" in the suburban Cleveland area, to my knowledge! Ms. Sponholz used the term "neighborhood grocery" when speaking with me. At 95,000 sq.ft., this is closer to a superstore than the 60,000 sq.ft. store at Great Northern. The residents at that meeting accepted your promise of low volume, category retailing, and now feel you did not hold to your promise. Can you see why? , 5. Regarding the verbal agreement, proposed by Carnegie Management at the October 2'~ 1994 Planning Commission Meeting, to limit the size of any store to 80,000 sq.ft., some residents have been advised by lawyers that a verbal agreement, made before witnesses, is binding. We could get a restraining order for $100. We would then have to proceed in the courts, though, and none of us are in financial positions to take on something of that nature. Our city seems afraid to take a stand regarding this agreement, as it was made between Carnegie and the residents, and neither can our city afford legal proceedings. That is why many residents feel this is a losing battle for them, since, right or wrong, your business is more powerful than we are now. I am asking you to look at the above four points/questions, answer them fully and reconsider, for the sake of these residents who already shop at vour store. 6. This is directed to my elected city officials; I have many questions. Mustn't you look at possible future problems caused by a store of this size? Are you prepared for the congestion at Lorain and Dover Center Roads, not to mention Porter/Mill? Do you acknowledge how this will affect North Park Drive residents turning north onto Porter Rd.? I f I am not mistaken, the North Park/Porter intersection now has a "C" rating. is the city financially prepared to put up more traffic lights around the area, to cause more congestion and public unrest? Mr. Pappandreas mentioned some 830 "trip-ins" -- is this to be accepted as fact? The store will be 1 /3 larger than any other nearby store. From what.does he base his figures? A resident of Rocky River, whose property borders their Giant Eagle, came to the fast Planning Commission meeting with true stories regarding difficulties during daily occurrences with that store. Is our city willing to take a chance on that? More and more (feel cities like Bay Village and Westlake want a certain quality of life for their residents and go to bat for it. I don't want to move. I love my yard, the schools and friends. We worked very hard four years ago to achieve a goal. We thought we had achieved it. Not one of our elected officials offered to tell us what was happening with the agreement we made. The city should protect that agreement and its longtime residents. We are trying every angle. We appeal to Giant Eagle, to care about the North Olmsted clientele they already have. We appeal to Carnegie Management, to hold up their end of the deaf, and we appeal to the city to try to help all of us. Please take the time to answer my questions. Very sincerely and respectfully, Bethia Kummer