11/28/2006 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Public Hearing, Ordinance No. 2006-164 November 28, 2006 less just in what it would cost to redo the property. The average acreage in N. Olmsted is mazketed about sixty to seventy-five thousand dollazs an acre for industrial use. The residential market is not good-there are not a lot of developers buying residentially zoned property, especially a U shaped small property like this one. The price is probably about thirty to fifty thousand dollars an acre. An office user could build a new building, at a better location, for the same price of purchasing and renovating it to office use. 4) Bob Fortney, owns Fortney & Weygandt, located right next door to the former Space Age building. He is probably the potential buyer they aze talking about as he has signed a letter of intent. His company wants that property to expand their operations and do other things with it. He is not quite sure exactly what the use will be, but they do not want it limited to Office Residential, especially with the warehousing complex there. Rezoning the property will affect if they buy the property and what they do with it and how Fortney & Weygandt develops further. They have been along-term tenant in North Olmsted, have been growing, and have every desire to stay here. But they need to have more territory to grow; they need that property. 5) Therese Sweeney Drake said this is about the job creation ability. If it isn't Mr. Fortney's company, it is another company that's going to bring real jobs to the city along with keeping the real property tax base at the value it is now-if not higher. Also, there will be income tax generated by having a new company move into that building. 6) Eric Turon, 5734 Barton Road, is concerned about the traffic issue. The rezoning will cause more traffic in the area which is difficult during soccer days as it is. Also, he is concerned about safety of the children playing at the soccer field. 7) Janet Dorn, 30990 Bradley Road, lives directly across the street from the vacant parcel owned by ATL Holdings. For the record, none of the residents on the street have requested a change from Light Industry. 8) John Thomas, Wild Oak Drive, lives directly behind Mr. Fortney's business. His business is one of the jewels of North Olmsted. They have amulti-million dollar payroll which generates hundreds of thousands in income tax to North Olmsted as well as additional financial investment from his customers. One of the unfortunate issues of the rezoning is the restriction on existing businesses from expansion. Fortney & Weygandt has expanded gradually but dramatically over the past 20 years. It is going to need additional property to expand, going to need additional resources from the city to expand. It is one of those businesses that is Monday through Friday-very clean, very limited traffic-and the kind of business North Olmsted desires. We need to do something to accommodate businesses like this. If we don't accommodate businesses of that size and that kind of investment in the city, we're not going to attract new businesses like that and we're not going to attract other businesses that will feel some kind of kinship to a business like Fortney & Weygandt. We need to allow companies like Mr. Fortney's to expand their business base. In all the years they have been here, they have exhibited themselves as good citizens. His neighborhood of Timber Trails knows the stability of having professional businesses around them. The lack of traffic that is generated from 3