09/16/2008 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Council Minutes of 9/16/2008 U Olmsted Auto Collection Lotus dealership located on P. P. Number 234-24-006 on Lorain Road subject to the recommendations of all boards and commissions. The committee motion was seconded by Council Member Dailey Jones and passed 3-0. Councilman Barker moved to approve COMS08-13, North Olmsted Auto Collection the Lotus dealership located at P. P. Number 234-24-006 on the south side of Lorain Road subject to all boards and commissions recommendations and approvals. The motion was seconded by Councilman Barker. Roll call: Barker, yes; Gareau, yes, with comment that most people don't know that there was some time ago a discussion about this entire campus moving to Westlake, which would have left North Olmsted with two vacant buildings formerly utilized by car dealerships. The administration sat down and had a good. dialogue with the owner of this campus about why it was good to be here in North Olmsted and what North Olmsted could offer. He knows that some people scoffed at the idea that this Mercedes dealership was being built. But he thinks it is architecturally one of the more innovative buildings we have in North Olmsted, right up to including the waterfall which is visible at night when the lights are on. It shows what kind of retail we can have on Lorain Road. Some would scoff at the car dealership, but it's innovative. It draws people from all over northern Ohio. A Lotus dealership, a Saab dealership, a Porsche dealership, and a Mercedes-Benz dealership are not located 10 miles apart. And people aze coming to North Olmsted. We want to get them here, spend their money here, drive back down Lorain Road and hit Great Northern Mall and drop some cash over there too. That's a good thing for North Olmsted. Thank you to the administration for its hard work on it. His vote is yes. Roll call continued: Kearney, yes; Mahoney, yes; Orlowski, yes; Ryan, yes, with comment that he wasn't scoffing at it. He was amazed that people have that kind of money to buy the cars with the economy the way it is. He hopes it wasn't taken that way. Councilman Gareau said it had nothing to do with a member of this City Council at all. The motion passed unanimously. • COMS08-06, Hampton Inn on the southwest corner of Country Club and Columbia Road. Representing the Hampton Inn were Mr. Greg Baka of Relevant Real properties and Mr. Jeffrey Kerr of Atwell-Hicks. This proposal consists of a new 94-room hotel to be constructed on the vacant parcel at the southwest corner of Country Club Boulevard and Columbia Road. The hotel will be developed on the western portion of the site, with the remainder of the site to remain vacant for possible future development. The hotel will be approximately 300 feet from Columbia Road. The parcel is zoned for mixed use and is also subject to various deed restrictions to which the city is a party that impact the development. The property can only be developed for office or hotel, no retail is permitted; maximum height is four stories; required 50-foot landscape buffer along any residential frontage; and no driveway access to Columbia Road. In addition to zoning requirements, the proposal meets all of the deed restrictions. The building is four stories tall and will be constructed of split face block, brick and EIFS. New landscaping is proposed in the areas to be cleared for the hotel and site improvements. Trees will remain in the area, which is undeveloped, and some will be saved along the I-480 right-of--way. A 7-foot wide by 50-foot 9