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Ex-mayor objects to lively Ivex plans
(by Barbara Christian - September 17, 2008)
Ex-mayor objects to lively Ivex plans
By BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Former Chagrin Falls Mayor B. Richard Bodwell predicted Monday that his Cleveland Street neighborhood would become like Cleveland's "Flats" if the village's planning commission rezone the Ivex paper-mill property.
Commission members are contemplating new permitted uses for the limited industrial district to include the brewery, restaurant, classic movie theater and lounge, party center, meeting rooms and retail spaces that the new owners, Spillway Partners, are planning for the area.
Planners have detailed each of the uses -- specialty stores, restaurants, brewery, hotel, party center, indoor theater, museum and playground -- with a specified square footage.
Councilman and planning commission member James Watterson said the amended zoning protects the property from becoming a single entity in the future.
Among other points, the zoning, which is on readings before Village Council, requires a new owner to develop at least three of the uses listed.
Spillway Partners, including local residents William Phillips, Darren Wyville and Robert Darden, last month finalized that purchase of the property from the Alcoa Corp. The paper-making plant had been closed for nearly three years.
The multiple uses proposed by the partners and being written by village planners into the limited industrial code follow closely the uses that the mayor's paper-mill citizens committee recommended more than a year ago.
It also was recommended that the historic mill site, the last one remaining in Chagrin Falls, be restored rather than demolished. Mr. Darden told the planning commission that the redevelopment plan calls for saving 95 percent of the buildings on the property. About half of the Ivex property will be left undeveloped, he added.
Mr. Darden said the Spillway development would not become like Cleveland's Flats, which was an entertainment hot spot, any more than the rest of Chagrin Falls is with its many restaurants and bars.
Although on paper the former Ivex building and the new uses could hold over 900 people at one time, there are to be only 100 on-site parking spaces, Mr. Darden pointed out. He did note that he and his partners are negotiating for off-street parking and for shuttle service, but that still would not offer the number spaces that could bring 900 people to the complex at one time.
Mr. Bodwell told planners that the complex would diminish property values. He said he consulted with an area real-estate expert who supported the claim.
He asked planners to drop the new entertainment uses to the limited industrial zoning and allow the property to become a residential development. He said the village also could wait for a new industrial use to be proposed.
Commission chairwoman Nancy Rogoff responded that Alcoa had tried to attract both with no success.
She said a residential developer was interested in building homes on the property. But he did not pick up his purchase option when he found that restrictions and costs, including repair or removal of the dam on the Chagrin River there, would be unprofitable, she added.
Planner Pamela Lange said allowing the property to remain fallow wouldn't be good for the neighborhood. The old mill land needs to become an income-producing property for the village, she said.
Nevertheless, Mr. Bodwell's claims brought applause from a full-house audience of Hamlet Village residents. The senior-living community is next door to the Ivex property, and residents cited noise as a major issue.
Mr. Darden said the complex offers only a small amount of outdoor activity, and there would be no music concerts either inside or outside the buildings.
Hamlet President Marc Benson asked planners to move slowly on the amended zoning. "We are supportive of a project that would be a benefit to Chagrin Falls," he said in a letter he presented to commission members. He asked that they think about incorporating hours of operation to control late-night noise and traffic.
Mrs. Rogoff said the village probably would not be permitted to tell owners how to operate their businesses.
Councilman Richard Subel said Hamlet Village is an important part of Chagrin Falls and advised planners not to do anything to diminish it.
Commission member Patricia Baker said she's sympathetic to Hamlet, but what Mr. Darden and his partners are proposing is exciting.
Before the zoning-use additions become law, Village Council will hold three readings of the amendment and hold a public hearing.
Mr. Watterson pointed out that council will not pass the additional measures until the planning commission offers its recommendations, and it's not ready to do that.
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