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Nursing-home plan returns after three years
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - September 22, 2010)
Nursing-home plan returns after three years
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
The devil is in the details, and those details are making for a long process in approval of a nursing home in Munson Township.
Munson zoning officials have been looking at the possible creation of an 108-bed nursing home at the southeast end of the Heather Hill property at Bass Lake and Mayfield (Route 322) roads.
The project was brought to the township in 2007, then halted while a civil lawsuit was resolved and was back before officials last week.
Discussions last week centered on the amount of parking that would be available for visitors and workers at the nursing home, which has been proposed by Geauga Quality Long-Term Care, of Twinsburg, for a 10.62-acre site.
Munson Zoning Inspector Timothy Kearns said officials were attempting to learn whether nursing-home proponents would choose to follow soon-to-be defunct parking requirements or build according to new requirements.
He said Township Trustees enacted the new parking requirements last week, but they do not take effect until 30 days after approval. Under the old requirements, the nursing home could install 120 parking spaces. The new requirements would allow for 70 spaces.
The idea behind the new requirements, Mr. Kearns said, is to provide less asphalt coverage of lots. He said it makes sense for the nursing home, because it is unlikely that all visitors will be there at one time.
The old requirements were based on one parking space for each patient, while the new requirements will require one space for every two patients, Mr. Kearns said.
Initial talks about the nursing home revolved around whether separating the parcel planned for the nursing home would affect an open-space requirement for the Heather Hill facility.
Heather Hill, under the institutional zoning, was required to have a minimum of 100 contiguous acres under the same ownership. Separating the 10-acre parcel would cause Heather Hill to be out of compliance on that requirement.
Initially, developer Thomas E. Bartlebaugh said he had no plans to lease the property, but only buy it. "I'm not going to spend $10 million on someone else's property," he told officials.
But Mr. Kearns said nursing-home proponents have now agreed to lease the land to stay in compliance.
The proposal for the nursing home came on the heels of the closing of a nursing home as part of the Heather Hill complex.
Mr. Bartlebaugh said while that closing caused the loss of 120 jobs, his new facility will bring 100 full- and part-time jobs.
The estimated size of the building is 30,000 to 35,000 square feet.
No formal application for the facility has been filed with township, Mr. Kearns said.
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