[ back ]
Zoning quandary posed by parcel next to plaza
(by Sue Reid - June 06, 2012)
Zoning quandary posed by parcel next to plaza
By SUE REID
The Solon planning commission tabled an ordinance last week imposing a temporary moratorium on the development of a 2.5-acre parcel east of the Solon Village shopping plaza on Aurora Road (Route 43).
The commission opted to await the recommendation of the master plan citizens commission, which is to review the matter sometime in July.
City Council had approved an ordinance placing the nine-month moratorium on the parcel, which remains owned by the Perlick-Caplin family. The adjacent former Solar Center shopping plaza recently was purchased from the family by Echo Solon and is being redeveloped as Solon Village, with a new Giant Eagle supermarket as its anchor tenant.
In caucus prior to the meeting, commission member Roger C. Newberry said he is not in favor of imposing zoning on a landowner.
The parcel had been zoned for office use, but Solon voters approved a change in November 2009 to C-3A commercial shopping center zoning.
Solon Planning Director Robert S. Frankland explained that, in the initial agreement with the Perlick-Caplin family, the rezoning was represented as being essential to redevelopment of the plaza.
Mr. Frankland said there was resistance on the part of the planning commission and City Council to change the zoning, if it weren't for the representation that it was needed for the redevelopment. "The only reason that was rezoned at that time was it was advanced that was the only way they could afford to redevelop the whole plaza and build a Giant Eagle," he said. "For Perlick-Caplin, that could have been the case, but that is not the case now that they sold the property to Echo, because they are redeveloping without that property."
Commission member William M. Mazur said he thinks it's appropriate to wait for the input of the master plan citizens commission.
Mr. Frankland said he will show the citizens commission what the zoning is now on a map and what the zoning was and let the conversation evolve from that.
"From a planning standpoint, normally, as you transition from commercial to residential, which is what you have as you go east on Aurora Road," he said, "you want your zoning to become less intense. On the north side of the road, you have commercial, office, residential, and that was what the progression was on the south side of the road before the zone change," Mr. Frankland said.
"The conversation will follow that progression of reducing the zoning down as you approach the residential properties to the east," he said.
Due to deadlines, the question of changing the parcel's zoning could not logistically make it to this November's ballot, Mr. Frankland noted.
[ back ]
