CITY DEVELOPMENT NEWS

Developer Lance Osborne’s proposed mega GetGo development isn’t the only economic development news in the City of Highland Heights.

NEW GODDARD SCHOOLS FACILITY OPENING NEXT YEAR

The national economic downturn resulted in an abrupt halt to construction of a planned daycare facility on Miner Road a few years ago. Since then, the property has been sitting empty.

That’s about to change.

The Goddard Schools---a national for-profit chain of academic-based daycare/pre-schools---has just received site plan approval for a new facility on that site. The projected construction cost: $2 million.

Company representatives said that they look quite carefully before selecting new locations----a clear indication that they think Highland Heights will be a good place to do business.

At a July 9^th public hearing, several Miner Road residents offered these comments:

There is lots of traffic on Miner Road. The street is narrow. This will bring a lot of people in. It’s already hard to make left hand turns. Safety, I’m concerned about that.

What kind of revenue will this bring to the city? … I’m concerned about traffic in front of our houses. Miner Road needs to be widened.  Will this bring more pedophiles into the neighborhood.?

Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) Chairman Vince Adamus explained:

Potential revenue is not relevant to the planning commission. Our duty is to look at the site plan. We are not here to judge revenue per se. They (the Goddard Schools) are not a nonprofit agency. They will pay property tax. They will have 25 staff members, so there will be income tax. Our job is to judge the type of use and decide: Does it conform to our zoning? This is a private property transaction. …

This is a facility that will be staffed 100% of the time. The children will be led into the building by their parents. It will be fenced where the kids play…

It’s conceivable to put a 30,000 sq foot office building there…Conceivably you could have 120 employees working there.  That would mean more trips in that scenario.

The Goddard Schools franchise is scheduled to open in the summer of 2013. It. will serve approximately 140 children between the ages of 6 weeks and 6 years and employ between 20 and 25 (full and part-time) staff members.

COUNCIL ACTS TO PUT MEGA GET-GO ZONING ISSUE ON THE BALLOT

Council passed required mega GetGo-related legislation before adjourning for its annual August recess.

At its July 24^th meeting, Council adopted a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign a development agreement with developer Lance Osborne.
It also enacted Ordinance 14-2012, which rezones the front part of the Catalano’s property to a Motor Service District—a necessary precursor to installing a mega GetGo gas station.
Residents will be asked to approve—or reject—that Ordinance in November.

For once, the Council vote was not unanimous.

Ward 4 Councilmember Lisa Stickan voted against both the zoning Ordinance and the development agreement Resolution.

Council-at-Large Representative Ed Hargate voted for the Ordinance but against the Resolution.

Council President Cathy Murphy explained her support for both pieces of GetGo legislation, saying:

I want to be clear that it is Giant Eagle and the developer, Mr. Osborne, proposing the GetGo, not Council. A “Yes” vote (by Council) is not an overt or tacit endorsement of the project. It is an indication that we’ve done our due diligence. We have put together the best proposal and ballot language possible.

Mayor Scott Coleman went farther, expressing his support for the GetGo project: 

We have come a long way with this project. We have addressed most of residents’ concerns. Residents have the right to speak. I will be signing it (the development agreement).

Councilwoman Lisa Stickan disagreed that residents’ concerns about the proposed mega GetGo project had been fully and adequately addressed. She said:

Ultimately the decision about the project will rest with voters in the city. Once they speak I will honor that result. As the representative of Ward 4, however, at this time there are too many concerns within the ward for me to vote yes …. I feel I need to honor their (her Ward 4 constituents’) wishes.

As is typical for him, Councilman Ed Hargate declined to state on the record, during the Council meeting, why he voted against the development agreement. 

Patch.com reported Hargate as saying, after the meeting, that he believed  that a planning expert should have participated in the process and that he questioned how much of an economic benefit the mega GetGo development---“a gas station bringing minimum wage jobs”---would really provide to the city.

http://mayfield-hillcrest.patch.com/articles/getgo-put-on-november-ballot-with-some-reservations

DETAILS OF THE GETGO DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT: THE ZONING ISSUE

There’s alot in the development agreement---much too much to cover in a single blog posting.
So let’s start at the beginning.

This is the text of the zoning issue that residents will see on the November ballot:

Shall Ordinance No. 14-2012, which revises the Zone Map of the City of Highland Heights, Ohio by rezoning Permanent parcel No. 822-27-021, comprising approximately 1.643 acres of land at the corner of Wilson Mills and Brainard Roads as the same is more fully described in Ordinance No. 14-2012 and subject to the Brainard Crossing GetGo Develelopment Agreement entered into between the City, Osborne Capital Group, LLC and Brainard Crossing Holdings, LLC, from Local Business District (L)B) to Motor Service District (M-s) be enacted into law?

Say what?

Let me bottom line it for you.
Here’s all you need to know:

A YES vote is a vote FOR Osborne’s mega GetGo development.

A NO vote is a vote AGAINST it.

QUICK FOLLOWUP: DOES THE NO-ALCOHOL SALE RESTRICTION APPLY TO OTHER GAS STATIONS IN THE CITY?

Several residents have contacted me in response to my last posting: NEW GETGO QUESTION: CAN THE PROPOSED GETGO CONVENIENCE STORE LEGALLY SELL PREPACKAGED ALCOHOL TO THE DRIVING PUBLIC?

They have all asked the same question:

Doesn't this no-retail alcohol sale restriction apply to every gas station in Highland Heights?

The answer is no.

According to the HHTs zoning map, only one gas station is actually located in a Motor Service District.
The rest are sitting on property that is zoned for business use.
http://www.highlandhts.com/docs/pdf%20files/Highland_Hts_map.pdf

That distinction is important: while retail alcohol sales aren't allowed in Motor Service Districts, they are allowed in local and general business districts.

According to the zoning map, only 2 lots are currently zoned as Motor Service Districts in HHts----one is at the corner of Bishop and Highland (Tom's Auto Repair) and the other is at the corner of Alpha and Wilson Mills ( the gas station in front of the Shoppes at Alpha Place).

Presumably the other gas stations sell gas---despite the fact that they are zoned for business (not Motor Service) use---because the gas station use is "grandfathered".
Basically, if the property was used as a gas station before the current zoning laws took effect, that use can continue (but not be expanded) even though the property now has business use zoning.

Developer Lance Osborne has a lot on the line here---since the retail alcohol sale restriction would also apply to the gas station in front of The Shoppes at Alpha Place.

Ironically,  the Shoppes at Alpha Place gas station was rezoned to a Motor Service District as part of Osborne's  redevelopment of the Alpha/Wilson Mills corner.

Was somebody trying to set a precedent---to have the city look the other way regarding retail alcohol sales at Osborne's Alpha Place gas station, so that Osborne could later  claim the same treatment for the GetGo convenience store?

If that was the plan, Osborne may be out of luck. 

Ohio courts have consistently held that property owners can't use a city's prior failure to enforce the zoning code as a defense to their own failure to comply with the zoning law.

And---of yes---state law also allows property owners to enforce the zoning code, if their city fails to do so.

Like I said before, this whole situation could easily addressed through a ballot issue in November--one asking residents to amend the current code to allow retail alcohol sales in Motor Service Districts.

I suspect that's not a very popular alternative for either Osborne or our elected officials.

The far easier route for them is to do what they have been doing all along---look the other way as the city pursues what appears to be a quite questionable policy of not enforcing the ban on retail alcohol sales in Motor Service Districts---a ban explicitly set out in the Highland Heights zoning code.

NEW GETGO QUESTION: CAN THE PROPOSED GETGO CONVENIENCE STORE LEGALLY SELL PREPACKAGED ALCOHOL TO THE DRIVING PUBLIC?

Highland Heights Ordinance 1131.04(e)(4)(B) prohibits “the sale of intoxicating liquor and beer” in Motor Service Districts.
Doesn’t that apply to developer Lance Osborne’s proposed mega GetGo convenience store?

ALCOHOL SALES AND THE GETGO CONVENIENCE STORE
The Back Story

Council President Cathy Murphy has indicated that Council will put a GetGo-related zoning issue on the November ballot as part of a negotiated development agreement with developer Lance Osborne and Giant Eagle.
That issue, if passed both city-wide and in Ward 4, would rezone the front part of the Catalano’s property as a “Motor Service District” (MSD), which would allow installation of a mega GetGo facility there.

From the start, Osborne planned to construct a convenience store as part of the proposed mega GetGo facility.
Tucked into a corner of the retail store will be a “café” with a food counter and a small seating area.
While it provides an additional amenity to GetGo customers, it should go without saying that the small café area doesn't convert the convenience store into a restaurant or otherwise alter the building’s predominate use as a retail store.

Anyone who has frequented a GetGo convenience store knows that retail alcohol sales----in the form of packaged beer and wine---are an important part of the convenience store’s business.
It’s hard to ignore that reality, given the large pyramidal displays of beer and wine that greet you as soon as you walk through the door.

Rezoning the property as a MSD, raises a new issue---one that Mayor Coleman and Council have yet to address:

It appears that the Highland Heights zoning code bars the proposed GetGo convenience store from selling prepackaged alcohol to the motoring public.

That prohibition could be a real problem for Osborne and the company planning to operate the GetGo facility.

The Highland Heights Zoning Code
Section 1131.04(e) of the Highland Heights zoning code sets out the use restrictions for MSD property.
It begins by listing the “purposes” of the MSD zoning classification and then limits what MSD property can be used for---in order to effectuate those purposes. One of those “purposes” is:   

"To protect nearby residential neighborhoods by restricting the types of nearby uses…which would create objectionable influences.”

 The zoning ordinance lists 3 permitted “Main Uses” of MSD property:   

1. “Automotive Facilities,” including “service stations….but not for the sale of intoxicating liquor and beer.”
2.  “Lodging facilities,” defined as “Motel accommodations for the traveling public” and 
3. “Eating and Drinking Establishments,” i.e.,  “Restaurants, snack bars, taverns, drive-in refreshment stands” (but no drive-through establishments)

You’ll notice, “convenience stores” aren’t listed.
The GetGo convenience store would most likely be allowed as a MSD “accessory” use.  

 
Section 1131.04(e)(4)(B) states that permitted “accessory uses” include:

“Any use customarily considered incidental to a main use permitted in a Motor Service District but not for the sale of intoxicating liquor and beer…”

There’s the rub.

Highland Heights’ current zoning code expressly prohibits the retail sale of “intoxicating liquor and beer” by gas stations and in connection with MSD accessory uses. 

While theoretically individual alcohol drinks could be served to GetGo café customers pursuant to a state restaurant liquor permit---whoopee, let’s drink ‘n drive----the zoning code appears to otherwise explicitly ban the sale of the “intoxicating liquor or beer” in the GetGo MSD.

There is one obvious solution to this dilemma.

Highland Heights residents could vote to amend 1131.04(e) to allow retail alcohol sales in MSD. 

That would certainly clear the way for retail alcohol sales at the GetGo convenience store.

Council has time to put such an issue on the November ballot—the Board of Election’s deadline for doing that is August 8th.

Unfortunately, Council hasn't discussed doing that.

That raises a troubling question:

Will Highland Heights’ officials ignore the zoning code and give developer Lance Osborne and Giant Eagle free rein or will they do what they are legally supposed to do---protect residents and nearby residential neighborhoods by enforcing our zoning code as written?  

Council has until August 8^th to answer to that question.

BOUQUETS AND LOLLIPOPS FOR TONY IANIRO

Finance Director Anthony Ianiro’s received many accolades on June 26^th---his last council meeting before retirement.

Among the comments I heard:

“Talk about personality and style. Ours are totally different...I’ve trusted his judgment and treasure his friendship.” Mayor Scott Coleman

“We are very grateful for all your years of service and for your dedication to our community. You have shown that you had genuine concern and caring.” Council President Cathy Murphy

“I’ve had a great career in public service…I want to thank Mayor Coleman for his faith, trust and confidence in me to get the job done…It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve the residents in the communities I’ve worked in. Thank you for making my career worthwhile.” Retiring Finance Director Tony Ianiro