Planning commission recommends lot consolidation for Gateway North project

The University City Planning Commission voted 4-1 Friday to recommend that City Council approve consolidation of multiple parcels to create two lots for the John Carroll Gateway North project.

The recommendation advances the site plan the city previously approved but leaves unresolved questions about a separately acquired house at 2613 Warrensville Center Road, which the applicant said it plans to remove after further study and future approvals. The commission said the house will require a separate return for demolition or a site-plan amendment before any change can occur.

Jeremiah Swaddell, the applicant representative, told the commission the developer recently closed on 2613 Warrensville Center Road on June 1 and has not decided a final use. "We have not yet had time to plan for what we're doing with that house," Swaddell said. "We do not want a house around the parking lot. That is not... a good planning practice, at all." He said the project team intends to study options with the city and community and will return to the planning commission with any demolition or revised site plans.

Michael Christophe of Vocon, the project's design team, said the applicant incorporated comments from the Architectural Review Board and that truck-turning radii and parking counts were studied and remain consistent with the approved site plan. "All of the questions that were asked about at the architectural review board, we did incorporate all of the comments that we could," Christophe said.

Commissioners questioned why the parcel was purchased after site-plan approval and pressed the applicant for more detail about future uses, citing urban-design and buffering concerns for nearby houses. One commissioner said holdout houses create planning challenges and expressed concern that the lot could remain an undeveloped empty parcel if no use is proposed. Commissioners emphasized that any demolition or change to the approved site plan will require a separate application to the planning commission.

The consolidated parcels listed in the meeting record include addresses on Milford and Warrensville Center Road (examples cited by the commission: 2574 Milford; 2590 Milford; 2596 Milford; 2602 Milford; 2614 Milford; 2595 Warrensville Center Road; 2599 Warrensville Center Road; 2603 Warrensville Center Road; 2609 Warrensville Center Road; 2619 Warrensville Center Road) with multiple permanent parcel numbers given during the hearing. The applicant said the consolidation is consistent with the previously approved site plan and that the project will not change parking counts or drive aisles negotiated with the anchor tenant without future renegotiation of contracts and guarantees.

On a roll call after debate, the commission recorded four votes in favor and one opposed; the chair said the recommendation will go to City Council on Monday for final action. The applicant and design team were thanked for returning for the follow-up hearing.

The commission also voted earlier in the meeting to take the item from the table so it could be considered on Friday; that procedural motion was seconded and carried prior to the substantive approval.

Future steps: the consolidation recommendation will appear on the City Council agenda, and the applicant must return to the planning commission for any demolition permit or site-plan amendment related to 2613 Warrensville Center Road.