Macedonia zoning board approves parking variance for Specialty Lubricants expansion

The Board of Zoning and Building Code Appeals approved an area variance on March 19 allowing an expanded facility at 8300 Corporate Park Drive to provide 123 off-street parking spaces instead of the 236 required by city code. The board voted 3-0 to grant Case 714.

The variance affects a Specialty Lubricants expansion that will add manufacturing and storage space and approximately 20 employees to an existing roughly 50,000-square-foot facility, presenters said. Jeff Swartell, architect for the project, told the board the site’s existing lot is underused and that "their parking lot is 50% used." He and the owner, Steve Boginski, said many employees work on two shifts, so not all staff are present at the same time.

The request cited Section 11.71.11(c) of the city code governing off-street parking; the zoning inspector presented the city’s position and confirmed the variance request to reduce the required 236 spaces to 123. Board members discussed the legal standard for a variance, focusing on whether the site presents a "practical difficulty" that prevents complying with the parking requirement. Members asked about site constraints such as wetlands and about how future expansions or changes in building function would affect parking demand.

While the board did not identify a wetland or other physical obstruction at the expansion site, members accepted the applicants’ explanation that current parking is underutilized and that the expansion’s shift structure reduces simultaneous demand. A board member proposed — and the panel adopted as part of the approval language — that if the functions of the new space change or future needs require more parking, the parking will have to be reevaluated and additional spaces installed at that time. Board members also said the stormwater basin at the site should be sized to accommodate future parking if it is later added.

The formal motion recorded by the board authorized Case 714 and left the allowable number of parking spaces at 123 for now, with the option for the property owner to add the remainder later as needed. The roll-call vote was recorded as: Mister Shelcom — yes; Mister Adafredo — yes; Mister Fosselman — yes.

Present at the hearing were Chris Hall of the building department (zoning inspector); Jeff Swartell, architect; Steve Boginski, owner of Specialty Lubricants; and Jerry Krzyzewski, developer for the owner. The board opened the meeting at 6:30 p.m.; review of minutes from the prior meeting was postponed because a quorum of those members was not present.

No adjacent-property correspondence was reported to the board at the hearing. The board conducted the hearing under the Ohio Sunshine Law and concluded by approving the variance with the conditions described above.