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Committee delays action on Executive Parkway commercial rezoning amid traffic and senior-housing concerns
Summary
A proposal to rezone land along Executive Parkway from office to regional commercial advanced from the planning commission but was sent to the full council without recommendation after members expressed concerns about drive-throughs, parking and impacts on nearby senior housing.
The Toledo Zoning and Planning Committee on Feb. 19 heard a proposal to rezone a vacant parcel at 0 Executive Parkway from CO (Office Commercial) to CR (Regional Commercial) but did not issue a committee recommendation and moved the item to the full council for further consideration.
Greg Unger, who described himself as the engineer for the project, said the site is part of a larger plat and that the applicant seeks consistent CR zoning across two commercial lots to allow drive-through restaurants on the parcel. Unger said the proposal examined multiple options and that a regional-commercial designation would permit a drive-through use similar to the nearby Culver's.
Several councilmembers raised concerns about traffic and the effect of additional drive-through restaurants on adjacent senior housing. Councilwoman McPherson said the cluster of existing drive-throughs has the potential to create queuing that could interfere with access for seniors. "When we get into drive thrus and that kind of thing on Executive Parkway, I'm a little concerned," she said.
Councilman Driscoll noted the planning staff recommended disapproval while the plan commission recommended approval; he said staff's analysis focused on a different zoning comparison and that the committee did not yet have a complete staff analysis for the exact CO-to-CR change. Director Gibbons told the committee that planning staff and the planning commission had discussed buffers, shared parking and landscape measures and that the applicants had proposed shared access so the lot would not add new curb cuts.
Staff told the committee a parking study is expected "between May or June" and that alternate parking arrangements and existing transit access could reduce parking requirements under the city code. Councilmembers discussed potential code revisions to parking minimums and said they hope the pending parking study will inform future decisions.
Because the plan commission supported the rezoning but several councilmembers asked for additional information and neighborhood considerations, Chair Martinez said the committee would send the item to the full council "without recommendation." No formal committee vote on final approval occurred at the Feb. 19 meeting.
