Neighbors oppose plan to raze vacant home for employee parking at 1990 Parkgate

DRK Partners, the real-estate entity for Akron Oral Surgeons, asked the Planning Committee to allow an expansion of its White Pond Drive office parking lot onto two adjacent parcels at 1990 Parkgate, a residential lot that currently contains a vacant single-family house.

Planning staff told the committee the demolition and conversion of the lot to 17 asphalt parking spaces would be “contrary to sound planning principles” and recommended disapproval, while the Planning Commission recommended approval. Planning staff also noted the 2018 conditional-use approval for the medical office on White Pond Drive did not include the two Parkgate parcels.

At the public hearing, the applicant’s attorney, Bob Constand, said the building completed in 2019 currently contains about “3,000 square feet vacant because they have insufficient parking.” He said the proposed lot would be for employees only, would not provide access from Parkgate, and that the detached garage on the parcel would remain. Constand said the applicant explored alternatives — including using a nearby detention-area parcel and leasing spaces behind adjacent buildings — but said those options were unavailable or insufficient; he told the committee the expansion was needed so Akron Oral Surgeons could add a third surgeon and additional staff.

Multiple neighbors opposed the proposal at the microphone. Mary King, who lives on Parkgate, said the street is “a very quiet, very private kind of street,” that the vacant house is “a charming and beautiful house,” and that replacing it with a parking lot would “destroy the character of the neighborhood.” Her husband, Richard King, added concerns about traffic and the cumulative effect of recent nearby development on the neighborhood’s character.

During committee discussion, Councilmember Jan Davis (ward councilperson) said she had met with the applicants and neighbors on-site and asked that the committee “call for time” to allow further discussion. Planning staff reiterated elements of the site plan: the paved surface would sit roughly 25 feet from Parkade Avenue, a landscaping buffer of burning bushes and a fence was proposed, and the applicant had revised site plans to protect large trees.

No final vote on the conditional-use request was taken at the Planning Committee meeting; the committee agreed to hold additional discussion at a later session so the ward councilperson and neighbors could continue talks with the applicant.

The item remains under committee consideration; the applicant and opponents were urged to return for follow-up proceedings.