Rezoning rolls on despite potential obstacle

Plan for residential property wins with most of Commission

A “problem” parcel won’t hinder a proposal to rezone residential Mentor land to a commercial district.

Mentor Planning Commission this week voted 5-1 in favor of rezoning about 2 acres at 8040 Broadmoor Road (Route 306) from R-2 single-family to B-2 general business.

Tim Moore, owner of Aligned Chiropractic and Physical Rehabilitation Inc., seeks to relocate his business — at 7547 Mentor Ave. — to the Broadmoor site, southwest of Routes 20 and 306.

Moore proposes a 12,210-square-foot multitenant building, and his business would occupy about 8,000 square feet of it. The plan indicates a possible addition for a future tenant using about 2,000 square feet.

The rezoning was recommended to City Council contingent upon an approved

development plan. It also requires voter support. Deadline for the November ballot is Sept. 8.

“I just want to compliment you,” Commission member Geoffrey Varga said. “I think it’s a nice development plan, I think the buildings are interesting and I think they will fit into the adjacent area.”

Commission member Katherine Cimperman dissented. John Perkovich recused himself.

City administrators had recommended that the Commission tie its approval of Moore’s project to rezoning of an adjacent property.

The neighboring land is part commercial, part residential and belongs to the owner of a plaza including Kuhar’s Carry-out and Catering.

The administration said developing it residentially would be difficult with its only access via commercial property. The owner reportedly isn’t inclined to rezone it.

The city has the authority to change the zoning, but it is rarely exercised, Assistant Law Director Joseph Szeman said. He advised the Commission to address that parcel apart from Moore’s project.

“I don’t know that we can, without a single development

The rezoning was recommended to City Council contingent upon an approved development plan. It also requires voter support. Deadline for the November ballot is Sept. 8.

plan, put them together on the ballot,” Szeman said. “So I think that it takes a separate track.”

He will prepare a legal description of the additional site to be rezoned for the Commission.

“It’s a problematic area of land, and it would be nice to clean that up in some proper way,” he said.

The purpose of the R-2 district is to provide locations for low-density, single-family development. The purpose of the B-2 district is to allow sufficient space for a variety of business, commercial and service activities in locations adequately served by highways and other facilities, and to provide such locations in a manner which

minimizes negative impacts on other districts.

Zoning code amendments may be initiated the following ways:

• Adoption of a motion by the Planning Commission.

• Adoption of a resolution by Council and referred to the Commission for consideration.

• By the filing with the Administrator an application to reclassify land by an owner/contract owner of the property proposed to be rezoned.

An informal request to rezone the Broadmoor property from R-2 to B-2 was reviewed by the commission in 1983. A separate request was made in 1987. That request was denied by Council.