Grocer on Sawyer House site clears hurdle

Owner working with city to preserve portions of building

A plan for a specialty grocery store to replace the Sawyer House is proceeding.

Mentor Planning Commission on Nov. 12 unanimously granted preliminary approval to ABC Mentor LLC, which proposes a 13,633-square-foot building at 9470 Mentor Ave. The Sawyer House will be razed.

The project also requires a lot split, the request for which will be submitted separately. It will eliminate access from the adjoining parking lot to the west, and provide a wider access lane and additional parking for the western property.

“The requirements of the specialty grocer tenant (are) not to have the intermixing of the traffic,” said Dave Sambor of Richfield-based RARE Design Studio, representing the developer. “And I think, too, with the high volume at some peak hours within this parcel was another reason not to have the cross easements.”

Commission member George Hadden mentioned potential for a new traffic signal and the traffic study to be completed in time for the final site plan review.

“I know it’s very hard to turn left out of that driveway now, and I’m sure once the study’s done, there will be more improvements done there to help that out,” Hadden said.

Commission member Geoffrey Varga raised the issue of delivery trucks idling in the parking lot.

“That would be one of my concerns for noise for the residents south of this,” he said. “I would make the recommendation that the walls on either side of the loading dock be increased in height. I think right now they’re

only probably 3 feet, because they act as fall protection, but I’d like to see those walls higher to try to control the sound even more so.”

Commission Vice Chairman Brian Cook noted that the plan called for nearly 70 more parking spaces than the maximum required.

“Just a heads up that on the next submittal you’re going to justify the additional parking spaces needed, correct?” he said. Sambor agreed. Cook also questioned the placement of the building.

“You’re set back from Barb and Patty’s, and KeyBank, and I’m just picturing driving down Mentor Avenue, and you see this giant parking lot out in the front,” he said. “What I’d like to see would be to have you be parallel with Barb and Patty’s, and KeyBank, and still have some parking up front, of course. But maybe move some more parking to the rear so your specialty grocery store is closer to Mentor Avenue.”

An ABC Mentor LLC representative said that was the original plan.

“T here ju s t w a sn’ t enough parking in front, so we moved it back, and the tenant is very comfortable with this layout,” he said. “And you’ll still have ample visibility.”

Commission member John Perkovich asked whether the city was continuing to discuss moving the 1843 stone building.

Planning Director Kathy Mitchell said that option was reviewed extensively, but is cost-prohibitive.

“We have approached the property owner and asked if some of the materials of the existing building could be given us or preserved in some way, and that was certainly something that they were willing to work with us on,” she said.

The project approval came with 12 conditions, including compliance with buffering requirements along the southern property line or submission of a conditional-use permit application to reduce the buffer. A photometric plan indicating the level of lighting at the property line is required as well.

The Sawyer House has sat vacant since 2016, when the Local Tavern closed. The house was built by Daniel Sawyer. Wayside Gardens moved its administrative offices and catalog store there in 1916.

In 1978, Colpetzer-Woods Consulting Company purchased the building and used it for offices. It was converted into Phil Ribs Restaurant in 1989, and multiple establishments have come and gone since then.

Preservation Ohio, a statewide historic preservation organization, named the Sawyer House on its 2020 Most Endangered Historic Sites list.