Family Dollar coming back for another review

LORAIN — A new Family Dollar planned for the space across from Lorain City Hall apparently will get another review before city officials consider a moratorium on downtown construction.

The Design Review Board has a meeting scheduled Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. to consider the new store at 301 W. Erie Ave.

That will be before the Lorain Planning Commission considers a possible moratorium on building in downtown Lorain. Those deliberations are planned as part of the commission’s Oct. 3 meeting.

City Council has referred the moratorium to its Building & Lands Committee. So far, Council has not set a committee meeting to discuss it.

The Design Review Board also will discuss legislation that would expand its review powers to new commercial and industrial construction around Lorain, not just the city’s downtown area around Broadway.

The moratorium was proposed to give the various city panels enough time to deliberate on updating Lorain’s codes dealing with building aesthetics in the city.

“It’s just important that we look at it from all different perspectives,” said Geoffrey Smith, deputy safety-service director for human resources and risk management.

“There’s a lot that goes into this and there’s more work,” he said. “It takes time to go through these things and do it right. That’s what we want to do.”

The Design Review Board was to consider the Family Dollar plans in a meeting last week, however that meeting was canceled due to lack of a quorum of members.

The new Family Dollar store has sparked public debate about whether the site is the best location for such a retailer. The property, owned by Lorain developer Jon Veard, sits between the City Center building and Wickens Place, and just east of Veterans Park.

In an earlier meeting, Lorain Design Review Board Chairman Gary Fischer said the land is zoned for business and the board cannot discriminate against the store because it is not a prohibited use.

Developer Frank Youmans said Family Dollar would like to begin construction by the start of October. The new store would cost an estimated $450,000 to build, according to its design review application.