City Council approves Taco Bell drive-thru

Vote unanimous after changes to traffic plan

Taco Bell’s plan for Diamond Centre Drive is back in business.

Mentor City Council on Aug. 15 unanimously approved a conditional-use permit to allow a drivethru in conjunction with a restaurant proposed at 9490 Diamond Centre. The site plan, still before the Planning Commission, is anticipated to proceed at the Sept. 7 meeting.

The Commission twice rejected the permit by a mixed vote, mainly because of traffic flow and safety concerns.

However, Ward 1 Councilman Sean Blake and Councilman at large Ray Kirchner — both former Commission members — requested a public hearing on the permit after the developer agreed to further restrictions in the parking lot of Trask Towers shopping center.

In addition to creating a split right-in, right-out westerly access drive — currently unrestricted — westbound traffic would be directed to turn toward Trask Towers before exiting the lot eastward at Emerald Court. A concrete island is proposed at the east end of the lot to send traffic to the southern exit onto Emerald, to help alleviate problems with traffic queuing at

the light there.

City Manager Ken Filipiak called the proposal “superior to any product we’ve seen up to this point with respect to the egress plan.”

“I want to point out that the city engineer and his department has spent a lot of time looking at the traffic study (by) the company of this development, because all of council and the administration is sensitive to the traffic on this corridor,” he said.

Neighboring business owners Brian Seelinger and John Mack of The Brew Mentor spoke in opposition to the plan because of concerns about traffic backing up in front of their store, at 9528 Diamond Centre next to Steak & Shake.

“All that back flow now from Steak & Shake will sit in front of our business, and so now you’re restricting people coming into our business and you’re restricting people getting out, so that’s going to be a by-product of pushing everyone down to Emerald Court,” Mack said.

Seelinger indicated that traffic backups from Heisley

Road and the timing of the traffic signal at Emerald Court at times don’t allow many cars to turn left.

Taco Bell representative Ryan Gillespie, whose GPD Group performed the traffic impact study, said the intersection has the capacity to accommodate a “much larger” traffic volume.

“The level of service at that intersection is levels B and C, which is actually pretty good considering the volumes in this area, so even though we are adding traffic to that, that inherently does not create a safety issue just by merely increasing the traffic,” he said. “If that was the case, we would never develop anything, because every additional vehicle added to the roadway is making it less safe, which isn’t necessarily the case.”

He added that his company could work with the city on establishing more compatible signal cycles.

“We developed timing patterns at other locations for other cities to address this very concern,” Gillespie said.

“Ultimately, I think this plan, even though it does push traffic down to the Emerald Court intersection, overall it creates a

much safer environment for the Diamond Centre roadway.”

Although it was a unanimous decision, some council members qualified their votes.

Kirchner said he was “moving forward with trepidation.”

“I certainly hope if there’s an issue … at that intersection, that it’s addressed,” he said.

Ward 1 Councilman Matt Donovan echoed his sentiments.

Blake said he would support the measure because, “I think the exhibit we have before us is a much better plan.”

In other action, Council approved:

• Placing on the ballot a request to rezone 1.92 acres at 8040 Broadmoor Road (Route 306) from R-2 single-family to B-2 general business for Aligned Chiropractic and Physical Rehabilitation Inc. A 12,210-square-foot multitenant building is proposed.

• Rezoning 0.18 of an acre at 7461 Presley Avenue from Old Village District/residential to Old Village/commercial to provide more parking to the former school building northwest of Routes 615 and 20.