Summary
- The Cleveland Clinic Fairview Hospital expansion will proceed as planned despite opposition from neighbors. Future traffic mitigation strategies include adding a stoplight to slow traffic or closing off the end of West 179th Street to stop cut-through traffic.
- Many neighbors supported development and expansion but expressed concerns that neither the city nor the Cleveland Clinic could always be relied on to keep their word.
- In support of a property owner receiving permission to use a property as a multi-family home despite it being zoned as two-family, Xavier Bay, from the City Planning Department, called it an example of “gentle density.”
Follow up questions
- When has Cleveland Clinic been told it could not proceed with development it had in mind, and how did it respond?
Board of Zoning Appeals meeting notes
Agenda for the Nov. 3 Cleveland Board of Zoning Appeals meeting can be found here.
Meeting started at 9:32 a.m. and adjourned at 1:07 p.m.
All board members were present.
There were 13 cases on the agenda, with some presented in bundles.
Postponements/Withdrawals
- Calendar No. 25-140, regarding a proposed smoke shop at 6624 Harvard Ave., was postponed for the second time. The request was made by the appellant due to a death in the family, said Board Secretary Liz Kukla. Next date available is Dec. 15.
- Calendar No. 25-184, regarding a proposed residential facility at 863 Herrick Ave., was postponed. Request made by Council Member Kevin Conwell, who Kukla said emailed the board last week to advise that the appellant, Teresa Wakefield, should meet with the council member, get a petition signed by neighbors, and meet with the local community development corporation first. It was added to the Dec. 8 agenda. Kukla said there were also questions about a prior adjudication by Cleveland Building & Housing. The application was evaluated initially as a state-licensed residential care facility; however, an official said she is proposing to build a rooming home in a limited-family district, which would alter how her plans are evaluated.
- Calendar No. 25-152, about constructing a garage at 4239 W. 143rd St., was postponed to Nov. 17.
Heard cases
Calendar No. 25-182 at 11502 Ohlman Ave.
Adjacent Properties Corp., represented by Tyrell Perry, was granted a variance to continue operating a multifamily property as a three-unit rental even though the property is zoned for two-family. The city legal department was satisfied that all three units were metered for gas and/or electricity. Xavier Bay, from the City Planning Department, recommended granting the variance as an example of “gentle density.” The approval was unanimous.
Bundle: Calendar No. 25-188 through 25-194
West 11th Street Properties, represented by architect Michael Tomsik, requested variances for backyard setbacks. The company proposes to build seven 4-story single-family townhomes in Tremont on narrow lots with a hill at the back of the lots precluding the placement of a driveway with detached garage. As such, the first story of the homes is the garage.
The drawings presented were not up to date in reflecting accurate front-yard setbacks.
A neighbor, Kari Mirkin, who lives next to the proposed project, had concerns that the mass of the buildings was too large and clashed with the character of the street.
The board granted approval of backyard variances and requested that updated drawings be submitted to ensure no front-yard setback variances are required.
Bundle: Calendar No. 25-178, 25-195, and 25-199
This case was an appeal from residents Douglas Baird, Walter Grossman and George Gorze of the decision of the City Planning Commission (CPC) to award Final Site Plan approval on Sept. 5 to the Cleveland Clinic’s Fairview Hospital North Campus Expansion.
Board members Priscila Rocha and Marcus Madison, who is the community relations program manager for the Cleveland Clinic, recused themselves from the vote, citing conflicts of interest.
Testimony from both sides lasted for three hours. The three voting members unanimously upheld the decisions of the CPC and local design review committees, therefore, traffic from the new parking garage will be routed onto West 179th Street as planned.
Baird spoke first and explained that he did not object to the rezoning of residential land to R1 Research-Institutional or to the erection of the parking garage. His position is that “no zoning action extinguishes” the condition of a 2010 board resolution and that those projections — including requiring the Clinic to install trees and bushes as a barrier between residential areas and a parking lot — should still apply to W. 179th street.
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Baird described Cleveland Clinic’s community engagement as a stunt.
“We’re getting a six-story, thousand-car parking garage, and nothing is returned to our community in the way of value. It is only taken away,” Baird said.
“We ask that there be no traffic [through residential streets] … [for the] preservation of the Allien Court for public right of way, requirement that they have to maintain evergreen hedging and screening, [and] we need that green space made permanent with a binding maintenance and restitution because we have no recourse once they let everything go to hell and we’re forced to live it.”
Katherine Sheppard, of 17612 Allien Ave., described her experience with the Cleveland Clinic regarding the 2010 resolution: “In 2010, the [board] determined that access to any new parking garage should remain on Clinic property, even if that required an additional story to reduce the footprint. The board also required that the parking lot be enclosed by a 10-foot brick wall with specific landscaping to buffer the neighborhood. The Clinic complied initially, but, over time, the landscaping declined and the trash returned. That pattern of neglect makes it hard for residents to trust new promises.”
She went on to say that “West 179th is the only consistently safe route that we have left. And giving it up to a constant stream of two-way traffic would endanger every resident who relies on it.”
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Resident and business owner George Gorze asked that the board “vacate or suspend the approval of the parking garage plan as presently configured [and] require modification of the project to ensure compliance with [Americans with Disabilities Act] Title II and the Fair Housing Act.”
He explained that he has two sons with autism whose symptoms are worsened by the changes in the neighborhood due to construction staging currently and increasing traffic as planned in the future. He said he does not oppose expansion but requests mitigation strategies so that the civil rights of his sons are not violated.
Barbara Haas agreed with her neighbors’ testimony and felt the 2010 agreement should be enforced, saying, “If we can’t rely on what has already been agreed upon, how are we going to figure out what we do as far as where we’re going to live and how we’re going to stay there or not because we have kids and things like that? This affects all of us.”
In contrast to previous resident testimony that a traffic study was not available, City Planning Director Calley Mersmann pointed out “traffic analysis slides” that were presented to the commission when the Cleveland Clinic came back after being postponed for schematic review. She said they showed the “adverse impacts along Lorain Avenue of an entryway coming off of Lorain and supporting the decision to have the parking garage entrance off of West 179th Street.”
These notes are by Documenter Amber Neal.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.