CITY OF LORAIN, OHIO ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS MINUTES
DATE:
TIME:
PLACE:
May 6, 2015
9:00 a.m.
Council Chambers
Chairman Robert Fowler called the meeting of Zoning Board of Appeals to order at 9:04 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Mr. Fowler, Mr. Zellers, Mr. Patterson and Fire Chief Brown
ABSENT: Mr. Kramer
CHAIRMAN FOWLER: First order of business is to dispense of the reading of the previous
minutes and accept them as written.
Moved by Mr. Zellers, seconded by Mr. Patterson, to dispense with the reading of the April 1,
2015 minutes and accept them as written. The motion carried.
B.A. Case #2-2015 - 128 Lakeside Avenue. Variance requested to allow
reduction in rear yard set back to two (2) feet to keep in line with existing
structure. Section 1149.05 (D) min rear yard required in 35 feet. R-3 zoning.
Robert Salim, applicant.
ROBERT SALIM 128 Lakeside Avenue: This home does not have a garage and I wanted to add
an addition to include the garage and a kitchen above it. The house was built in 1900, it is
about two feet from the property line and I want to continue that line of the house. The
neighbor’s house at 130 Lakeside is about three feet from that property line so there will be a
distance of about five feet between the garage and the back of the property and out addition.
We currently have a deck there now that would have to be torn off which is adjacent to that
garage also.
FIRE CHIEF BROWN: Is the proposed addition a garage?
MR. SALID: It is a two story addition. It would be a garage below and a kitchen above it and
adjacent to that is the garage at 130 Lakeside.
FIRE CHIEF BROWN: Mr. Klinar, will there be drywall provisions?
RICHARD KLINAR: (inaudible)
AMY CHAHO 130 Lakeside Avenue: I am very happy to have the Salims’ coming next door to
us. I am a little surprised to find out since I was told that there was only going to be interior
work done but they are going to be digging at such a close proximity. The garage is old, all of
the properties are from the 1900’s with all kinds of additions. I do not know if they put the
garage in are they going to be doing a lot of digging that will affect how the land flows there? I
do not know what it would mean to the property. I understand the fire hazard. I do not mind
the house being so close; we bought it with it there but I am not certain how deep they will dig
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and what kind of foundation they are going to put in and what that will mean. There is also a
lot more construction than what I was told going in when they sold the house. I am not sure
how those concerns would affect you, I don’t know how big of a garage they want to put in. I
looked into it because I tried enlarging my garage and it really wouldn’t fit the property and we
decided not to do it and we couldn’t. That little Port Authority property used to be a house as
well and they were not willing to sell that to us to expand so they kept it there.
MR. SALIM: The foundation for the house will be done by Modern Poured Walls and they do
have to be careful when they dig for that foundation. They have to dig about three feet down
and they have to reinforce it in such a way that that foundation for the garage will not slide into
the holes. That is a concern but it is a professional company that is doing the work and I was
assured that it would be taken care of properly. The addition is a little bit wider than the deck
that is there now. There is a deck there now so it isn’t really changing the landscape all that
much other than the fact that it is two story.
Moved by Mr. Zellers, supported by Mr. Patterson, to grant the variance. The motion carried.
B.A. Case #3-2015 - 2850 Grove Avenue. Variance requested to allow a fence
within 20 feet of right-of-way on corner lot. Section 1125.04 (E) No fence shall
be erected within 20 feet of right-of-way on corner lots. B-2 zoning, Dill Inc.,
applicant.
ROGER (?) 2850 Grove Avenue: There is already a fence which is about 4½ feet on the
property and the rest of the property has a fence next to the walkway.
MR. ZELLERS raised concerns about the proposed fence being only five feet from the sidewalk
and asked why it needed to be that way. He stated that with a neighbor coming out of their
driveway and the fence being so close to the sidewalk it may cause a problem. Questioned why
he needs to extend the fence 15 more feet.
ROGER: I think that there are some fences that are already near the sidewalk and there is
already fence on the property. It is a steel fence that is 4½ feet away from the sidewalk. I also
gave him 4½ of space from my lot to have this issue resolved.
MR. ZELLERS asked Richard Klinar how this is a corner lot.
MR. KLINAR’S response was inaudible.
MR. ZELLERS asked Roger what he is intending to do with the space, considering it is a fairly
small lot.
ROGER: More parking spots. It is pretty tight so I want to be able to make more parking spots
in the future.
MR. PATTERSON: What type of fence is this going to be?
ROGER: It is going to be a wooden fence.
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CHIEF BROWN: (inaudible)
MR. KLINAR: Are you removing the existing steel fence?
ROGER: Yes, the fence next to the dumpster will be coming down.
MR. PATTERSON: Is the neighbor here? Chief Brown, will your guys have any problems with it?
CHIEF BROWN: Does not think there will be any issue with it.
At this time there was inaudible conversation between the members of the board.
Mr. Patterson made the motion to grant to the variance.
CHAIRMAN FOWLER: Hearing no second, that motion dies. Is there another motion?
CHIEF BROWN asked for a better explanation as to why he needs the extra 15 feet.
ROGER: I just want to use it maybe for more parking space. This station is pretty compact.
When it gets busy there is no space for parking. My employees can park over there, at least,
and have more space. At this time Roger provided the board members with a picture of an
overhead view of the property.
Moved by Mr. Patterson, seconded by Chief Brown, to grant the variance. The motion carried
with Mr. Zellers opposing.
B.A. Case #4-2015 - Former Repko Park between Canton & Clifton Ave. Variance
requested to erect fence within 20 feet of right-of-way. Sec 1125.04 (E) No fence
shall be erected within 20 feet of right-of-way on corner lot. I-1 and R-3 zoning.
Richard Wagner, applicant for First Energy.
CHAIRMAN FOWLER: Mr. Wagner, I am assuming that this variance is requested in order to
encapsulate your new substation.
RICHARD WAGNER 76 S. Main St. Akron, Ohio: That is correct. The fence that is in the rightof-way is surrounding the active substation right now.
MR. ZELLERS asked Mr. Wagner a question which was inaudible.
MR. WAGNER: Just for the existing fence that is sitting outside of our property line.
Moved by Mr. Zellers, seconded by Chief Brown, to grant the variance. The motion carried
unanimously.
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B.A. Case #5-2015 - 4326 Leavitt Road Variance requested to allow for
additional wall sign, Sec 1191.12 (B) Two flat wall signs are permitted if fronting
two streets. B-4 Zoning. Aldo Dore, applicant.
CHAIRMAN FOWLER: Is there a member of the audience here to address this item? Is this sign
variance to go on the rear of the structure?
MR. KLINAR: They are permitted two because they front two streets but the building actually
faces three so this to allow for a third sign.
Moved by Chief Brown, supported by Mr. Fowler, to pass the variance. The motion was
defeated with Chief Brown voting yes, Mr. Patterson abstaining and Mr. Zellers voting against
the matter
MR. ZELLERS: If someone were here to explain, I would maybe reconsider. If someone wants a
variance they should at least show up to be able to explain themselves.
CHAIRMAN FOWLER: Can we revisit who made the motion? Chief Brown. The one thing that we
are trying to assemble is Robert’s Rules of Order and who can request that the matter be
reconsidered. I will defer to Mallory. It wasn’t to deny, it was to be approved. Chief Brown
made the motion to approve, I seconded it. It went 2-1 with one abstention.
ASSISTANT LAW DIRECTOR HOLMES: You will need to make a motion to reconsider.
Moved by Chief Brown, supported by Mr. Fowler, to reconsider their previous motion.
Moved by Mr. Zellers, supported by Mr. Fowler, to hold the matter in abeyance. The motion
carried, with Mr. Patterson abstaining.
CHAIRMAN FOWLER: Mr. Klinar, would you please be so kind as to reach out to the applicant
and ask them to attend our June meeting.
B.A. Case #6-2015 - 4501 Leavitt Road Variance requested to allow reduction in
parking from 41 to 33 spaces. Sec 1201.04 (D) 1-7, 1 space per 200 sq ft floor
area required for retail, 1 space per 100 sq ft required for restaurants. B-2
zoning. Ken Knuckles, applicant.
CHAIRMAN FOWLER: For the record, Mr. Patterson will be abstaining from this item as well.
Is there a member of the audience here to address this?
DON KINDLE 4209 Gallatin Pike, Nashville, TN: This is under construction. It is 7,732sq ft
building. It was originally intended for two tenants, Mattress Firm being the anchor tenant that
takes up 60% of that building space. We have since reached agreement with Vitamin Shop to
take 1600 feet of the remaining center and we are left it 1592 sq ft. Struggling right now to find
a retail tenant that will take the 1592 sq ft but w e do have a lot of interest from sandwich
shops and pizza shops that would like to have that space. Those uses will be kind of fast
generators, traffic comes and goes relatively quickly. We also have this Mattress Firm that
constitutes 60% of the building that generally only take seven parking spaces. They will at any
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given time, maximum, they will ever have is five customers at any one time in this building and
two employees in the building. They are allocated 18 parking spaces for this building, typically
we will only use seven to eight at any one time. We feel like the presence of the Mattress Firm
retail space will allow us to compensate for the eight spaces that we are seeking to allow for a
restaurant space to occupy the one 1592 sq ft space.
Moved by Mr. Zellers, supported by Mr. Fowler, to pass the variance. The motion passed with
Mr. Patterson abstaining.
C.U.P #1-2015 Submission for conditional use permit to allow for Spectrum
Schools at 205 W. 14th Street. R-2 and B-1 zoning. James Yorks, applicant.
CHAIRMAN FOWLER: We had this item at the public hearing. Are there any questions for the
applicant?
CHIEF BROWN spoke in support. They have been neighbors of the firehouse for 20+ years and
as long as there are no building or fire code violations everything should be just fine.
Moved by Mr. Zellers, supported by Mr. Patterson, to approve the conditional use permit. The
motion carried unanimously.
Chairman Fowler made the motion to adjourn, without objection the motion carried. The meeting
adjourned at 9:31a.m.
Richard Klinar, Secretary
Robert Fowler, Chairman
(attendance/transcription 4 hr. BD)
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