Oakwood redux
The historic Oakwood Country Club, a swath of 150 acres of beautiful open space straddling Cleveland Heights and South Euclid, was sold to local developer First Interstate Properties on December 31. Two weeks later the South Euclid City Council began the rezoning process of 40 acres of residentially zoned land to build big box retail, drive-through restaurants, and lots and lots of parking. Oakwood Commons, if it is built in its entirety, will have a 60 acre footprint. Compare to Severance Town Center’s 70 acres and you can see just how vast the area is.
The big picture is out there…somewhere
The developer promises a green big box, and has liberally sprinkled the word “sustainable” throughout its marketing materials to describe various aspects of the project, including a parcel of land behind the loading docks that will be turned over to the city for public use.
But what does “sustainable” mean?
Is building a state of the art storm water detention basin to handle massive runoff created by the building of 40 acres of new asphalt, bricks, and mortar considered sustainable? The developer indicates this construction will be LEED (Leadership for Energy in Environmental Design) certified. What are the various levels of LEED certification, and what level will this project achieve? Should the project be required to attain a higher level rating? Because city services are stretched to the limit where will the money come from to maintain a public park on land that the developer has decided is not of use, and will generously donate to South Euclid in exchange for a tax-deduction and an easement for the required storm water detention area (that seems to take up half the donated land)?
If Wal-Mart vacates their Severance Center space in Cleveland Heights to move 2500 feet away, which leaves a big empty building that few have use for, how is that a sustainable action? If Cleveland Heights loses 300 jobs to South Euclid what makes that green?
I keep hearing the anguished voice of a homeowner at the March South Euclid public hearing. She lives in one of those nice suburban bungalow homes on Warrensville Center Road, across from the old golf course. She stood and declared that if the Oakwood development is allowed “I won’t be able to sell my home”. I am curious as to where the members of the South Euclid Planning Commission and the South Euclid City Council reside. Do any of them live on Warrensville Center Road, or on any of the streets adjacent to the property?
Here’s a weird below the radar fact: The tax revenue going to the schools from this project goes not to the South Euclid-Lyndhurst School District, as many South Euclid residents would believe, but to the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District, even though two-thirds of the development’s footprint is in South Euclid. The developer’s own marketing materials, a brochure sent to South Euclid residents, says “$1.1 million to the local schools”, but they don’t say whose local schools. Are South Euclid residents aware of this?
These are just some of the questions I’d like to have answered.
There are plenty more out there from residents of both Cleveland Heights and South Euclid. City planners and decision makers ignore them at their peril. And because this portion of the development is technically over the border in South Euclid, Cleveland Heights residents asking hard questions are being relegated to onlooker status.
Looking at the big picture when a large retail development arrives in a residential neighborhood takes time, independent study of quality of life impacts, and allowing homeowners and stakeholders in the area greater opportunity to have a genuine hand in the decision to let a Big Box be built in their front and back yards.
Unfortunately, with the South Euclid rezoning process headed to the finish line in record time, most of these discussion points seem rather moot. If the property is rezoned through emergency legislation in the next few weeks, after an obligatory final public hearing on May 25, I assume the citizens of South Euclid will be able to have a say in November at the polls, as I hear a referendum movement is gathering.
And while all eyes are on the South Euclid process at the moment, the City of Cleveland Heights is still waiting to be approached by the developer, who I understand has not yet closed on the deal to purchase that portion of the property. There’s a lot more to come on both sides of the fence. Stay tuned for Oakwood Commons Part II: The Cleveland Heights Side.
The final public hearing before the South Euclid City Council’s vote to accept changes to its Comprehensive Plan is Wednesday, May 18 at 6:00 pm at South Euclid City Hall.
The final public hearing before the emergency rezoning vote by the South Euclid City Council is Wednesday, May 25 at South Euclid City Hall at 6:00 pm.
1349 South Green Road, South Euclid.
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Advice from Fran from the vast media conspiracy…
http://www.cleveland.com/sun/all/index.ssf/2011/05/stick_to_the_facts_on_oakwood.html
The Sun Press has been pretty despicable all through this process…I think they have been co-opted in some way by Interstate. After all, advertising dollars are at stake here! Will Interstate or the stores at their proposed center buy advertising in the Sun Press, if the SP was an “enemy” of the project?
Even Heights Observer accepted a HUGE ad buy for a 2 page spread on Oakwood. I have never seen any entity advertise in such a splashy, expensive way. Clearly Interstates wish to buy off (and/or coerce) the local media.
When all else fails, blame the media.
The Sun Press/Messenger have printed numerous letters and at least one guest column from Fran Mentch in which she has basically kept repeating the same thing. Letters from several of her “comrades” have also been printed in the Sun. And, Fran or someone on the anti-Oakwood side has been quoted in nearly every Sun article on this issue. Anyone who thinks the Sun has given Fran’s group short shrift is not playing with a full deck. The Sun has given a lot more space to Fran’s viewpoint than Fran has given to First Interstate’s on the Citizens for Oakwood Facebook page, where she has admitted censoring posts that disagree with her viewpoint.
Sarah, you bring up some great points. WHERE DOES MITCH SCHNIEDER live? Is it in some vast McMansion? Surrounded by greenspace? Just wondering…..I am sure he does NOT live across the road from a WalMart SuperCenter, with all the lights, noise and traffic….because people with MONEY buy homes in areas surrounded by nature, for the obvious reasons!
For what it is worth, SE Mayor (and total sellout) Welo also does not across from the new Walmart. None of the people making these decisions will be LIVING WITH THE RESULTS OF THESE DECISIONS — but we will.
The revenue from “selling out” to these corporate entities is often surprisingly small. The new drive-through McDonald’s at Warrensville Cedar is ESTIMATED to bring in a whopping $20,000 a year in taxes….and you know estimates often fall short. Biggest fast food chain in the world, but tearing up your neighborhood to accommodate them only brings in a cheesy $20K? That’s CHUMP CHANGE.
Just like the Lotto, a WalMart Super Center will not suddenly make modest neighborhoods in inner rings suburbs into Beachwood or Pepper Pike. Whatever taxes are collected, most will go RIGHT BACK OUT in the form of higher costs for police and fire and other maintenance.
And jobs? New Walmarts run on surprisingly few employee jobs. In some stores, you must check out your own purchases! And the jobs are all very low paying, minimum wage and the stores often demand employees work less than 40 hours, so they can escape paying for health care costs.
I am guessing that you are not a fan of Wal-Mart.
However, my advice is to head over to your nearest Wal-Mart and try to find an employee who can help you find where they keep the marbles.
It is obvious that you have lost yours.
Thank you, Sarah. This is a great post. The voice I remember from the public hearing of the South Euclid Planning Commission came from a lady who said “If you want to know what Oakwood Commons will look like in 15 years, just go take a look at Randall Park.”
People need to know that organizations like Green City, Blue Lake and the Western Reserve Land Conservancy have so far declined to support the efforts of Citizens for Oakwood, which advocates conserving the entire property as a park for the good of the entire community and future generations.
When I learned that Mitchell Schneider of First Interstate is a Trustee of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, that explained a lot.
But what gives at Green City, Blue Lake? They know that Nine Mile Creek runs through Oakwood and straight into Lake Erie. Stormwater runoff from Legacy Village has already caused huge problems in Euclid Creek, and the consequences did not fall on Mitchell Schneider, developer of “Legacy.”
Fortunately, we do have the support of the Sierra Club of NE Ohio, the Green Party of Cuyahoga County, and the Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, as well as many local businesses and non-profits.
The Heights Observer doesn’t express editorial opinions, and as evidenced by this thread and other posts on this blog site, the ad we received from First Interstate hasn’t cooled the Observer’s mission of providing a forum for individuals to express THEIR opinions.
I believe they’re buying the ads because they hope – just as their opponents do – to persuade people to a certain point of view, and to perhaps earn goodwill with the media outlet. I don’t believe there is anything more to it than that.
In case you didn’t see it, here’s why the Observer accepted the ad: http://heightsobserver.org/read/2011/05/03/an-ad-that-may-raise-some-eyebrows
Bob, I certainly understand (and agree with) the Heights Observer’s reasons for accepting, being paid for, and printing Mitchell Schneider’s 2-page spread, the largest ad in the community paper’s history–so far.
And, as you say, “The Heights Observer doesn’t express editorial opinions.”
But here’s an idea: you’re a great writer and experienced journalist. How about an in-depth piece the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and its relevance to the Heights communities?
Oops — of course, I meant “a piece on” the WRLC etc.
I’m also a volunteer, Carla, and the time I’m able to commit to things that don’t involve paying my mortgage is limited. I would encourage anyone who wants to look in-depth at the Western Reserve Land Conservancy to do so; the Observer would be a likely outlet for that work, and I’m happy to provide advice to anyone trying to navigate his/her way through the reporting process.