The developer behind a planned Dollar General store in Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood will take his case to the Board of Zoning Appeals after being dismissed by the city's planning commission.
On Friday, Sept. 18, the Cleveland City Planning Commission rejected Pittsburgh-based developer Mitchol Pappan's request to construct a freestanding store on vacant land at 5617 Memphis Ave. The 5-1 vote followed multiple meetings and came three months after the city imposed a moratorium on so-called small-box discount retailers.
The Old Brooklyn proposal puts the city in a sticky position.
It was in the works before Cleveland City Council's June vote to ban new permits, certificates of occupancy and licenses for such stores until Nov. 1. Attorneys for Pappan, Dollar General and the city agree that the Memphis Avenue project isn't subject to that moratorium, based on testimony at public hearings.
On Friday, commission members and city planners said the building's design isn't good enough, even after several rounds of revisions by the developer and architecture firm Vocon. But the meeting showcased how much of the opposition to the project is about the tenant — an aspect of the proposal that the planning commission doesn't control.
"Regardless of what we do to this to make it look a certain way, it's still a Dollar General ... and that use is something that the community didn't want," said City Council president Kevin Kelley, who represents the neighborhood, during the virtual planning meeting.
During a phone conversation after the hearing, an attorney for Pappan and Dollar General said the developer will seek a different verdict from the zoning board. If that board upholds the commission's vote, then Pappan would have the option of filing an appeal in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.
Tony Coyne, the attorney, noted that the building complies with the existing zoning on the site and doesn't need any variances.
"The materials that are being used have been substantially upgraded," added Coyne, a real estate lawyer who chaired the planning commission for a 16-year stretch that ended in 2015. "So I'm not sure what the commission's decision was based upon, other than that it has 'dollar' in the name."
Members of the city's planning staff expressed concern that the building won't be adaptable to another tenant if Dollar General departs. They also criticized the site layout, since the store would turn its back to the corner of Memphis and West 56th Street, with the customer entrance facing the parking lot.
"I do think the development team and the design team has done a tremendous job trying to work with what they have and trying to make it the best building they can," said Anthony Santora, an architect and urban designer in the planning department.
But, he said, even the recent revisions don't go far enough.
"We have what we have here, and I don't know what the pushback is to making this a more urban design, but obviously the applicant hasn't done it," said commission member August Fluker, a principal at Cleveland-based City Architecture. "And from what I hear, quite frankly ... there's no intrinsic value to the community, regardless of what this design is."
Fluker and four other commission members voted against the project. Stamy Paul, a human resources executive and president of arts-centric nonprofit Graffiti Heart, was in favor of it.
City officials are worried about the proliferation of dollar stores and the shoddy condition of some properties, particularly in low-income neighborhoods. In June, council members said that the moratorium would give the city time to come up with new regulations.
Cleveland's original legislation mentioned Dollar General, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree by name. But the final ordinance stripped out all references to dollar stores.
Instead, the moratorium took aim at stores between 3,000 and 15,000 square feet that sell a limited array of consumer products, most of them priced at or under $10, with less than 15% of shelf space dedicated to fresh food and produce. The ban exempts stores that sell fuel, that house a pharmacy or that devote less than 5% of their shelves to food.
"Although small-box discount stores may fill a need in places that lack basic retail services, the growing evidence is that small box discount stores are not only a byproduct of economic distress — they are a cause of it," the ordinance reads.
Coyne said Friday that Dollar General hasn't received any updates from the city about the moratorium or potential regulatory changes.
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September 19, 2020 at 01:36AM
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Dollar General project in Old Brooklyn headed to zoning board after planning commission rejection - Crain's Cleveland Business
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