Prepared
Comments Intended for Presentation to
NORTH CANTON PLANNING
COMMISSION
October 8, 2014
Remarks
made by a member of this body at its May 7, 2014, meeting characterized the plan
to expand the Hoover District South Parking Lot by stating, “A third-grader could
have come up with a better plan… this is amateur hour as far as I am concerned.”
This Committee was unanimous in its unhappiness with the proposed plan and
voted 5-0 to table the plan as proposed.
With minor changes, this committee
reversed itself and voted 5-0 at its September 3, 2014, meeting to approve the
site plan with nary any follow-up to concerns raised by citizens or commission
members themselves.
At both of the two previous
meetings of this Planning Commission, I quoted former Judge Lee Sinclair, a former
member of this Commission said nearly 34 years ago at an October 27, 1980,
Planning Commission meeting who said: “We live here because we enjoy the
residential nature of our particular home sites.”
Any
expansion of the South parking lot of the former Hoover Company will not allow
residents to enjoy the residential nature of their homes.
Common sense and decency tell us
that this proposed expansion overburdens the City’s streets and storm sewers; intrudes on the
enjoyment of nearby homes and the serenity of our neighborhoods; and devalues
residential properties already hard hit from the downturn in the economy.
The heavily wooded area separating
nearby homes has served as a buffer from the activities of the 87 acre Hoover
property from the time this city was called New Berlin. Loss of hundreds of
trees as well as the loss of the walking trail put in by Stark Parks just two
years ago with the expenditure of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars is not
acceptable.
Not noted
in previous remarks before this body are the requirements of North Canton’s Zoning
Code. Chapter 1153.08 (b) requires parking spaces to be within 400 feet walking
distance of a public entrance of a principal building housing the use for which
the parking spaces are intended to serve.
The southernmost
edge of the current parking is already in excess of 400 feet, measuring 407
feet.
Any plan to
expand the south parking lot at this point is in direct violation of the City’s
zoning code. Period!
This
planned expansion should never have been seriously entertained.
The entire
grove of trees must be maintained as a buffer so City residents can “enjoy the
residential nature” of their homes, to the extent that is possible in a
neighborhood that already is in decline.
Please do not accelerate and add to
the decay of our neighborhood with increased traffic, noise, obtrusive
lighting, flooding and everything else that comes with this development that will
change the character of our community.
Lastly, I
have a petition containing more than 130 names of North Canton residents who
are opposed to any expansion of the South parking lot.
I ask that
you not approve a “conditional use permit” for the expansion of the Hoover
District South Parking lot.
Sincerely,
Chuck Osborne
