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OAKWOOD UPDATE
The 60 acres of the former Oakwood Club property that lie in the City of South Euclid, on Warrensville just north of the West 5 Neighborhood, have been sold by the Club to First Interstate Properties. First Interstate is the company that built and manages Legacy Village, Steelyard Commons and other shopping centers in the region.
FI wants to use 40 acres at the southeast corner of the property, facing Warrensville, to build a state-of-the-art green shopping center, and to donate the other 20 acres behind the western block of East Antisdale as a natural parkland accessible off that street. To that end the company has submitted a rezoning request to the city to change the zoning to allow commercial uses, and the Planning Commission is currently studying the proposal.
The Planning Commission will be meeting every Thursday evening at 7pm at City Hall to consider the different issues associated with the proposed development and the rezoning of that land, which is now zoned for residential use.
The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing to take comments and questions from residents and interested parties. The hearing is tentatively scheduled for March 10, but may be held on March 17, depending on the progress they make before then.
The Planning Commission will then make its recommendations to City Council, and Council's Planning Committee will then discuss the matter and hold another public hearing. Then Council will either approve or disapprove the rezoning.
Points to consider:
• The zoning only controls whether the land is used for residential or commercial purposes, and what types of businesses or residences would be allowed. So if it doesn't get changed to commercial the owner can, and will, build homes there.
• The property will not remain a golf course, nor would more than twenty acres in South Euclid become a public park. The developer will not be donating the whole property to anyone for parkland. However, his plans for the Cleveland Heights section include fifty acres of additional greenspace.
What do I think? You can read my blog post (click on "good bits: the blog" at the top of this page.) Basically I support the plan for a bundle of reasons:
1. It would allow us to give residents of the area a neighborhood park, and shopping and restaruants we can walk to;
2. The city and the schools (in this case CH-UH,) need the revenue, and this would help us avoid having to raise taxes to balance our budgets which are already cut to the bone;
3. It would allow our residents to spend their dollars right here, where they support our tax base, instead of having their money go to surrounding cities, or to pay for $3-a-gallon gas to shop at distant stores;
4. It would be a model of how to build a sustainable green shopping center that others can come to learn from, just as we're doing with the green homes and community gardens in the Green Neighborhoods adjacent to the project;
5. It would bring big new businesses that can sponsor and support local activities and projects, like Home Days and playgrounds; and
6. It would extend the Cedar-Warrensville commercial area and support the new Cedar Center District, and make the whole area a dynamic mixed-use center and a magnet for young homebuyers.
Check the city's website at www.cityofsoutheuclid.com for updates on dates.
And you can learn more about the proposed project at www.oakwoodcommons.net.
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SPRING WARD 4 MEETING - WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2
at 7:30pm (NOTE TIME CHANGE)
at South Euclid Community Center
First on the agenda will be updates on Oakwood Commons and Cedar Center.
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COMMUNITY GARDEN LOTTERY TO BE HELD FEB. 28!
Go to the city's garden lottery web page for information on the process, a copy of the agreement, and to get the application form for the lottery.
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WHAT'S UP WITH CEDAR CENTER?
GFS Marketplace will be breaking ground any minute now, at the far west (Fenwick) end, expected to open in fall, 2011. Title on the property has transferred, the city received a little over two million dollars for the land, which will be used to pay down the debt on the Cedar Center property as a whole.
The store will be RED BRICK, redesigned from their normal Speedway-style to fit in with the Mayflower condos next door. And the product line will include more human-sized goods than their regular line of restaurant-size packaging.
To learn more about their stores, go to their web site and see what they'll be bringing to our neighborhood.
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ANOTHER GREEN NEIGHBORHOODS RENOVATION IS OPEN TO VIEW
Come see the new green-renovated home at 3759 Colony. It's a beauty, with a huge bay window fronting the breakfast nook, a working fireplace and a fantastic pergola shading the living area of the great room. First floor washer/dryer and a bunch of bedrooms make it easy living, and it sits across from what will be a lovely shaded pocket park (once the water department moves the mountain of dirt off the lot.)
Let me or Sally Martin (691-4219) know if you'd like a tour!
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WANT TO GET EMAIL UPDATES ON CITY NEWS?
Sign up for the e-Update on the city's web site.
To reduce costs, the city's Update Newsletter will be coming via email for the foreseeable future. Sign up today.
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BE THERE AND BE AWARE
Council meets the second and fourth Monday of every month, except August, at 8pm.
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WHAT'S HAPPENING AT THE FORMER YOUNG ISRAEL SITE?
The Jewish Community Housing office, a relative of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland (formerly the Jewish Community Federation...stick with me here) is building a 4-bedroom group home to house four mentally disabled gentlemen. See the whole story in the Cleveland Jewish News.
The trees that used to separate that land from the corner property were cut down because they were dead and a hazard.
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HANG UP, SIGN OFF and DRIVE ON
The City of South Euclid is enforcing the NO-TEXTING and NO-HOLDING cell phone law that went into effect April 1.
You can talk on the cell phone but only using a hands free device, headset, etc. In other words, both hands should be on the wheel. Better yet, pull over to do your digital business.
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SCHEDULE NEXT SUMMER'S BLOCK PARTY NOW!
If you don't get out and share some food and fun with the neighbors in the summer, when will you? This is not brain surgery. Call a couple of neighbors. Decide on a date. Go to city hall and get a free permit. Use the barriers we provide to block off the street. Roll the gas grill to the curb. Cook. Eat. Drink. Play games. Play music. Just play.
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WHAT'S UP IN COUNCIL?
(to put in your two cents, contact the Chairperson of the appropriate Committee via her or his page at www.cityofsoutheuclid.com)
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big LITTLE THINGs that could make life better...
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Here are some pieces of legislation that City Council is working on:
LANDSCAPING: The Planning Commission has brought together pieces in various sections of our building codes that address what to plant where, and how, into one Landscaping code. We held a public hearing on 2/14, and it will go into the Planning Committee of Council for further discussion.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY: The city is pursuing ways to make our facilities more energy efficient, and will be considering a proposal from a consulting engineering firm at a meeting of the Utilities Committee of Council on 2/28 at 6:30pm.
HOME-BASED BUSINESSES: There are two versions of proposed revisions to the home business code before Council. We will be discussing the details of each and trying to reach a version that retains our home-business-friendly policies while retaining the residential character and quality of life of our neighborhoods. At issue are things like:
• should people be able to sell products out of their homes (like Mary Kay, Avon, candles, crafts, etc.?)
• should people be able to use their garages to do work, store supplies and equipment:
• should people be able to sell homegrown produce off their trees or from their gardens?
• how much traffic is too much traffic?
• how loud is too loud?
If you have an opinion, let me know!
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Please keep the NOISE down - Not so much outdoor music going on in the cold, but we still need to moderate our noise somewhat. Most neighbors understand that sometimes in order to get to work on time you gotta run that snowblower early. Nevertheless, we tend to follow the laws for construction, landscaping or yard maintenance (mowing,) which are allowed by law only between 7am and 6pm during the week, 8am and 6pm on Saturday, and 9am to 6pm on Sunday for contractors (or landscaping companies.) But that doesn't include work done by the owner or resident, so basically, we're relying on you to keep it down and not drive the neighbors crazy or wake the baby unnecessarily.
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GREEN NEIGHBORHOODS
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Growing Again!
There are now three new green rehabs in Ward 4 - the first is at 4182 Wilmington, the second at 3759 Colony (see the pic above) and the latest at 3924 Warrendale, cater-corner across from the Warrendale Community Garden.
Just up the way, at 4111 Lambert, is another green retrofit, and we'll be starting a whole new green home from scratch at 4191 Hinsdale.
As for Community Gardens, they'll be growing again at Warrendale and Colony, and a new garden is planned, probably on Eastway Road.
The vacant lot at the outer corner of Colony and Halsey, across from the new green home, is slated to become a passive neighborhood park, a quiet place to relax in the shade.
To date the "clearing the garden" phase has seen 15 properties cleared of hazardous homes, and we expect to remove at least 5 more.
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BITS AND PIECES
Attention Handypersons! The Tri-City Consortium needs YOU to volunteer to help with home repairs. Call Corrine Dunn, 216-291-3902.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE GREEN NEIGHBORHOODS UPDATE
RECYCLING IS IMPORTANT
• Your taxes pay for trash handling.
• We pay to dispose of trash by the ton.
• The more we recycle the less we pay
to send trash to the landfill.
• Paper is heavy. If you throw it in the trash, we pay a ton for disposal.
BUT if you recycle paper, magazines, junk mail, catalogs, cereal boxes and non-corrugated cardboard in a paper bag or bundled with twine, WE NOT ONLY SAVE ON DISPOSAL, WE CAN SELL IT and get money to subsidize the rest of the trash program.
• All cans and glass bottles go in one blue plastic bag, with plastics with number 1 through 7 in the triangle on the bottom.
• EXCEPTIONS: WE DO NOT RECYCLE STYROFOAM, PLASTIC BAGS or CORRUGATED CARDBOARD.
Click here for the city's recycling list and instructions.
Click here for the 2010 schedule of special waste RoundUps for computers, household hazardsous materials, scrap tires.
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