Public Comment

As a concerned resident, I strongly oppose Ordinance 791-2024, which seeks to rezone a parcel currently under the Pedestrian Retail Overlay (PRO) for general retail use, with present intent to allow a new gas station development. This site, adjacent to Marion C. Seltzer Elementary School and Cudell Commons Park, is incompatible with such a car-centric business, creating safety hazards for pedestrians, children, and cyclists. The gas station proposal disregards the long-term potential for sustainable, pedestrian-friendly development and ignores community feedback, which has been overwhelmingly against it. Both the Board of Zoning Appeals and the City Planning Commission have rejected this rezoning, and the ordinance risks setting a dangerous precedent for spot zoning that undermines the city’s planning efforts. The proposed gas station not only threatens to worsen traffic and pollution near a school and park but also compromises the future of this vibrant, transit-rich area, better suited for other development. I urge Council to respect the community's needs and vote against this short-sighted ordinance.

As a resident living within 600 feet of this site, I am writing to note my opposition to the proposed zoning change to rezone a parcel within a C2 Local Retail Business District as a General Retail district and remove the Pedestrian Retail Overlay District (PRO). I interact with this location multiple times per day as either a pedestrian accessing GCRTA service or as a cyclist. As with the gas station variance that was denied by the Board of Zoning Appeals on May 6, the current PRO exists to specifically prevent the types of use cases that this rezoning would allow and permitting this change would degrade the already dangerous conditions for pedestrians at this intersection. Additionally, allowing a car-centric business such as a gas station, car sales lots, and other uses that would become permitted by right would have negative implications for the streets leading to the site, as well as the adjacent Cudell Commons Park and Marion C. Seltzer elementary school. In fact, the US EPA school siting guidelines indicate that a gas station should not be within 1000 feet of schools. Marion C. Seltzer Elementary sits approximately 200 feet from this site Since prospective, car-centric uses for this parcel were introduced to the community in February, I have been dismayed at the overwhelming lack of engagement within the Cudell community. This site straddles the border between two wards and is primarily surrounded by Ward 15, while nearly all of the adjacent residents live within Ward 15. Aside from a neighborhood meeting hosted on March 21 in which the neighborhood was overwhelmingly opposed to car-centric land uses, there has been no willingness to engage with residents to discuss the proposed land use and/or zoning changes. This proposal to spot zone a parcel in an established PRO undermines the will of local residents as well as the recent progress made to establish the Transportation Demand Management zones (which this lot falls within) as well as the adjacent Form Based Code pilot area. Allowing car-centric uses in such a transit-rich location is shortsighted and runs counter to the City's goals of creating denser, sustainable communities. This location is well served by the Red Line, #18, #25, and #26 buses, the latter two being 24/7 service. Therefore, my opposition is strongly based in my belief that the proposed zoning change will have negative implications for the site and surrounding neighborhood, and would preclude this location from being used for a higher and better use for the foreseeable future. While the currently vacant building is not ideal, changing zoning to allow for the creation of a new brownfield is far worse. I understand the owner feels a gas station is necessary for a successful retail component, but any type of retail is going to be a challenge, regardless of whether it has a gas station attached to it or not. Additionally, according to the owner's representative at the February community meeting, there are no letters of interest or letters of commitment from the proposed tenants, meaning we have no sense of what would actually be in the development anyway. According to the 2017 NOACA Regional TOD Scorecard and Implementation Plan, this location is primed for residential and office development. Additionally, with the aforementioned transit connections that service this location, the lot is well suited to accommodate the growing market for different housing types . Both housing (10-20 units) with a minimum project value of $2M and/or smaller-scale Class A office/professional space would be a good, low-impact site uses that support a growing neighborhood. The current zoning was established to channel market forces into productive outcomes, and is is important to continue thinking strategically and longer-term instead of brute forcing this environmentally negative and short-sited plan.

I’m frustrated by the Councilman’s actions with regards to how he’s going about this development by going way out of his way to make this happen with a business use that has ZERO site compatibility. The adjacent lot is a school and park which is wholly incompatible with a gas station that will sell tobacco & alcohol. In addition, it will create heavy traffic by a school, park, & rec center where kids are walking. Why isn’t the councilman creating a vision for this larger site in the midst of a residential & commercial district that would have benefit to youth rather than aiming for the very lowest common denominator of business (gas & convenience) that will harm youth and likely harm future development potential of this site. Critical to note that Gas stations require underground storage tanks which often leak during their lifecycle thus requiring expensive clean-up before the site can be reused for another purpose. In summary, why is the Councilman thinking so short term with regard to this site when doing so will cause damage in the present & the future? Where is the vision for the community and our youth? Important to remember that this site is adjacent to the Tamir Rice Memorial which is roughly 150’ away. I ask again, why is this council person, a public servant, seem to be lacking any regard for the public/community/youth in this area (his ward tho he does not reside in his ward) This whole gas station idea seems to be entirely self serving, not the work of a public servant.

Councilperson Danny Kelly is fighting tooth and nail to site a gas station at the corner of West Blvd and Madison in Cudell, despite opposition from the community and being voted down by both the Board of Zoning Appeals AND the Planning Commission. This section of Madison is protected from certain undesirable uses -- like gas stations -- by a Pedestrian Retail Overlay, and has longer-term potential to become a vibrant and Complete & Green corridor. Councilperson Kelly is now trying to pass an ordinance through Council that would circumvent the PRO protection and allow "spot zoning" at this site, something that could set a really bad precedent and have negative consequences for sustainable and pedestrian-friendly development in neighborhoods across the city. Please respect the public trust, our community's longer-term needs, and this city's core values by voting against Ordinance 791-2024. Thank you.

Hello Council, Since I have not received any response to my most recent private email I have sent, I will write here as well. There is a growing number of community members and Ward 11 residents in active opposition to Ordinance 791-2024, which will change the Pedestrian Retail Overlay district code to general retail--allowing for a gas station to be developed. The PRO was put in place for a reason. Spot zoning sets a dangerous precedent in our city that any code put in place for the betterment of the city can be overturned simply because a council person decides it. The Board of Zoning Appeals and the City Planning Commission have rejected proposals to change the code on this lot, so to push it through, Danny Kelly has expressed intent to bring it to Council (Ordinance 791-2024) for a 2/3 majority vote to override it. If the experts of city planning in Cleveland have rejected the proposals for very valid reasons, it should not be forced through. This lot borders Cudell Park and Marion C. Seltzer Elementary. Adding a gas station will make the already dangerous intersection at West Blvd and Madison Ave more congested and dangerous. In addition, the emissions from the gas station are harmful to our youth and the affordable housing units neighboring the vacant lot. The attempts to push a gas station through on this lot is a blatant disregard for the community and its needs. Would a gas station even be proposed in a higher-income ward? Or are we simply too poor to influence politics in Cleveland? In short, please vote against Ordinance 791-2024 should it come to you. Thank you.

speed notification on Fulton parkway? The amount of drag racing, dirt bikes and immense speeding down this street is insane! Sometimes even drag racing. Not to mention people disregarding the traffic light on Park drive. Just running through red lights. Since I've been here I've seen 7 car crashes, a dog and cat ran over and also that truck that ran through the house on the corner. This is a very busy neighborhood with adults and children. Especially with people visiting brookside reservation and walking to the zoo daily. I'm not the only person concerned in this neighborhood. Especially the parents with small children. At least one of those digital signs that shows ones speed while driving. I think that would deter most people. Thank you

The administration that run the juvenile detention center are in over their heads. The way they are running the detention center is like a daycare. I mean a daycare has more structure than CCJDC. The youth are running the housing units and the gang activity is ever present. Visitors only receive a 30 day ban when caught bringing contraband (e.i. Drugs) into the facility by attempting to pass them off to their loved ones. No the police nor the sheriff are called. These youth have no consequences for bad behavior. They are permitted to attack each other and staff without any effective punishment. It is time for this administration and the judges be held accountable for the poor overlooking and control that they have demonstrated.

I am submitting a comment regarding the old CVS building on W. 103rd St. The community is under the impression that they are trying to put a gas station/food Mart in this location. I personally would like an up and running business rather than an old abandoned building in the neighborhood. The fact that there will be a food mart, I think will be beneficial to the local residents, please consider my comments in this decision making .

City Council is wise to carefully consider the City administration’s abrupt shift in focus for the use of $10 million in ARPA federal aid set aside for housing assistance. In fact, City Council would be especially wise to be skeptical of the overly complex and grandiose plan the City has conjured up and brought forward, the details of which will take extreme vetting to assure that the City’s residents ever realize any benefit. The bulk of the benefit seems destined to go to the developers, construction companies and banks. Why is this administration so obsessed with developer profits? Why can’t it focus on community wealth-building, as in helping individual residents get ahead with living wage jobs, home ownership, small business development and affordable housing, as opposed to building the wealth of developers? Why can’t they invest more in critical infrastructure that will actually draw people to neighborhoods, like high performing public schools and safe streets? A strong city is built incrementally, one neighborhood at a time, one block at a time and this convoluted program envisioned by the City seems like just another corporate welfare scheme for business, wrapped in social justice bromides that may or may not ever come to pass. We’ve seen this movie in Cleveland repeatedly and we know exactly how it ends, just like Opportunity Zones, which ended up simply being more opportunities for rich people to get richer. Cleveland has been subsidizing wealthy developers in a variety of mechanisms for decades, yet Cleveland remains one of the poorest big cities in the United States. How do developers’ political and philanthropic contributions affect the City’s decision-making? Cleveland has a long history of the business community driving the civic agenda here, so much so that the local business cabal here has been known as the Shadow City Hall. And the business community has done quite well, hasn’t it? Just take a ride around Chagrin Falls, Avon or Gates Mills. Our Mayor said it quite clearly himself, “Cleveland is open for business!” No kidding. A great example is the inscrutable decision to move forward with an ostentatiously unnecessary, massively expensive (soon to be boondoggle) land bridge. Who influenced that decision? Developers, attorneys, construction contractors, banks, insurance companies and a billionaire-owned sports franchise that all stand to make a financial killing, no doubt. No taxpayer with a functioning brain is for this, unless they stand to make money on it. That’s the way decisions are made in Cleveland. Profits before people. Meanwhile, the City throws chump change at the problem of unhoused people and makes it sound like it’s a big deal. It’s not, and it’s shameful. One also need only look at the firing of Tessa Jackson to see how the untoward influence of powerful developers corrupts this city. Were they involved in this decision on the ARPA funds? Did they influence the bank who is driving this idea? The sales pitch made by the City for this ARPA money smells a lot like something a developer would have cooked up, frankly. It feels a lot like the City is carrying the developers’ water, yet again. Instead of direct assistance to residents that would drive community based wealth, the City is proposing a massive subsidy for developers, and it’s not at all clear that those developers will be predominantly from the community. In any case, developers are in the business of making money, lots of money, and they are in the business of promoting and capturing lavish public subsidies and guarantees to do so while taking little or no risk. It’s a great deal the developers have, to be sure. How closely will these developers be screened? Will we know who is actually owning our city, or will ownership be hidden behind an opaque phantom LLC? Cleveland has a long history of allowing questionable (and dirty) investment from all over the world into our real estate market with disastrous consequences. Will these developers be backed by foreign, hedge fund or private equity money? Will the City understand the developers’ business model, what they stand to make in profit on their investment and how much economic value will be extracted from and flow up and away from our community? Why do we trust developers to play by rules the City is incapable of enforcing anyway? Every neighborhood deals with ubiquitous developer marketing hocus pocus, as we certainly have in Little Italy. Big promises are made to get approvals, then there is anemic follow-through on commitments to the community and zero code compliance enforcement by the City. We see it every day here. Corporate properties not maintained, raising rents, deferring maintenance, an historic building left to fall apart, the overflowing dumpster with no screening, a discarded mattress, the cracked and disintegrating parking lot surface and minimal and unhealthy landscaping abound. A fact of neighborhood life in Cleveland: corporate neighbors are LOUSY neighbors. Who owns our city is critical, and local and community ownership is essential, by individuals and families as much as possible. City Council is on the right track: community wealth-building. Helping residents to own and rehabilitate property, homes, apartment buildings and businesses so the wealth stays in the community and recirculates. Developers extract wealth from the community, pure and simple. And who knows where in the world that wealth ultimately lands? So, to the maximum extent possible, direct assistance to give individuals living in our neighborhoods a crack at generating some wealth and pursuing the American dream is preferred. To the extent developers are utilized at all, they must be proven to be truly local and backed by demonstrably local financing, and they must deliver substantive, predictable and measurable community benefits as a matter of routine. And City Council needs to assure that the City administration is not being unduly influenced by the rich political donor class from the business community, and in particular wealthy developers and their power broker attorneys. Thank you.

I am a resident of the 4th ward and our CDC is Burton Bell Carr. They are to help out the residents with many different grants, classes and other things. I need some repairs on my home and put in an application October 2023 but heard nothing till December 2023 and no help just a phone call. 2024 came around and I put in another application April 2024 and was informed that the person in charge went on paternity leave with no one trained to step in. Burton Bell Carr sent my application to a suburb which isn't a Cleveland Ward. It was confusing and strange to be sent to a suburb that has it's own constituents to take care of. It is now August 2024 and have heard from neither of these companies. I contacted the president of the the City Council Blaine Griffin who also has Burton Bell Carr as their CDC along with Ward 5 and asked him has his ward been receiving actual services from Burton Bell Carr. The president of City Council Blaine Griffin as of today August 21st 2024 has yet to answer. Nor has Burton Bell Carr. What is concerning is this company is in charge of hundreds of thousands of dollars to help the families of wards 4, 5 and 6 but seems to be non responsive. Update: The president of City Council finally answered me but with no help or resolution to the issue of non responsive Burton Bell Carr. I also sent an email to the executive director of Burton Bell Carr August 21st and have not received any response. I am wondering if anyone in these wards has gotten any grants from Burton Bell Carr since they have been CDC's for our wards. I can't even get them to call or acknowledge my application. Nor does the president seem to have any answers that could make me understand why Burton Bell Carr isn't being actively working to help the people of these wards.