Toledo City Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

I call to order the Zoning and Planning Committee meeting of June 17th, 2026. Clerk, please call the roll.

Morris.

Here.

Martinez. Driscoll. Gattis. Hobbs. Here. Komives. Here. Meldon. Here. Sarantu. Here. Williams. Here. Seven present.

I'd like to recognize Councilwoman Gattis. Before we begin, I would like to set a few parameters for today's meeting. As the chair of this committee, I want to ensure everyone has the opportunity to express their opinions and ideas. I will treat everyone with respect, and I expect the same courtesy in return for all of the members who are on this dais. We are all passionate about the work that we do and the positions that we hold. But with that in mind, we will conduct this meeting in a professional and respectable manner. So for each case before the committee, we will allow the applicant to present their proposal. We will then hear testimony from the public, both in support and in opposition of the project. Individuals may also come forward to ask questions that will help them form their own position on the matter. So public testimony will be limited to three minutes per speaker. Now you'll see the timer, there's one there, there's one on the side here, and there's one over here. I would ask that all of the remarks remain pertinent to the exact case that we are discussing and that the speakers make every effort to stay within that allotted time. If there are any questions for today's proceedings, please let me know now about the process. Okay, seeing none, we're gonna get started. And clerk, can you please read the first case, and would the applicant for the first case please come forward to the podium?

I will actually be reading the first three cases. They're companion cases with the same address. Case number one is a request for a special use permit for gasoline and fuel sales for the property located at 1322 Bernath Parkway. Case number SUP 25-0049. The plan commission staff recommends approval subject to 46 conditions and two waivers. The plan commission recommends disapproval. case number two is the request for removal of lot one of the tiburn plat one from the community unity unit plan originally approved by ordinance 373-76 and as amended for the property located at 1322 bernath parkway case number pud26-0005 the plan commission recommends approval Case number three is a request for a zone change from RM-12 multi-dwelling residential to CN neighborhood commercial for the property located at 1322 Bernath Parkway. Case number Z-25-0038, the Planning Commission recommends approval.

We're going to go ahead and swear you in. Clerk?

Clerk? My name is Gene Abercrombie. I'm an attorney representing the applicant. Do you want to swear in my client at this point?

Only if your client is willing to speak.

I believe they will be.

Do you want to come up? And we'll at least swear you in so that we've got that taken care of.

Yeah, Rob Horton, RCP development developer for the property.

Kyle Ledergerber, representative with Speedway 7-Eleven.

And both of you, do you solemnly swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? So say I do.

I do.

Thank you.

Go ahead, sir. Would you like to tell us about your application?

Yes, thank you for your time this afternoon. My name is Gene Abercrombie. I'm an attorney with Summerow Henry. I'm here as legal counsel for the developer on this property, RCP Development LLC, in connection with the proposed redevelopment of 1322 Bernath Parkway, which is now before this committee, following Toledo Plan Commission's recommendations on this matter. As previously stated, there are three distinct matters involved here. two of which are generally routine and were unanimously recommended approval for this committee by Planning Commission itself. The third matter is the issuance of the SUP. And the issuance of the SUP was interesting in that The request for the SUP was for gasoline and fuel sales. Plan Commission itself voted 3-2, recommending waiver of the 24-hour operation condition, which was recommended by the Plan Commission staff. However, the Plan Commission then voted 3-2 in disapproval of the underlying SUP itself with Commissioner Whittington. voting yes on the hours waiver, but no on the underlying SUP request, which logically we still kind of question. But nonetheless, let me give a bit of history with respect to this site. Approximately 2.44 acre site at 1322 Bernath Parkway. This was the old TGI Friday's restaurant that operated from 1981 until a few years back. Property is currently vacant, underutilized, and it's a visible source of decline along this critical corridor on Airport Highway. In late March, this property was vandalized, windows were broken out, and all of the copper piping was stripped from the building. We expect that it's going to continue to be vandalized as it sits vacant. We submitted to plan commission for its hearing photo showing the damage, and we also submitted a letter from Joe Balinski OF REICHEL KLEIN, THE COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE BROKER REPRESENTING THE DEVELOPER. JOE IS HERE TODAY AND CAN ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS THAT COUNCIL MAY HAVE ON THIS. But in short, the letter submitted by Mr. Balinski explained why second generation restaurant buildings are particularly difficult to reposition because number one, they're highly specialized in their design, renovation costs are high relative to their likely returns, and building layout limits alternative uses. and uh... at planned commission mister blinsky uh... testified that in his opinion the highest and best use of this property was likely either a gas station convenience store use such as speedway is proposing or car wash there has been no activity with respect to propose restaurants uh... it is just too far off of the uh... four seventy five twenty three to be really interesting for restaurants. As such, this matter concerns redevelopment of an existing blighted commercial property, not introduction of a new commercial use onto a previously undeveloped residential land. So the choice for council is simple. It's not between active use and no impact. It is between continued vacancy and blight and managed reinvestment. My client, if approval is received, would invest approximately $5 million in new private investment in this site, which would not only improve the property tax base, create new employment opportunities, modernize the site with updated improvements, and help spur additional development in this particular corridor by providing a visible sign of confidence for the future of this corridor. at plan commission there were a number of uh... nearby residents that spoke in opposition uh... they spoke on the number of your weight nearby speedway locations in proximity to the site generalized concerns about speedway in the upkeep of its local locations uh... speedway in the developer respects these concerns obviously do not dismiss them uh... but we believe that this development is appropriate and that this is the new model store, very similar to a Sheets location that would have inside opportunity for ordering and eating food. Traffic was discussed. The Planning Commission staff's report acknowledged the concerns but indicated that they believe that the proposed site would not cause an increase in traffic. Crime and loitering was a significant issue that was discussed at Plan Commission with some residents associating gas stations and convenience operations with crime or loitering. And unfortunately, what it seemed to turn into was a bashing of Speedway with respect to their existing locations in Toledo. Noise and lighting were also an issue. But again, it is our position that having an active site with proper security lighting will actually help prevent crime. As such, the committee is not being asked to introduce a new use to this area. It's obviously a different type of use, but it's not new in that it was residential before. At this point, we respectfully request that the committee report the ordinances favorably to full city council without operating our restrictions, allowing us to proceed with the development of the property. At this point, Rob or Kyle, did you want to make any comments or be available for questions?

Thank you. Ms. Cottrell, do you have anything to add?

The only thing I'll add is that this is a bit of a complicated property in that it's been used commercially for 30, 40 years because it came out of an old community unit plan where the commercial was allowed. The reason that the Planning Commission voted yes on the commercial and no on the special use is because they recognized it was going to probably remain a commercial use. They felt that the special use permit was too intense, but they did recognize that some sort of a neighborhood commercial, walkable commercial use there would be appropriate.

Thank you. And do you agree to both of the two waivers that have been stipulated?

Can you read those waivers please?

So there was a setback waiver in the CN zoning and then a waiver of the restriction of commercial access against residential zoning.

Those were acceptable, yes.

Okay, thank you. President Williams.

Thank you. I think my colleagues know what I'm going to say. So there's a corner of Monroe and Detroit, and I'm going to tell she's this too again. We have measured the foot traffic. This is for you. We have measured the foot traffic. We've measured the actual traffic there on Monroe and Detroit where an old Rite Aid sits. We'll welcome you with open arms there. Thank you.

Council Member Gaddis.

Thank you. Just for clarity, what are the hours of operation?

24-7 is the hours of operation of all new Speedway locations throughout Ohio, correct?

Okay, in the neighborhood. had concerns about the hours of operation at the community meeting?

I will let Ms. Cottrell also provide her thoughts, but my perception of what the resident concerns were were primarily the 24-7 hour operation. Not necessarily the gas station or the gas sales. That's why we were so confused that we were successful in getting recommendation of the hours limitation. recommended disapproval on the underlying SUP itself. In fact, there was one individual that stood up that said that he would prefer to have a car wash that sold marijuana and porn rather than have a 24-7 gas station in the location.

I always appreciate public input.

Yes, we do.

So it wasn't a planned commission recommendation for the 24-7?

So the planned commission did recommend with a three to two vote that condition number 28 be removed. That condition, which is allowed via the zoning code, had an hour's restriction that they had to close between 1 and 5.30. That condition was removed. Three to two vote, but then at the end they denied the special needs permit.

And then how many, what kind of calls did the office receive on this?

We've had a significant number of calls, emails. I can't get you an exact number, but it's probably 20.

Okay, and then does the size of the building fall within the qualifications of the licensure legislation? Or is this another mega gas station?

I might have to defer to the applicant on the exact size of the building. If it's over 5,000 square feet, it would not require a license.

It is under 5,000 square feet. It would require a license then.

Okay, thank you, thank you. Councilman Sarandon.

Thank you, was there a neighborhood meeting?

There was a neighborhood meeting that was held, yes.

And could somebody summarize the neighborhood meeting, what was discussed?

I wasn't there, so.

We held a neighborhood meeting, I don't know, six to eight months ago, and we mailed out mailers to the surrounding area, as we were told from the planning department, and we held that meeting. I would say there was maybe 10... 15 people there the councilman Martinez was there councilman Kramer was there discussed our initial plan with all the neighbors took in a lot of their feedback and consideration made a bunch of design changes to you know be good neighbors and We met with our neighbor immediately adjacent to us, the condo building. We actually share a cross access with them and some cross access parking. We've come up with a plan to build a wall, separating our two parcels and coming to an agreement with them. Being our direct adjacent neighbor, the condo board has approved our plan and wants to see it go forward. So yes, to answer your question, there was a neighborhood meeting. We took into consideration what everyone had said. We made significant design changes. We added landscape improvements. A bus stop was requested. We want to be a good neighbor. We want to give people what they want. And so that's the extent of the neighborhood meeting.

Just to clarify, you said the condo board approved?

That's correct, yes. So we have an agreement with the condo board to approve our plan, and in exchange we're building a privacy wall with them. And so, yes, we do have the formal approval, and we have a letter from the condo board.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Councilman Sorrento, just to clarify a bit. Can you go back to the site itself, please? To the west of the proposed site, there is the condo complex that Mr. Horton was referring to. It is that condo complex that they voted in support, and there is a letter in the file from them. The opponents, most of them seem to be residents of the neighborhood that would be to the north and to the northeast in behind off of the extension of, is that Bernath that extends there as well? So my point being that the folks most proximate to the site were supportive.

Okay, so to understand this, so you're saying the people north of the Fridays? Correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. I do have a question about Speedway. Is it a corporate-owned? Are all of them corporate-owned? Are they franchised? How does this work?

All of the Speedways in Toledo are corporate.

They are all corporate. Okay. So if we have a problem with one of them, we can certainly reach out to corporate if they're not very good neighbors and if they have a lot of trash and if there's a lot of crime. Okay, all right. Because I have a great location that I am frustrated with in my district, which is located at Sylvania, Tremainsville and Jackman. There is nothing but problems going on at that location and I would really like to see it look as lovely as this one could look or promises to look. One thing with all of these different gas stations coming in, it's trying to raise the bar a little bit because I'll tell you, some of these other ones have really been forgotten in the neighborhoods. Councilman Martinez.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Just to kind of elaborate a little bit to Councilman Sorantu's question, we were there, gosh, it was probably back in May, April, May. There was about 15 concerned residents in the area, and some of the concerns that were brought up were a little bit NIMBYism. Some of them were legitimate, mainly around pedestrian traffic, around school drop-offs, and neighborhood traffic. while the traffic study which i did request to have done didn't report any significant traffic concerns it was observed by the planner that there was significant amount of children walking in the area so it was legitimized through just the visual observation of the planner of the tech at the time for the most part a lot of opposition mainly because the hours of operation uh lighting pollution potential pollution but i think that's probably been addressed uh through this plan um but again it's very similar to across the street although bigger location but again the hours of operation the impact of the neighborhood i think was probably the most legitimate general concern um but yeah and then we received quite a bit of emails at least i've received quite a bit of emails in opposition to this

Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number one, two, or three? I'm going to lump them together. We're going to do a notice, a recommendation after, but I just, at least this is the same project. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number one, two, or three? Please come to the podium. And please state your name and address for the record, please.

Lisa Cunningham, 5529 Bentwood Drive.

Would you raise your right hand? Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so say I do? I do. Thank you.

And could you speak into the microphone so we can record this? Thank you.

First, a couple of things I'd like to address from the attorney's perspective. He mentioned the blighted property. Agree. Agree. it's blighted property when you don't keep the grass cut, you don't keep the area. um when you have broken out windows and you don't board them up you're gonna have crime um so i think it's been mowed twice this year so yeah that's bladed property but that's the property owner's problem the area is not conducive to a restaurant there's another thing he said texas roadhouse is doing very well so is the chicken place down around the corner too so TGIs before it went under was very conducive also. So that's not accurate either. And then he stated it would not cause an increase in traffic. How would that not cause an increase in traffic that's already there? The only entry would be off of Bernath. We're not coming off the airport highway. So we'd come off the side residential street to get into the location is what we'd be doing to get in and out. and that would create traffic there specifically on that street, on Bernath. No 24 operation, that's exactly right. We don't want a 24 operation. Do we need another car wash that was brought up that could be used for a car wash? Do we really need another car wash? I don't think we do. When he also mentioned about the neighborhood meeting, yes, I live on Bernath, or I mean on Bentwood. but i'm close enough that not nobody in our street got those mailers i i think it was the local right the perimeter around this restaurant that got mailers we found out months later that there was a meeting um I have a whole group of people here, neighbors, that are opposed to this. They make it sound like just a few people showed up at this meeting. We were not informed of this meeting. That's why we did not come. And I'm sorry, my voice is a little thing. but it's not that we're not interested we do not want a car wash or a gas station a restaurant would be great let's commercialize it and get it out there we just you guys just brought a big restaurant coming to or a big grocery store coming to town let's advertise this spot okay as is a restaurant um so this discussed with all the neighbors that's not true it's totally not true Also, I brought up at the last meeting that we were here, we have 12 gas stations within three and a half miles of this location, 12 of them. One, two, four of which are speedway stations. Of those 12, four are existing speedway stations in that area. Do we need a fifth station within three and a half miles of this location? I don't know where this moratorium is on gas stations, but I 100% support this moratorium. This is ridiculous. We need to take ownership of our city and not to the gas stations.

Thank you, ma'am. any questions for me no ma'am thank you thank you is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for against case number one two or three come on up you'll have three minutes And you'll have to state your name and address for the record, please.

My name is Terry Vasilka. My address is 1155 Bernath Parkway.

Raise your right hand, please. Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? If so, say I do.

I do.

Thank you.

Thank you. I live north of where the proposed speedway is by, what, 12 houses, I believe. Never got a notice. I think that's pretty close. I would have been at that meeting to object. We don't need a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week speedway at the corner. The person that lives across the street where the proposed speedway is going to be, she already sold. She got up and out of there before they start any construction. I own two properties on Bernath. next door to me is already going up for sale people are they're not going to put up with that nonsense in there we have there is an access off of holland savannah uh street firethorn is the street that is a cut through street already so i can see already people coming down holland savannah to firethorn and then coming right butting into my home and then turning to go to that speedway and then going out i mean if you had an access and it exit on airport highway instead of in the neighborhood it might not be so objectionable but we don't need all that traffic we just it's full of kids and dogs and walkers it's a nice quiet neighborhood i moved there to renovate my home and move it was a project and i stayed because i liked the quiet neighborhood but I want it to remain a quiet, nice neighborhood. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Anyone else? Okay. Councilman Martinez, what is your, did you want to speak again?

I would like to, if permitted, respond to a couple of these comments made because I think there were- Okay, let's try and limit it to three minutes, okay? Absolutely. I guess number one, as far as the current status and upkeep of the property, my client does not own the property at this point in time. My client is under contract to buy the property. number two with respect to reference to other restaurants Joe do you want to testify as to it's been on the market for three years at this point by one of the leading if not if not the leading broker out of Cleveland For retail and restaurant type uses, there has been no activity for that type of a use. As far as the number of gas stations in proximity, yes, there are a lot of gas stations in proximity. However, a number of those are older legacy style gas stations with very small convenience stores. The future of this industry involves larger operations that have more amenities, and that's what Speedway is seeking to build here. And then with respect to the notice of the meeting, my client sent notices for the meeting based upon the list of property owners provided by the city and actually expanded out to 1 000 feet to those folks that got noticed so sure there were some people that didn't get noticed but there was we we complied with the law on that and actually exceeded what was required thank you

thank you all right councilman martinez uh thank you madam chair so yeah just i guess to point of clarification if i'm not mistaken it's a hundred feet from the edge of the property that people get noticed is that correct we're required to notify a budding i'm sorry we're required to notify a budding property owners in this case we notified about 50 people we went about a block each way That's what I thought. I have that map here if you want to see it.

Okay, great. And then I just kind of want to address the gentleman's comment. So as the district rep, it's an easy yes or no answer. However, we're responsible for not what's just here now, but it's the future use of what could be. Obviously, it's like reading a crystal ball, but we have to make the best decisions we can given the information we have. Is this the highest and best use of this space? debatable probably not but you know it is willing seller willing buyer so we have to be conscious of the market this is actually a very weird case where the SUP was denied but everything else was approved and I have not gone against the Planning Commission on a disapproval so I recommend to the full committee as disapproved based on the plan commission's recommendation of the disapproval and further i'm going to recommend disapproval of the two or the one waiver 11-06-0102 and then also disapproval of waiving chapter 1107.1203 which would allow for the the access and 24-hour operation that being said i will make a recommendation for approval for um the two and three this is such a weird case so if you guys are still gonna move forward just so you know you would that's a business decision that you guys are going to have to make all right seeing no objections so order this will go to the full city council on june 23rd 2026.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Let's move on to case number four. Clerk, can you please read case number four? And can the applicant for case number four please come to the podium?

Case number four is a request for a zone change from CR Regional Commercial to RM36 Multifamily Residential for the property located at 802 and 806 Nebraska Avenue. Case number Z26-0006, the plan commission recommends approval.

Would you state your name and address for the record, please?

Yes, Corey Savage, 806 Nebraska Avenue.

Thank you. Raise your hand, please. Do you swear to tell truth and nothing but the truth? If so, say I do. I do. Thank you.

Thank you. Would you tell us why you're seeking this zone change, please?

Yes. My name is Corey Savage. I'm the owner of Savage Residential Care. I own another property in Miss Gaddis District. I'm a homegrown Toledo, Ohio native. The reason why I'm opening up these group homes is to provide a safe, structured environment uh kind of community that's kind of unforgotten uh it's been a need uh for this and with this uh i'm already working with unisense uh zeph center and stuff like that and uh this property is about three minutes away from the zeph center so we can really probably uh to be able to house five men i have a woman's facility over on crittenden but i'd be able to house five men with mental illnesses that range from different spectrums thank you ms cutrell do you have anything to add

so uh the reason for the zone change is a group home is not permitted in the cr zoning district thank you is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number four again is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number four president williams what is your recommendation i sent it to the four city council as approved good luck thank you seeing no objections so ordered thank you Let's move on to case number five. Would the applicant for case number five please come to the podium? And clerk, can you please read case number five?

Case number five is a request for a zone change from CR Regional Commercial to CR-SO Regional Commercial Shopping Center sign control overlay for the property located at 3404, 3420, and 3434 West Central Avenue and 3311 Secor Road, case number Z26-0007. The plan commission recommends approval subject to one condition.

Is the applicant here please?

miss cattrall so we've been trying to contact the applicant since the hearing started to see if he was on his way he has not responded the reason for the zone change is to allow a multi-tenant sign that's only permitted in the sign overlay district just a point of order can we can we make a recommendation without the applicant here

believe you've done so in the past um i think it's your district council person's preference okay all right is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number five again is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number five president williams it's not my district but i'm super excited because trader joe's

we got it so just wanted to say that councilmember Melvin what is your recommendation yeah thank you so what's the sorry what was the one condition

I believe it's for all sign permits to be submitted, but let me just check that.

And how would the multi-tenant sign, how does that look? Because we've been talking about the sign code in different ways recently and not wanting to, I've been very supportive of not wanting to exempt against the new code change. I do see it on the screen now. That's lovely. I think it's nice.

So the sign will... Thanks. will resemble the sign that's across the street the same international style the same height they would need up this they were they will also need a bza waiver for the height because it's a monument sign but it's too big but they will need that waiver as well okay great uh then send it forward to the full city council as approved thank you seeing no objections so ordered would the applicant for case number six please come forward and clerk can you please read case number six

Case number six is the request for the vacation of a portion of Jefferson Avenue between Water Street and the Maumee River. Case number V-75-26, the plan commission recommends approval subject to seven conditions.

Would you state your name and address for the record?

Yes, my name is Haley Kennedy, 29262 Stony Hill Drive.

Thank you.

do you swear to tell truth and nothing but the truth of so say i do i do thanks thank you would you tell us why you're requesting this vacation yeah so part of jefferson has been closed for some time now but there is a comfort station on the left-hand side that is encroaching in that on jefferson so we're just wanting to create marketable title for metro parks so from the center line 17 feet west we're looking to vacate that portion okay

Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak for or against case number six? Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number six? Ms. Cottrell, do you have anything to add?

I do not.

Okay.

Council President Williams, what's your recommendation?

I send this to the Board of Revisions as approved.

Seeing no objections, so ordered. Thank you. We do need your signature, though. Thank you. Would the applicant for case number seven please come forward to the podium, and clerk, can you please read case number seven?

Case number seven is a request for a special use permit for gas and fuel sales for the property located at 5303 West Bancroft Street, case number SGP 26. The plan commission recommends approval subject to 46 conditions.

Would you state your name and address for the record, please?

Yeah, my name's Kevin Brown with Scenic Architecture, 325 Superior Street in Rossford.

Thank you. Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? If so, say I do.

I do. I do.

Thank you.

Tell us about your application for the special use permit.

My client is seeking a special use permit for a gas station at the southwest corner of Reynolds and Bancroft. so the reason we need a special use permit this was a gas station going back to the 60s with the service station well he's so it closed in about 19 i'm sorry 2020 and now because it's been close long we have to reapply for the special use permit and really all he's doing is he's getting rid of the service portion of it we're going to turn into a convenience store and modernize it you know so it's really just been sitting empty for six years and we're going to clean it up and

open again so we had no opposition at our hearing level for this we recommended support because you're taking a site that's existing been vacant and you're making it better close to curb cuts add landscaping in the end you're gonna get a better site rather than a vacant site and as I said we had no opposition Thank You councilmember Gattis

Thank you. What is the size of the carryout?

It's approximately 2,000 square feet.

Okay, so it'll fall under the licensing.

That will require a license and a yearly review, yes.

Okay, thank you.

Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak for or against case number seven? Again, is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number seven?

councilman martinez what is your recommendation thank you madam chair quick question what is the hours operation he'll be open from like six till six to about ten o'clock okay i will send this to the committee as approved

seeing no objections so ordered and you do agree to the 46 condition yes thank you thank you very much this will go to the full City Council on June 23rd we do need your signature all right let's move on to case number eight and with the applicant for case number eight please come forward and clerk can you please read case number eight

Case number eight is a request for a special use permit for gas and fuel sales for the property located at 5305 and 5321 Monroe Street and 4700 Nantucket Drive. The Planning Commission makes no recommendation. There are 44 conditions of approval.

Could you tell us about your application, please?

Yeah, good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for having me again.

I'm sorry, I didn't ask you for your name. I'm sorry.

I will, don't worry.

Your name and your address, please.

My name's Alex Zwicky from Sheetz. You can find me at 39300 West 12 Mile Road, Farmington Hills, Michigan.

Thank you. Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? So say I do.

I do.

Thank you. Now, please.

No problem at all. Thank you for having me again. It's always nice to be in front of you all. I also want to thank staff. You guys work really diligently all the time, and this one has definitely been a winding road. So thank you for all that you guys do. I want to take a moment to reintroduce you guys to the Sheetz brand, just because this one has been a little bit of a winding road, like I said. So I thought it'd be important for our discussions later on to remember exactly what the brand is. And I'll be very brief. So as you might remember, Sheets is a family name. It was founded in 1952 by Bob Sheets and over 75 years later now, or almost 75 years later. And it's still family owned and operated by the Sheets family. I can personally attest to this. My supervisor is a member of the family, so they're very involved in the business every single day. And then also inside of the business. So the first 25 years or so, we didn't actually sell fuel. We started as a restaurant convenience store. So in our businesses, if you've walked into one, you know that we have full kitchens in them and we have our MTO or made to order program where you can get literally 1.8 million different combinations of food outside of them. Still don't know quite how that's possible, but man, people get some really wacky combinations when they go to town on that screen. You can get that with the coffees and smoothies and all that stuff too. We also have an array of grocery items. So sure, you can go in and get your typical convenience stuff like your chips, snacks, and drinks. We also have bread, eggs, bacon, toilet paper, some things like that, all offered 24-7, 365. Our offering is not the only way that we go above and beyond. So if you look at our buildings, we also have really nice looking buildings, facilities, full section brick and stone, architectural metals, glazing, and we take really good care of our facilities. We also go above and beyond to being a good employer. So for the past 11 years, we have been on the fortunes list of top 100 companies to work for in the nation. So 11 years in a row, one of the top 100 companies to work for. If you break that down by segment, we're actually the second best retailer in the entire nation to work for. And we offer all of our employees bonuses, stock ownership, 401ks, tuition reimbursement, PTO, medical, dental, vision, list goes on and on and on. And I just love telling everybody how good of an employer they are because of my journey through Sheetz. So I've been with Sheetz for a little over seven years now, seven and a half. And I actually started as an electrician. I'm an electrician by trade. Started there, worked in our maintenance department. They put me through both my bachelor's and master's degrees, paid for it, and now I work in our engineering department. They're great to work for. They also show up in extraordinary ways for our communities. We do Sheets for the Kids, which is a program that's big in December, but every single store, including those here in Toledo, go and buy for local kids in the community that might be in need. That way we can brighten their holidays. We do Make-A-Wish Special Olympics sponsorships. We also donate food out of each and every one of our locations every single week, and we've done that here in Toledo or in Northwest Ohio here for the couple years that we've been here. We also partner with schools and other organizations as such. So to talk specifically about this site, and I apologize, I'm on my phone. My printer chose the perfect time to stop working. We understand that this one's been a little bit more complicated. Some of the concerns that maybe some folks have had have been around traffic pollution and more broadly 24-hour operation. I wanted to take a moment to maybe address some of those things. Regarding traffic, the Planning Commission requested that we provide them a traffic study, which we did so. That study showed that the intersection both now and after our development would operate in an acceptable level of service. and that no traffic mitigations would be warranted. It also proves that Sheetz is a traffic capture, not generator, so increases in traffic in the area are not anticipated to happen. Despite all that, we really wanted to be a good neighbor, so we've restricted left out We don't have the site plan in front of us, but left out onto Nantucket. This is actually not the most up-to-date site plan, but that bottom northwest corner, you won't be able to make a left out of it, so it'll prevent traffic from being able to go down into the neighborhoods. That's good on traffic. Regarding pollution, there are some topics that were brought up during the last planning commission and I just wanted to set the record straight on some of the contamination concerns. When it comes to our fueling systems, and I'm going to brag a little bit here, we set the bar. We set it very high. And I could go on and on and on about our fuel systems, but they are electronically and mechanically monitored 24-7, 365. We have state-certified people on staff that directly work for SHEETS that live right here in Toledo that are trained to respond to our fuel systems, again, on a 24-7, 365 basis. We also have two departments within the company that are entirely dedicated to fuel safety for both environmental protection and fuel system operation. And this all adds up, and I could talk on and on and on about it because I used to fix this stuff, to a nearly 100% technical compliance rate with the EPA. nearly 100% technical compliance rate with the EPA. That is unheard of in our industry. That's how safe that our systems are and how much pride we take in them. And then the last concern I wanted to bring up was around 24 hour operations. And most folks loop in several concerns in there. So it could be noise, light, crime, all around being 24 hours. So when it comes to 24 hours, Sheets has been operating all of its locations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for decades. Every single one of our locations operates this way. And over those decades, we've learned a thing or two about how to do it and how to operate. And that's evidenced by the site plan and some of the mitigations that we took there. So if you guys look at the site plan, you'll see that the most of our operations are to the north. And there's a huge buffer to the south, preventing us, or excuse me, separating us from our neighbors to the south as much as we can. We also put our building between us and our fueling operations, which acts as a giant buffer, giant wall to prevent sound and light from coming through. Regarding lighting, our lighting is fully compliant with City of Toledo codes, and it's all dark sky compliant. It's fully cut off, directed toward the ground, doesn't bleed onto adjacent properties. Regarding crime, we have numerous systems, policies, procedures in place. I've actually heard of stories of people using Sheetz parking lots as an online marketplace, like transfer points. You buy something online, you guys meet at the Sheetz parking lot to trade the item and the money. And I've also heard stories of people using it as custody transfer points. I think that these stories are evidence that people generally feel safe at our facilities. We also work very closely with local law enforcement, and we have dedicated personnel in each district, including here in Toledo, responsible for security and getting the stores the appropriate support that they might need. At the end of the day, when it comes to crime, Sheetz doesn't attract crime. In my opinion, it's quite the opposite. We often deter it. So there are two things today that we're asking you for. First is a waiver to allow 24 hour operations, which we just kind of discussed. But this is condition number 30. It's the bottom of page 8 dash 9. I believe in your packet. This property does not abut residential, which I know you all know. The closest residential is 360 feet away, and that's property line to property line, and that's to the north across Monroe. To the south in Sylvania Township, we're actually more like 675 feet away. That's much further than others in the area, and that's much further than this council has previously approved, even for me. You all approved the location in Alexis and Secor, which is only 180 feet away. Almost done here. We have demonstrated, you know, a success of operating our businesses 24 hours a day. We've been doing it for decades, and we feel we'll be able to do it here very successfully. second thing we're asking for you today is approval of our overall special land use as you know this is a regional commercial district our uses are permitted with this special land use we agree to 46 of the 47 conditions listed in here that one is the hours of operation um but outside all that i just want to end with some some positive things um You know, Sheetz is an awesome employer. It's evidenced by our fortune ranking. And, you know, you can look that up. But I wanted to dig a little bit deeper for you guys and talk about some of the economics. In the Toledo area, every single Sheetz store contributes $1.2 million in wages annually. And that's before bonuses and benefits and all that. That's just raw wages. $1.2 million every single store in northwest Ohio here every single year. We're also going to be hopefully spending $9 million on construction to build this project. um we're going to create 30 to 35 jobs at this location and they will be truly brand new jobs the property owners have been able to successfully relocate the existing tenants in the plaza to other properties they own close by and the bar 145 that the property owners also own they were able to offer jobs to all their employees at other restaurants that they own close by so there wasn't any loss of jobs that we're aware of so we're truly creating 30 to 35 brand new jobs With that, I know I drowned on there for a while. I'm here to answer your questions.

Thank you. Ms. Cottrell, do you have anything to add?

I will add that the Planning Commission, there was a request to remove condition number 30. That condition was the hours of operation. That ended in a 2-2 vote with the Planning Commission, which was a failed vote.

Thank you. President Williams.

Thank you. Well, you know what I'm gonna say. So I was sent a list. How are you?

Hello.

Glad for you to be here to hear me talk to you. I think you were here the last time I said it to you then. So I was sent a list of... things that SHEETS looks for when they look for real estate. Accessibility, utilities, parking, traffic, acreage, and zoning. At Monroe and Detroit, there's a Rite Aid, and then there's a lot. It actually totals up, I think, 2.5 acreage, and you look for one of three. Also, too, one of them was the traffic. You wanted it to fall above 18,000. Well, at Monroe and Detroit, 32,000 average daily traffic goes through there when you factor in both of them. Perfect location for sheets. There's the redevelopment of Swainfield that's happening. There's a grand that was just built, new housing. And the Englewood neighborhood is growing significantly. And homeownership, OS10 is right there. So it's a perfect location for sheets based on the criteria Y'all got to quit going to places people don't want y'all and come to the place that people do. Like I'm telling you, like you will not have NIMBYism coming over there. You will have people coming to say, welcome, thank you, bring the jobs, bring the 75 years of sheets to... close to downtown toledo which is developing the riverfront is close by i'm just saying take it back to the sheets family tell them come talk to me thank you for being here hopefully we can work together to bring sheets on down thanks i appreciate you thank you i'd buy anything she's selling uh councilwoman gaddis thank you um can you tell me the size of the building please

It is about 6,100 square feet, so it would not require a license.

So it does not require. What is that categorized as?

General retail.

So like a dollar store?

Correct. Well, the dollar store definition is very specific. We would just classify this as a grocery store or a general retail.

So it would be a grocery store. And then could you tell me if you got any calls or emails to the office?

We've had multiple calls and emails. I can't give you the exact number, but I think we sent them up, but they're multiple.

Okay. And then did you have a community meeting?

We did.

Could you summarize what happened?

Unfortunately, I was not present. Derek, were you there? I'm going to have my friend come up. You can swear him in, and he'll tell you.

Thank you.

please state your name uh derek reba with skilking gold 4270 morris road columbus ohio and do you swear to tell the truth nothing about the truth of so say i do i do thank you i would say there was approximately 10 to 15 people present at this meeting maybe a little less dana the planner at the time was also there we had a discussion shared our plan took their feedback most of the feedback was in regards to traffic cutting through on nantucket You can see on the most up-to-date plan that we did limit that movement out of the site.

Okay, thank you. All right, is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number eight? Please come forward, ma'am. Please state your name and address for the record, and you will be sworn in.

My name is Cheryl Bath. I live at 4408 Nantucket Drive.

Raise your right hand, please. Pardon? Oh, raise your right hand.

Oh, I'm sorry.

I do swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so say I do. I do.

Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. You'll have three minutes. I just want to address you guys that this has been an ongoing concern for my neighborhood and our area in the sense that we're a unique situation, so I want to make sure everybody's on the same page. We are a township. You are Lucas County. Nantucket Drive, from the time it goes to the apartments back through the township. At one time, back in the early 70s, there was an apartment complex developed by Dunbar, and when they developed it, the street was, when it was originally done, it was a drive, and a drive is no access, no thoroughfare. And what happened is, the housing was getting developed, and there weren't a lot of houses back then to make a big deal about anything. and the developer came in and wanted to put apartments so those apartments came in and they opened up the street nobody could go against it or anything there wasn't enough people or anything so they opened it up so it's not really a drive anymore technically it's more like a thoroughfare if you will and with that being done the reason why it was put over to lucas county was because they wanted to have what do you call those uh shingle roof and the fire code in savannah township wouldn't let it happen so they went to lucas county and lucas county opened it up plus they were doing the dunbar development anyhow for the shopping centers and everything they had a plan so as far as our neighborhood has we have watched lucas county grow down monroe street and it's impacting our street over the last 60 years That development has been there. It's a beautiful neighborhood. If you've ever driven by there, I'm sure you understand that. We have no sidewalks. And I would like to say, first and foremost, that that's what I'm selling you is we have a quiet neighborhood with no sidewalks. 15 years ago, you could probably have this done with not too many big deals because it was older people living out their lives and then they recently sold their houses and it's rejuvenated again back to a community that has children, dogs, people walking all the time. um and we have and we have horrible traffic going down nantucket um it's ridiculous they go over the speed limit of 25. savannah township tries to do a nice job of putting police there and trying to warn people and let people know but with the traffic going on in savannah when there's any kind of traffic jam or whatever, people find our street and then they make it their everyday drive through. The other thing I'd like to mention is that we have four gas stations and less than a half a mile away from our development. We don't need another gas station and we don't need another grocery store. we have them around if we want to go someplace we can get there i appreciate sheets i appreciate the jobs i appreciate what they can bring to the community i just don't want them on at the end of nantucket as far as traffic pattern that's not a truthful statement yes you guys have done a commission uh a traffic study but that traffic right there is horrible it's horrible for state street it's horrible for uh flanders They're opening it up so the street's gonna go directly to Flanders and that's gonna create chaos. It's only supposed to be a right-hand turn. So when you're sitting there and you're coming out of that, you have a choice to go onto Monroe Street and go right. You can't go left, you can go right. And then you've gotta come out onto Nantucket to go right to go left on the monroe street thank you they're not going to do that thank you your time is up and i don't appreciate that because he had a lot of time but this is i'm very passionate about this this has to deal with my home my values our children in our community and i really want to make sure that you're hearing us thank you is there anyone else who would like to speak please come forward and please state your name and address for the record

Laura Draheim, 4525 Nantucket Drive. Raise your right hand, please.

I'm sorry. Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? If so, say I do. I do. Thank you.

First of all, I'd like to support Mrs. Williams. I think that location would be a wonderful place for a sheet, and I wholeheartedly support it. I do not support the sheets at the end of my street in Nantucket. I'll try to be really quick on this. I feel like it was a party that was thrown, but it wasn't invited because the sheets deal had been brewing for quite a while. Eddie Lee's was purchased a year ago, May, with the idea that it would be torn down for a sheets. So I was not notified. It kind of was word of mouth. And then over the last year, we were told that the people who had the stores, we didn't have a vacant shopping center that needed to be filled, like you do, ma'am. We had wonderful shops there. We had opticians. We had restaurants. We had a financial business. It was filled, but recognized probably it didn't bring as much money in as leasing the sheets would. I recognize that. I'll tell you another thing is, I have become an expert on mega gas stations. This is a phenomenon for this country, these mega gas stations. People make between 30 to 50% on these convenience stores. They're sold as, you know, well, you'll be able to have a place to get chips. You'll get hot dogs and stuff like that. I had six restaurants. One was closed. I have five restaurants I can walk to if I want a hamburger. If I want a high-end meal, I can go to Standard. I can go to Beer Stoop if I want a beer. I can go to Dairy Queen. I can go get a donut. I can walk to all those places. we don't need more restaurants the country does not need this many large gas stations i drove down alexis road to go to my vet from talmadge to lewis avenue past the two sites that have already been approved i believe one somebody mentioned one for sheets maybe one for i can't remember There are two empty gas stations in that section where I drove past. So does this make sense to you? We're building two mega gas stations, even though there's two empty lots where gas stations work. Of course, you probably can't build on them because the tanks are still in the ground. Until money is made available to take them out, they won't be of use to anyone. Cities in Ohio and throughout the country, but cities in Ohio too, I know for sure, Troy and Kettering have issued moratoriums on these large gas stations so that it can be studied. In fact, Troy and Kettering have just extended their moratorium for that reason, because they need to get a handle on this. It's kind of the new cash cow, cash cow for sheets. I don't mean to malign the owner, can't blame him for wanting to make more money on his site, but this is going to be disadvantageous to us. Not everybody's notified of this development and all this. All the apartment renters that live around that area, they were not notified because renters are not notified. They're second-class citizens.

Your time is finished. Oh, doggone.

i did contact the auditor and he gave me a list of all the empty gas stations in lucas county that is a very didn't bring it with me but that's something that somebody might want to look into as well you can always email us thank you thank you you can always look it up too thank you is there anyone else that would like to speak please state your name and address for the record please

Amber Corder, 4347 Old Lyme Drive. Raise your hand if you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. If so, say I do. I do. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am.

all right i'm here in opposition of sheets my husband and i are residents of the nantucket red gate woods neighborhood we are concerned about the increase of traffic in our neighborhood my husband has a unique perspective as he works rotating swing shift which is why he's not here today and he leaves for work between 4 a.m and 5 a.m some days he shared with me today as we prep for this meeting that several several times he passes residents on our streets walking running or walking their dogs between the hours of 4 a.m and 5 a.m when most of the residents are asleep We know that this development of sheets will increase the traffic in our residential area that does not have sidewalks. It is also not built for any more traffic than it currently has. With the Monroe Street Bridge down, the Whiteford Road and our neighborhood has seen an influx of traffic. It has led to speeding, multiple running of stop signs, and the Savannah Township having to patrol the area more. There was a traffic study done, however, that was at the corner of Monroe Street and Nantucket. It did not go into Savannah Township or further down on Nantucket. During a prior hearing, the representative from Sheets stated that they were not considering a plan without access to or from Nantucket because there had already been an existing entrance or exit there. I would like to state that that driveway that was or is on Nantucket was to a restaurant that had very limited hours of 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. So when there was a driveway placed onto Nantucket, it was for very limited operation. The existing plaza on the opposite side has continued to see restaurants come in and out, including the new development of a Taco Bell a few years ago. That Taco Bell parking lot did not add to the driveway exits or entrance onto Nantucket. It did make them divert further from Nantucket, actually, by having patrons go back around the building to leave the area. Hobby Lobby and a dance studio are also patrons there in that area, doctor's office or a dentist with limited hours. Businesses that are on the Monroe Street corridor there are usually limited to 8 a.m to 10 p.m and that's actually a stretch i've sat at the streetlight by monroe and nantucket taking my children to school going to arbor hills down the road and monroe street was very um i would say dead there was not a lot of traffic there at 8 a.m this all being said not only do we feel the Traffic to Nantucket is irrelevant. It doesn't need to come down our residential neighborhood. But we also feel that there's no need for a 24-7 operation, as we do have traffic in that neighborhood, walkers, dog walkers, people riding their bikes to school. But the businesses are not even open. Ma'am, your time is finished. Oh, okay. I apologize.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against? Okay. Come on up. Please state your name and address for the record, please.

Jeff Mason, 4802 Southbridge, Toledo, Ohio, 43623. Raise your right hand, please.

Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? If so, say I do.

I do.

Thank you.

We have listened to just about everything, pros and cons, mostly cons, and even with the Speedway situation, so we know just about all of the objections. But I just have a few things to add. Number one, the portrayal of Sheets as a wonderful family organization can be doubted by some. I looked up on Reddit and Facebook and all of the employees that had worked for Sheets or worked for Sheets had nothing but negatives to say. The main problem with the Sheets 24-7 operation is that They have to operate with a low employee number in the stations. Most of the employees don't want to work all night. They don't want to come in. And Sheetz has a high turnover, very transient workforce. Number of employees that would go back to Sheetz was zero. Number two, when we look again at the traffic congestion in this area, Statesville across the street hasn't been talked about much. Right now it's a cut through between Lasky and Monroe Street. There are car after car after car going through this small neighborhood. This will double the traffic or triple the traffic on Statesville because it's a cut through and goes directly into Sheetz. So what we have here is really a gas war between Speedway and Sheetz. They're trying to build as many as they can, and I don't know that it's really beneficial to the city of Toledo. It doesn't really provide more jobs, it just dilutes the present jobs that are in effect. So that's pretty much everything that I have to add to the situation, but we are definitely against the location of sheets in our neighborhood. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. At this time, I'd like to bring up Gary Stuckey. Gary, can you come up and talk to us a little bit about your traffic study and any observations you have about some of the concerns that have been raised?

Yeah, Gary Stuckey. I'm with the City of Toledo Division of Traffic Management.

Thank you.

Yeah, they did a traffic study. We supplied, actually supplied the traffic counts at the intersection. of Nantucket and Monroe. We had just, unfortunately, and we just, by chance, had just counted it this past year. And looking at it and the amount of traffic that is on it, and with the traffic that was already there from Eddie Lee's is a restaurant, Bar 419, and all the other things, is there gonna be increase in traffic? A little bit, coming in and out. more than like i i we can't you know totally guarantee but it was very negligible and majority of that is going to come in off monroe street we do want you know access onto nantucket from the sheets for the reason of it's a traffic signal to get out onto monroe street otherwise you know these people coming in and out of sheets would you know be trying to get out in an unsignalized intersection which is just isn't as safe We did look at down Nantucket, there are speed bumps along Nantucket between Monroe and Sylvania. There's also numerous stop signs to help control traffic and to try to deter people from cutting through. We don't see, we don't believe that that much traffic is going to come over from Sylvania to come up to go to the sheets there. But there are probably some. And actually, they're also going from, I believe there's like six curb cuts out there currently. They're taking it down to two. which does help for safety on that, in that section, especially on Nantucket. There were, like I said, I think there were four of them there going to one. So, I mean, we feel that, you know, the Sheetz gas station is not going to create a traffic issue at the signal or, you know, up and down Monroe Street.

Thank you.

you can go ahead and sit down okay thank you madam chair i had a question for mr stuckey did the traffic study take into consideration statesville going into monroe street where the shopping center is uh into states we did i mean we

The traffic count do show that. They do anticipate some traffic coming up and down Statesville, but that was, like I say, very minimal. Majority of their traffic is going to be generated coming off traffic coming down Monroe Street and turning in there.

Okay.

Thank you for clarifying. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Council Member Meldon.

Thank you so much, Chair. Just a couple questions, not necessarily, Gary, thank you. Just real quickly on the numbers. Was it a $9 million construction? Is that what you said?

Yes, sir, $9 million in construction.

30 to 35 jobs wasn't the construction jobs. That was once the stores opened.

Correct, 30 to 35 employees.

Do you have a total income tax generation amount on that store? You said it was an average of a million plus or something?

Wages paid per store in Northwest Ohio.

Not income tax, I'm sorry, that would be wonderful, but that would be.

Wages paid in Northwest Ohio have been 1.2 million per store. What the tax was on that, I don't have that info.

Sure, sure, yeah. We can figure that part out. Okay, that was my question for you, thank you. Yes, sir. Director of Control, I have a quick question. How long have you been, this is not to be like some weird, like this is just, I have a question. How long have you been doing what you do?

31 years. That's okay, I thought so.

How often do you think you can think about something where this body approves something and almost 100% of the resident voice isn't represented by this body?

It's happened just a handful of times in 30 years, probably four times.

Do you understand the question? The dynamic that's very interesting about this is that all the residents who spoke against it i i totally appreciate your perspective um i had an interesting conversation with one of your representatives savannah township trustee uh genowan this week um and we had a really interesting i mean he's for this project just for what it's worth um and we had an interesting conversation and i started what really kind of like pivoted something for me i'm just going to give you my thought process here is when i mentioned as anyone knows and if you're not following toledo city council news all the time you may not know this about me one of my highest priorities is always pedestrian safety on on what can be cut through roads i live near one we have several in my district it is a real concern of mine It is why I think that Sheets should get some credit, by the way, for that no left turn thing. That's a big deal. That actually makes a difference on traffic and neighborhood quality of life and safety. But I had a conversation with Mr. Genowine and I said, I wonder what we could do to Nantucket to make it more pedestrian friendly. I don't want to put words in his mouth, but he did not necessarily agree with what would have been some of my tactics, just for what that's worth. If the speed limit's already 25, it's tough to really go lower than that, although I want to. And so it was just interesting. And what I realized in that moment in the conversation with Mr. Genowine was we have different incentives. We're thinking about it from different perspectives. And I just think that that is actually relevant here. And it is a very unique instance where I am thinking always I have to think about the people that I represent. We're in a representative democracy. People voted for me to show up here and think about their best interests. and I've had very few of those residents talk to me about this project. The reason I bring up the point with Director Cottrell, thank you for that insight, is I think this case shows an interesting kind of wrinkle in our system, which is I wonder if at the community meeting all the Sylvania Township trustees were there, and I wonder what they think about this project, because they're the ones that should truly be representing your interests. I appreciate that. I'm just letting you know that is an interesting thing. For me, as I think about this decision, what are some of my priorities? It is, what are the income taxes that are going to be generated here? It is, what is the net benefit to the city of Toledo that we represent in this project? There's been a theme through this meeting today of like, well, we don't want this, we want that instead. I mean, trust me, I understand that perspective. One of the benefits of someone investing in a property is you get to decide often what to do with your investment. It reminds me of a conversation I had with the senior center at Glass Peaks when the restaurant was coming in next to the Culver's. And I had this conversation with one of the residents there and I said, if you had earned money and invested in a property and then you wanted to do something new with the property, do you think you should be allowed to do that? And she said, yeah. I mean, I said, as long as it's within certain parameters. And that's what this process is. I'm not trying to say the most obvious thing in the world. I'm just trying to point out the actual situation that we're in and the reason that I'm interested in moving this project forward and you did not call the question yet is because the net benefit to the city of toledo in my opinion is clear um one last clarification director um you mentioned condition 30 on the 24-hour piece was a 2-2 tie as was the overall case correct and then at the in the end based on law's advice the 2-2 tie uh we they went back and took a vote to forward without recommendation that was four to zero

So that's how that vote came to be for the overall case.

To send the overall case without recommendation was 4-0. Yeah, correct. So they agreed on not taking a position. Right. Well, that's good.

They were not going to come to us.

They were unanimous to let us decide. Cool. Correct. Thank you. What I am commenting on is the accuracy of the statement that the vote to send it to us without recommendation was 4-0. Correct. That's what I was asking. Thank you. I'm going to defer.

No, you can't speak out of turn. You've already had a chance to be at the microphone. We don't take testimony that is not on the record. Would anyone like to speak? Can I finish real quickly?

Yeah. My wife always tells me, wrap it up, Sam. I'm almost done.

Wrap it up, Sam.

Thank you. I just wanted to make that point about the tutu thing because that is also an interesting and unique situation. I've already said how I feel about that. but the fact that it comes forward to this body with no recommendation my last clarification is if I say send it to the council as approved that also includes approving condition 30 or do we have to articulate that specifically

I think we're going to need to articulate that because that was also a two-two tie, and they did not vote further on that.

Okay. Well, I'm going to need the legal kind of clarity on that so we know what we're actually asking when that time comes. I would also point out that up the street, not very far, there is a gas station that's 24 hours. Whiteford and Monroe, I think.

Yeah.

Okay. Just making sure that that's true. Also, not in the city of Toledo. Okay. That's all for me. I know you want to go back to public comment. I appreciate that. Thanks.

Is there anyone in the audience who hasn't spoke before who would like to speak for or against? Please state your name and address for the record, please.

George Simon, 4442 West Alexis, Toledo, Ohio, 43623. do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth if so say i do i do thank you um thank you for uh for letting me speak today um i am the uh with my business partner andy graumbacher the owners of the property at 5305 monroe street and also the owners of the bar 145 that we recently closed and i guess i just wanted to um you know it's been a quite a process something new for me i've never had to deal with this kind of stuff so i wanted to just uh um you know we did a lot of homework um we've had a lot of calls about the property um people that wanted to come and do things there everything from you know drug rehab centers to um you know big we we actually looked at doing a huge outdoor music venue there after we purchased Eddie Lee's to to do something fun outdoors but you know I then we met with sheets and we decided that based on you know our future plans we thought that they were the best business partner that we could do a lease with and that's why we pursued that so number one it closed for access points on Nantucket and then we also felt that You know, just it's far enough away. I know there's a lot of, I believe I sent all of you an email with the proximity of gas stations to residential and how far we are, where there's some that are 32 feet away and they're open 24 hours. So I just hope that that gets some consideration. I used to live back in the Nantucket area also, and I guess I just wanted to, you know, as the owner of Bar 145 over the years, you know, people would leave that place drunk all the time shame on them but they would all turn left onto nantucket and drive through the neighborhood and so you know from a safety standpoint i would think that you're not going to have that anymore and you're you're looking at a much safer avenue and you know i we actually myself and andy we went to we actually went to the sheets or to the nursing home at sylvania mccord which i'm not sure if you know but they share a driveway with the nursing home the only way you can get into sheets off of sylvania avenue is um is um you know drive pulling into the nursing home driveway and so we asked them about their relationship with sheets and uh they actually wrote us a letter and i'd like to share that um with you but this is from the charter senior living it said to whom it may concern at charter senior living we value the positive relationship we've built with sheets their team has always been welcoming and accommodating when we bring residents by for afternoon snacks and outings. They help create enjoyable experience for the seniors we serve. Their staff consistently treats our residents and staff members with kindness and patience, which makes those visits even more meaningful. Beyond day-to-day interactions, Sheets has also been supportive of fundraising efforts within our community by contributing to special events and initiatives.

Sir, your time is up. Okay. You can go ahead and forward us the letter if you'd like.

Okay. Thank you so much for your time, and have a great day.

Thank you. I'm going to open it up one more. Please state your name and address for the record.

Andrew Grumbacher, 9533 Sweetwater.

Raise your hand. Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, and so say I do?

I do. I'd just like to summarize all of the points that have been made today. We appreciate all of the neighboring people, but we also have to rely on the professionals doing their jobs. And the professionals have stated that there's not a traffic increase from this. Again, she can believe that, but the professionals that you rely on stated differently. With that, we've also agreed to no left turn on to Nantucket, just to help satisfy some of those concerns, which they didn't have to do. The map that we sent everybody with the 24-hour use nearby, if you look to the south, every single unit is closer than ours. We're farther than every single unit. To the north, 20 of 24 are closer than us. So again, we're nowhere near closer to the residents than anybody. The staff recommended approval because it's a major commercial corridor and residents don't abut to the site. Last thing I want to point out is in 2022, Council passed an ordinance for convenience stores and gas stations to abide by certain rules and regulations. And in May of this year, we still have a majority not meeting that compliance. I find it ironic that our first people today talking for the Speedway use sheets as the benchmark. They said they want to look like sheets. So we're not talking about people that aren't complying with what the city wants on top of revenues that are brought in and things like that. So with that, I just ask you to know that we meet all of the prerequisites that were asked upon. We went above and beyond with some of our no left turns and other things that I hope we all take that into consideration with our vote.

thank you and for the applicant do you agree to the 44 conditions of approval we agree to everything except condition number 30 hours of operation thank you council member meldon what is your recommendation thank you chair so just to get the clarity on what i'm saying here am i talking about the condition as well do you need that official recommendation recommendation whether you want to keep that condition limiting the hours from 1 to 5 30 p.m it would close

that's the current condition yeah so i would like to send it to the full city council as approved and how do i how do you how do you actually need me to say this because i want to say without condition 30 essentially so i think send it to full city council as approved amending and removing condition 30. sure do you need me to say that again

i don't think so great i do would like i would like to do that that is what i would like to do okay seeing no objections so ordered um you would need to sign a paperwork over here and this will go to the full city council uh on june 23rd june 23rd thank you everyone for your time let's move on to case number nine

so we are the applicants case number nine this is the request for a study of native plants and i have lisa carter for my staff here who can give a quick summary on that would you please if you have outstanding uh conversations would you please take them out into the lobby we do have more on our agenda that we have to complete thank you

good evening as requested the plan commission staff completed a study to include requirements in the sub in our zoning code for native plants as part of our study the staff reviewed comparable municipal zoning codes as well as consulted with local organizations and experts we found that there is a trend for municipalities to encourage and require native plants and plants that are beneficial to pollinators because of the increasing importance of native plants in supporting our unique area biomes and ecosystems. Native plants are important because they require less water, fertilizer, and pesticides, they provide soil stabilization and erosion control, they improve water and air quality, and they support area wildlife and local biodiversity. staff is therefore recommending modifications to include native plant regulations in section 1108.0400 of the planning and zoning code as shown in exhibit b that we sent out in the staff report So I'm just going to go and highlight the major points of what we're adding, and that is letter A, where it currently says adapted to local area we're actually adding adapted to the local climate and water availability so we've seen changes in our temperature and precipitation over the last number of years and we assume that that's going to continue so changing it to local area to water and climate will help to make that flexible so that it can potentially cover additional species as those things change We are also adding letter C, which says native plants and pollinators are strongly preferred. One of the things that we did do when we did the study is we did find that there are a number of agencies out there that have multiple resources on native plants and are very knowledgeable about native plants and the species. So at this time, while we're saying that we want to strongly prefer to have native plants and pollinators, we're not specifically coming up with a list that says these are the plants that we want to allow. Instead, we're adding in there that it will be based on species that are classified by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Services and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Natural Areas and Preserves or some other authority deemed acceptable by the planning director. So we will have that recommendation in there based on the lists that are currently already out there. And then we also have some maintenance requirements that are proposed as part of that. We are also proposing some information about street tree standards for our frontage green belts and parking, and we're tying that into existing regulations. We do have a tree species list for street trees that was approved in 2015, so we're citing that as well as the City of Toledo's Toledo Municipal Code. that says what you can do for street trees there are some street shoes that the city of toledo specifically says are not suited for the street area because of height and things that might impact underground and above ground utilities the last change that we're proposing has to do with letter h and that is to encourage biodiversity and prevent the spread of future plant blight by discouraging the use of species of only having one species of tree and or shrubs. So like we had the emerald ash borer that came through a number of years ago and basically if the whole site has ash trees they had to come down. We're currently struggling with boxwoods or a shrub that's used quite often and they're seeing the disease as a blight. it's called boxwood blight so that could potentially wipe out an entire species so with letter h we're asking to have more biodiversity and ask for additional species so those are the major changes the only thing that i'd like to add the staff member that was working on this originally had connected with the university of toledo environmental sciences capstone class and so that class will be providing to help with people who are going to put native plants on their properties they're putting together a guide on how to take care of native plants and then they're also doing a decision tree that will help you say if this is your property based on where your property is and your soil characteristics what plants are native plants are best suited for your site so those are basically the things that we're recommending to add

to the landscape standards covering native plants and i'd be glad to answer any questions if you have any specific questions councilman martinez thank you madam chair uh this is awesome uh put me on that list because i have like 150 linear feet that i gotta fill up with native something um that being said and all jokes aside i guess my question is so when we're thinking about native plants are we looking at I'm going to go back to Anthony Wayne Trail because I'm trying to save the butterflies, but main medians and to help reduce overall maintenance costs of our boulevards or anything like that. Are we having any requirements for municipal planting, native planting or anything like that or recommendations?

So we don't in this specific language, but I do believe part of the environmental services division that they kind of accept a lot of those practices like they would have been part of in this review. And they are looking at those kind of things when they do installations in different rain gardens.

uh things that go on around the city but we don't have specific requirements for the city but it would definitely be a great policy to have that's what i was alluding to i'm wondering if maybe this body should do some sort of memorandum or something to force the fact that we should start really really really considering uh using native planning in our boulevards and other uh areas especially since reduced cost of maintenance and grass is very expensive and we're on a very austere budget moving forward for the next 10 years from what i can tell so uh thank you so much for all your hard work and i sincerely appreciate this thank you thank you council member gaddis

Thanks, thank you for this. And following the same sentiments as Councilman Martinez, I just wondered how this would impact complete streets. I have, Broadway looks great, but nobody's taking care of the grass. So I think that if we're going to be doing this, be redoing streets in massive capacities, that this has to be a strategic part of those discussions. So whatever that bridge looks like, count me in. Will this be suggested for new developments as they're coming across, or is this an option?

so it these are in our standard landscape regulations so they would be for any new development comes in they would be need to meet these material standards but the way that it's written most of it is we strongly encourage we recommend however i i didn't say before but it's important to point out that we do have one incentive already built into our zoning ordinance and that is irrigation where originally you had to put a typical underground irrigation system and we did amend our zoning code if it was last year to include the incentive that if you had a certification by a landscape architect that you had native plants and you met that requirement you would not be required to have irrigation so it is a great i feel like that's a great incentive to while we say just encourage it's an incentive to have people do it as we have seen in the past a number of people asking for waivers from the irrigation requirement if they did put in native plants. I think it's part of a result of seeing that happen that it is an incentive to do so.

Yeah, that's really smart. I think anything we make going forward, if we can have incentives, whether it's through our sustainability efforts or however we can push it through zoning, I think that that could only strengthen a lot of the other things we're doing with the, I mean, every year we sign the butterfly. We do a bee thing. We do, I mean, bringing everything together. This is the great way to help move that forward. So thank you for your hard work. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Council Member Komais.

Thank you. Of course, I'm elated to see this. Thanks to Dana for all of her hard work in making this happen. And thanks for picking up the torch on her behalf. Real quick, I just have to note that she wrote every single one of those. She hand wrote her comments today, which I think is amazing. I just want to say that out loud. I love it. That's very sustainable of you. At any rate, I too worked with Dana and the students from the capstone class, really excited about their efforts. We are working on hosting them at a sustainability commission, or excuse me, sustainability committee hearings sometime hopefully in July so we can really talk about how this partners the decision tree and the, items that they created for us will also be posted on our website soon for people to see. The majority of their impact and the work that they focused on had to do with our bike lanes. So thinking specifically like the UT trail and just talking about what native plantings would look like along those so we can stop mowing it and spending money doing so. it also included some educational signage and some other things so there's a lot of good stuff to come from that but I also agree that we need to hold I mean I assume that any new development by the city if we bought a building if we did whatever we'd also have to comply with this regulation so the good news moving forward that is the case but Interesting to think about boulevards. Thanks for bringing that up. I will also say that we've been working within the parks division to identify areas within our parks that we can convert into natural spaces. Prairie areas, things like that. The parts of the parks where people aren't necessarily gathering or on foot often, so we have a real opportunity, which would also lessen our reliance on mowing. This is just a great continuation of all the work that we're heading on. I hope one day we can make the language maybe a little stronger and require, but I understand the attempt to try to incentivize for the time being. But yeah, I think there's a lot of room to grow on this, off of this, and I'm just really excited and grateful. I just wanted to express that. You can also see an example of boxwood blight by driving by the library. They have a set of boxwoods along one side of the library and several of them. You can see the disease literally spreading along as it goes. So, thank you.

Thank you. I can tell you that we recently redid Lewis Avenue, and they put in these little strips of grass. And so in the past, they've never had little strips of grass, so therefore the businesses don't want to mow them. and so then they look awful and so having some type of like ornate grasses or something that would be easy just to maintain that wouldn't need water I mean that wouldn't need any of the care I think that would be helpful in a lot of these you know, these new redesigns. I will say thank you for talking about the prohibited street tree list because I tell you what, these sweet gum trees that are on Eleanor, I just want to scream. They're just awful. They're ankle twisters, and they get into the sewers, and it's just annoying. But there's a whole bunch. I mean, Tree of Heaven, there's so many of them. So thank you for providing this because I think this is really beneficial. All right, let's move on to number 11, I'm sorry, number 10. Mr. Johnson.

so updates on studies i'll keep it quick i'm sure everyone wants to go zoning code update is coming soon we're about to sign the contract we will announce the consultant within the next week or so so that's going to move forward the next text amendments you're going to see are the sign code amendment and then certificates of appropriateness removing the restrictions on retroactive certificates of appropriateness in historic districts you're also going to see large composting facilities adding those under special uses and um relaxing the site plan restrictions on industrial sites so and the healthy food overlay is also coming and number 11 uh reviewing upcoming moratorium expiration dates so we are on track to at least get the first set of local landmark designations uh the first five or six maybe even the first 10 completed before the moratorium expires. That will go to Board of Rewards next week after the ordinance is passed that we talked about in agenda review yesterday. We'll then take that consultant to Board of Rewards. We've already picked a consultant. We just need to get the approval, and then we'll move forward. Okay.

Thank you. Seeing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.