Toledo City Plan Commission - Regular Meeting

T6. Clerk, can you please call the roll?

Morris.

Here.

Martinez. Driscoll.

Here.

Gaddis. Here. Hobbs.

Here.

Comibes. Melvin. Here. Sarantu. Williams. Here. Five present.

That's what we need for our quorum. All right. I'm going to ask the applicant for case number one to please come up to the podium. And clerk, can you please read case number one?

Case number one is a request for a zone change from RS-12 single family residential and CN neighborhood commercial to CR regional commercial for the property located at 640 Wyman Street. Case number Z26-0008, the plan commission recommends disapproval.

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

Yeah. Steve Kiesling. I'm the Director of Toledo Animal Rescue. My home address is 947 Maple Street in Perrysburg, 43551. Thank you.

Sir, would you raise your right hand? I'll do the right. You swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, so say I do.

Yes, I do.

All right.

Please go ahead and tell us about your proposal.

For sure. So the Toledo Animal Rescue, which has been around since 1927, have been at our current location since 1930. We've outgrown our space. Over the past five years, we've quadrupled the number of animals and people that we serve from about 100 a year to over 400 a year. That's intakes and adoptions. Our property and our facility has gone through so many transitions in almost 100 years, and it's time for us to improve the facility. We want to not only renovate the interior but we want to expand the facility unfortunately with our current zoning it only allows us a 10 expansion which is equates to 360 square feet not enough of an expansion for us to sink the money into the building that we want to and we're looking to the project right now tentatively is between two and two and a half million dollars with about 1.5 of that GOING COMING FROM OUR OWN SAVINGS SO WE HAVE THIS ZONING PROPOSAL CHANGE AND ONLY BECAUSE WE WANT TO HELP MORE PEOPLE AND ANIMALS IN TOLEDO LIKE WE'VE BEEN DOING FOR ALMOST 100 YEARS OKAY THANK YOU MS CATRELL DO YOU HAVE ANYTHING TO ADD

I think this is one of those situations that none of us really like to be in. The use has been there since before zoning was a thing in Toledo. It's been non-conforming for a very long time through two zoning code updates. We absolutely understand the use and its purpose. The plan commission's concern was the CR zoning in the neighborhood. I think they probably felt a little torn also because the use has been there for so long. We get that, but the CR zoning opens it up to a lot more intense uses. We'll say, we did have a neighborhood meeting. There were two people in attendance. We did receive a few calls and one person in opposition. The calls we received were general inquiries.

Thank you. Councilman Driskell.

Thank you, Chair. Director, I have a couple questions. So the expansion, is it of the facility or the yard for the dogs or both?

No, that's a fine question. And I don't know if this committee has the blueprint or the map of what we were looking at. The Planning and Zoning Commission did have it. We're looking to add about 2,500 square feet to the facility. We have 1.8 acres there, so we don't have any need to expand, obviously, in our square footage of our property. I understand that we have a limited ability to expand our areas for our dogs. I think we have, forgive me if I'm wrong, a special use permit, for lack of a better term. I think Ms. Cottrell could probably give me the correct terminology for that. But we're not looking to expand our outdoor exercise area. We're simply looking to expand our interior space.

How far off of 10% are we?

For the building addition, it's pretty significant. I think 300, 400 square feet is all he can do right now. He will require site plan review. There is a spacing issue against residential for the outdoor runs, but it sounds like you're able to keep the outdoor runs within the 10%.

um the outdoor runs are going to be so we call them runs they're yards they're out they're outdoor yards they're fenced in yards they have the proper fencing um we're going we're not adding any extra outdoor yards because again we have a for lack of a better term a special use permit to have these yards because in the residential setting we're supposed to have a 200 foot setback from any other residents. Well, clearly we have never had that setback. So we've carried this special use for the outdoor areas along with the property over the, you know, however long that zoning has been, predates me.

Director Cottrell, I'm curious, do we have the ability to like, if they were to ever sell the facility or leave the facility where the zoning could revert back to residential we can't put that clause on the zone change it would be up to the council the district council person at the time to just go in and go ahead and initiate a down zoning okay i mean that's the only i mean because i understand the concern about going to regional commercial zoning i just you know they seem to be pretty good neighbors and it's not like there's a groundswell of opposition from the neighborhood so You know, this is one of those times where thinking about these rules being a little fungible, I think, I assume that's why there was a pretty lively debate at the Planning Commission about this.

There were, that's a great way of putting it, there were lively debates at the staff level, too, because, and we're hoping with the zoning code rewrite, maybe that will solve, with the form-based code, maybe that will solve this problem, but for the next two years.

if he wants to expand he would need to see our zoning and that the plan commission's biggest concern was what could go in the cr should they leave which god forbid you know i don't think they're going to but you do have that question out there and the last thing i would say is i understand that risk but i don't like from a market standpoint i don't see a lot of interest in that site from a regional commercial standpoint too so i don't know this is a real this is a trickier case for me but um you know anyways i

i would follow the lead of the district rep at this point but i think there's a case to be made for this thank you council member melvin yeah thank you um i only want to make a point that it strikes me that toledo annual rescue you're doing incredibly difficult work um and i i had the unfortunate uh experience of having to drop off my child to do some volunteering the volunteering was lovely me having to drop my child off was the part that was frustrating to me and she had a wonderful experience and I didn't know much about the organization prior to that and I do think about like what would happen if and councilman Driscoll kind of hit on this point like if we just got too stringent with exact feet and exactly what we should do and you were forced to look for something else I'm not about to ask you any questions actually so I'm just making my own commentary here no please continue well I'm sure I'm enjoying your commentary no but like I mean if you were forced to go find another space and it was some there's some big barn out in Monclova that doesn't That doesn't help us. He wants to stay here. He's standing in front of us. I'm saying that's not helpful if it becomes Northwest Ohio Animal Rescue. And so I am all in favor of this. I do have one particular question, Director Cottrell. You said you were hoping something with the zoning rewrite. Tell me, and you don't have a crystal ball, although if you do, let me know, because then I have different questions.

if we get to that point where the zoning code is rewritten and updated how might this be handled differently do you think well i think the zoning code rewrite will look at the form and how something fits in the neighborhood rather than necessarily the uses the nature of zoning districts will change to an extent you know it it's going to be a little bit hybrid so out in the south in the more suburban areas you may still see uh zoning categories that allow prohibit uh different uses but the form and how it fits in the neighborhood and how this would fit the character of the building is going to it fits in that neighborhood is going to be crucial to an approval and even a by-right approval, I think you'll see these situations go away with that zoning code rewrite.

Interesting. I think that's valuable. Obviously, I echo Councilman Driscoll's comments about deference to the district council member, but certainly if the neighbors are not organizing against it, I don't see a reason to be against it myself. So that's all. Thanks.

Thank you. Council Member Gaddis.

Thank you, Chair. How many animals do you service currently?

I'm trying to think of some numbers off to my head. Do you mind if I do a little cheating? Yes, please. Because I did bring myself some stuff to cheat with. In 2014 we did, or last year we had, we're just in terms of adoptions. We had 388. The year before we had more than 400. That doesn't count for all the animals that come in because some get returned to their owners, some might get transferred out to other organizations, unfortunately some might pass away. So we're looking in the 400 animal range. Three quarters of those are cats because you can fit a lot more cats in a lot smaller space. right now we have the capacity for about eight to ten dogs comfortably we're looking to about double that capacity and a lot of that is is based on you know best practices and in kennel design and environments and things like that okay i appreciate that thank you thank you thank you do you also work with rescue organizations We do. We don't have any formal partnerships, but very often when we have the ability, we do transfer in animals from Lucas County Canine Care and Control. We have a pet food pantry that gives out tons of food each year. This year, I think we've given out two and a half tons of food, probably 2,500 cans of food. Last year, we gave out over five tons of food, and that's all based off of donations. So we're trying to help keep animals in people's homes as well, not only just bringing them into our facility. I'm not adverse to partnerships with any organizations, especially in the animal welfare world. There's so many of us, and a lot of the organizations are smaller and don't have the resources that we are fortunate to have. In comparison, we're about one-tenth the size of the Humane Society. So we're not huge, but we're one of the bigger brick-and-mortar places in the area.

And are you a no-kill shelter? Yes, ma'am.

And again, some animals do have to be euthanized. But being no-kill doesn't mean animals aren't euthanized. Unfortunately, we've had to euthanize animals for health reasons. And on a very rare occasion, I can count on less than one hand in the six years I've been there, we've had to euthanize dogs for aggressive and dangerous behavior. But those are the exceptions, certainly not the rule.

but you're not euthanizing them because they're just kind of hanging around and- Oh, no, no.

If an animal is adoptable, we will find a home for it. We always do.

Okay, thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number one? Please come up, sir, if you want to step aside and we'll bring you up if we have more questions. Would you state your name and address for the record, please?

My name is Lanny May, and I live at 540 Wyman. Thank you. Toledo, Ohio, 43609.

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

I do.

Thank you. Thank you.

Well, I have to address one issue. There is a petition and papers dropped off Monday, and there are thirty four original signatures twenty nine separate households on wyman that sixty six percent said no there are twelve houses in the area with site they have boundaries sixty six percent said no this was this was voted down five to nothing in the january eleventh meeting now in that paperwork there are grass that show exactly on that sheet red, yellow, and green. I don't know if everyone has those. I was under the impression that they would be available I also have pictures in there from 2007 when there were two homes on the southern part of the land that they're trying to change. They were residential homes. They were torn down. Now the commission also cited The house on the north is a residential home. It actually was a home and it's a garage. And they were cited for using it as a commercial entity. They have meetings and storage there, which violates the code. And that came from Lisa Karsner. That was in the other meeting. You also have, you got the pictures. The permanent land use stays with this. So if they're expanding and they ever need to move, who gets it? Anything 24 hours, anything you can put in there because you can't change it back. Also, their land will increase. The value will. It's changed to regional commercial. It makes it more valuable than residential property. And let's see. The zone change would also make it harder. We have a 6,000-pound load limit on Wyman. If you change it to regional, anything can come down that street. Now, by all means, they do anyway, but this would make it harder for the police to stop them and give them a ticket for being on the wrong street. and we get it from both South Avenue and Airport Highway. They either come down South Street and turn on Wyman and go down and beat the traffic jam at Airport Highway and burn, because it backs up. Everyone knows that drives a truck that Westwood is the state route, yet they ignore it. Wyman is, I just complained about the street and they came out and filled some potholes, but the edges are cracking. In the meeting that I came down here for June 11th, I followed a Corrigan oil truck down the street, down South Street, to the Integrity, which is across the railroad tracks. It would have been just as easy to turn up from Byrne Road instead of Mercer, go down Airport Highway, Westwood, and then up there, not through the residential neighborhood. Now, I'm not saying that they're going to sell. but that possibility is there. Their mission is great. They're doing great things, but they've become too big. And that land in the south and the land in the north is not part of their property. They're not fenced in. And what this zoning change will do is it will encompass all of that into one. And like I said, the residents and the property owners have said on those petitions, and there's six pages of those that are signed with addresses. So what you didn't hear is those are there and they're on file. And if there are any questions, I'd be willing to answer them. I've got a copy of what I gave them. i guess i'd i'm gonna count on the five nothing vote from before for the denial i do have a question before i get to the members of council is the road that's there is it unapproved road is it it doesn't have curbs there are no curbs no sidewalks never has been this is from uh... probably the sixties when it was adams township and it was annexed so we actually get truck tires in the yards because two people don't seem to be able to go down that highway, especially with a truck or the semis. And I'll name them, Mohawk truck, full travel trailer comes down through there. Now, I don't know what his load is, but, and we had people that used to stand in the road 15, 20 years ago and stop trucks and ask them, do you know we've even had the scales come out years ago and stop? Well, that's gone. And we agreed to put speed bumps in. Well, they like to go over them fast, and if you look at the other side, you'll see the chassis marks dug into the asphalt.

That's everywhere, sir. I'm sorry to say. I'm just saying that people just go fast in neighborhoods all the time.

It's a fact of life. I agree. I see these violations that he was cited with for using a residential home for commercial and storage. So these seem to be the sins of the past all get wiped out if this zoning comes in.

Thank you very much for your comments. Council Member Gaddis.

Thank you. I have a question for the owner. Did you guys host a community meeting?

Excuse me. Excuse me. I think we've got to have you on record. Go ahead and have a seat, and then we have to have it recorded so that it's part of the record. So I apologize. Please come up to the microphone. Thank you.

Sorry about that. Yes, we did have one. I got the list from the commission, sent it out to the neighborhood. We had two individuals show up. One was more concerned with his taxes. I think he lived a street over. And the other one was in support of us but mentioned the same thing as the trucks. We have nothing to do with that We don't have the ability to take semi trailers. We have UPS and FedEx and Amazon trucks Our plan does not have the ability to have the have semi trucks. So I think while his His issues about the truck traffic is very valid because we see the same thing. It's completely separate and irrelevant to what we're doing now. As to the petition, it's not something I have ever been aware of until he mentioned it, let alone the house that is on our property or the other houses that were. They all predate me, but we are compliant. with the with our zoning in all of our property the areas that aren't fenced in are not used for animals that's now just an open field where community members have gone in there and bring their dirt bikes and snowmobiles and things like that if any area that we do expand our facility we will provide the proper fencing and that will all go through permitting processes anyway so i understand his concerns most of his concerns have nothing to do with toledo animal rescue they have to do with the neighborhood deal with the neighborhood

thank you and then um director what were the major concerns of the people that it reached out to zoning a lot of it was traffic but again also any potential noise or what could go there in the future you know the cr zoning just opens it up to the most intense uses okay i appreciate that thank you thank you so much

Thank you. President Williams.

Thank you. I just gave you my petition. The question I had was for you, sir. What type of neighbors are they right now? i'm talking to the resident yes i'm sorry you'll have to come up to the microphone sorry please i'm sorry i just wanted to know what type of neighbors they are now and i definitely will defer to councilman hobbs for this i just wanted to put it on the record what type of neighbors could you repeat that please what type of neighbors are they now are they pretty good neighbors yes i mean everybody understands the the function and the mission but this is a long reach to change that to a regional commercial Do you have a lot of noise coming from there now or no?

well the noises is not that's not a problem i don't think but again if they decide to leave what do we get okay and there's if and the other thing is the spot zoning that this occurs at if you spot zone this there are empty lots right across the street at mercer and wyman on a southwestern corner house burnt down will somebody buy that or the owners say well hey You did it for them, I want it.

Oh, we don't do that. They have to go through the same process.

But they have the right to petition to do that.

Yep, everybody does. That happens all the time. People come and they want to do things and we will shut them down in a heartbeat, trust me. take each individual case um as its own i just wanted to hear from you and what type of neighbors they are to see if they're good neighbors that's all um i mean they just they just don't want to see the extra problems that regional will bring okay thank you so much i appreciate you coming down any more questions i don't think so

All right, thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number one? Please come forward, please. Come to the microphone and state your name and address for the record.

I'm Dr. David Bedouris. I live at 665 Kirkshire Drive, Perrysburg, Ohio. I'm the volunteer veterinarian. I'm retired, but I volunteer there.

We have to have you get sworn in.

Oh, I'm sorry. Would you 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. Go ahead.

So I have a few points I'd like to make. One kind of gets to our reason for doing this is we want to improve the conditions in the shelter for the animals that we take care of. We've been there a long time, and there's definitely some different things that we want to do at this point to improve the experience of these animals. We provide a service for the county and the city. We have animals that come in that are strays, and we take good care of them. We get them fixed in space so they're not just thrown back out on the street. Dogs that come in and ask about the no-kill. When we were doing this process, we worked with an architect, And they said that our numbers for turnover were kind of lower than some other. But the reason is that we don't take animals in, and if they're sick or they have some issues, we don't just put them to sleep. And a lot of places don't spend the time to improve the life of these animals. So we keep them. One example recently was the two city workers found an old Chihuahua on a construction site, and they brought the dog to us. He's probably about 12 years old. His name's Paco. And if he had been to any other rescue, they probably would have just put him down. You know, he couldn't eat. But anyway, we had loose teeth, but we took care of that. He's got a good home now. He's a sweet dog. But, I mean, those are the things that we do that differentiate us from, I won't name other, but I think we do a better job. So, you know, I mean, that's what we do. And I think we provide a service for them. the county, the city, we're not in a commercial location. You know, I've been on the board since probably 1981, and, you know, we've talked about what we would do differently, but, you know, we have a space that people know where we are, and, you know, I think that, you know, I mean, it's not really a place that amends itself to some of these other commercial things that have been brought up. But I think, you know, the thing that was mentioned is about the houses around the southeast corner. At one time there was a wandering ray that worked at the rescue and they lived there. They passed away. You know, we ended up buying it. You know, the properties were worth, they were dilapidated. They were worth almost nothing. So we took them on and we, you know, we took them, you know, we demolished them. So I think in a lot of ways we've improved what's going on in that area. So I think, you know, we're... We're a positive effect on this area. I don't think we're negative. The other stuff that could happen, I think they would probably have to get an approval anyway. We've talked about whether we'd want to move to some other place, but I think we found that we could do this economically and provide a better service for the dogs and cats that we take care of. And I think we do, you know, we take animals, we've had police drop animals off that they found. So, you know, we work with the community when we can. We're not as big as the Humane Society, but I think we, you know, we do, our differentiation is that we, you know, we used to be a animal shelter, We changed the name to rescue for various reasons, but we look at ourselves as more of a shelter for the animals instead of just a warehouse to keep them in and kick them out. We have trainers we work with for dogs that have behavioral problems, and we've improved them to the point where they can be adopted into appropriate homes. Honestly, I've been on the board since 1981. I believe very much in what we do. You know, and I go to meetings that are state meetings every year, and the things that other rescues are doing, we do very well. You know, again, we're in no-kill to the best that we can, and to be in no-kill, you have to, you know, have less than 5% that euthanize, and I think we're way below that. I mean, Steve and I talk every time about what's appropriate with certain animals, whether they should be euthanized. So I think in many ways, I think we're positive in that neighborhood. We maintain the area. It's mowed. It's not overgrown with grass and stuff.

Okay. Thank you very much for your comments.

If anybody has any questions.

Is there anyone else in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number one? Councilman Hobbs, what is your recommendation?

So I want to say that I am, to my fellow council members, have asked some very important and amazing questions. Thank you for your concern in this matter. I'm also thankful, and I do understand neighbors, the questions they may have. But the one thing I think that, a couple things we can look at is that they have been in business for, over 100 years, and they've been at this location almost 100 years. And if they were going to leave or go, I think that they would not be talking about this expansion. It is a positive expansion. And I know in District 1, I wish were houses that had been moved out of or were dilapidated or were falling apart. I wish I did have an agency like this that would buy those houses and tear them down and invest the best we get. Most of the time in District 1 is either it's just left there or somebody wants to tear it down and make it a community garden, which is still a great thing as well. And so with The zoning, the thing that is, as Councilman Sam Melton has alluded to, Councilman, Council President Williams has alluded to, is that if someone wanted to, if they were to move today, the council person for that area the district person could recommend a zoning change is that correct Ms. Cottrell the zoning code allows city council to initiate changes so we could initiate a zoning change that would keep someone from making this a commercial whatever in that area and then So that's what I like, that it would always somehow come back to us to make a request for the zoning change. And so because of that, I am going to recommend this to the full city council as approved. Thank you. This is an amazing work. We are living in a time where a lot of animals are being turned in or turned over because of, you know, people now are having to decide whether to buy groceries or buy gas. And a lot of people now are just not able to afford to be able to take care of their animal anymore. And so this place provides an opportunity. And so I want this to continue, and I'm asking for the support of our council members as well that this work that they do will continue. Thank you.

Thank you. Seeing no objections, so ordered. This case will go to the full city council on August 25th, 2026. And thank you very much for everyone coming and making those comments. I want the record to show that Council Member Komives and Councilman Sarantu have joined us, thank you. Let's move on to case number two. Could the applicant for case number two please come forward to the podium? And clerk, can you please read case number two?

case number two is a request for a zone change from cr regional commercial to rs6 single family residential for the property located at 5860 c court road case number z26-0010 the planned commission recommends approval thank you could you state your name and address for the record steve heaney eight seven six three big cypress circle sylvania ohio four three five six oh Thank you. Would you 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.

Tell us why you're looking to change this zoning area.

It was originally built as a home. It was a home for many years. I acquired it temporarily as an office complex. Sold it. It was a daycare for a little bit of time. Ended up taking it back in a foreclosure. Best use of the property in talking to all the realtors that I can find is as a residential. My understanding is there's a dearth of residential properties in Toledo. So we'd just like to finish rehabbing it out and put it back as a house.

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

It was built as a single family home, but it's zoned CR, regional commercial, which does not permit the use. He simply wants to take it back to its original use, and we typically support such downzonings.

Thank you. Is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number two? Again, is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number two? Okay, Councilman Meldon, who represents District 5, where this is located, whispered in my ear and said that he was good with sending this to the full city council as approved, and seeing no objections, so ordered. So this will go to the full city council on August 25th.

Lisa, just a question for you, I think is that one I come to attend as well?

You do not need to attend that hearing.

Okay, thank you for your help with this, council people, thank you.

Thank you. All right, let's move on to case number three. Would the applicant for case number three please come forward to the podium? And clerk, can you please read case number three?

Case number three is a request for a special use permit for a new cemetery for the property located at 722 East Bancroft, case number SUP 26-0015. The plan commission recommends approval subject to 13 conditions.

Could you state your name and address for the record?

Yes, good afternoon. My name is Ahmad Kasim. I am the attorney for Toledo Masjid of Al-Assam. My mailing address is P.O. Box 350672, Toledo, Ohio 43635.

Okay, since you are an attorney, we do not need to swear you in. However, gentlemen, you're okay. Gentlemen, if you are going to speak, we will need you to state your name and address and get sworn in for the record. So feel free.

Ibrahim Rahim, 722 East Bancroft Street, Toledo, Ohio, 43608.

Justice McNeil, PO Box 5841, Toledo, Ohio, 43613.

And would you each raise your hand? Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? So say I do.

I do. I do. Thank you. Thank you. Go ahead and tell us about your application, please.

All right. So I'd like to start by providing some background information on the mosque. It was built in 1954 by the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo by Syrian and Lebanese immigrants. It was actually the first purpose-built mosque in the state of Ohio and the third purpose-built mosque in the entire nation. So it is a historical landmark, in my opinion. Toledo measured of al-Islam, this specific congregation was established over 50 years ago, and it moved its congregation to 722 Bancroft Street back in roughly 2010. So they've been there for quite some time. And recently in 2022, they acquired vacant lots surrounding the mosque on 722 Bancroft. bankrupt street which were dilapidated homes uh... abandoned properties basically blighted properties As part of the mosque's activities, they provide community services, which include communal prayers, counseling, mentorship, weddings. They are a distribution point for the Islamic Food Bank, and they provide charitable aid. They participate in Habitat for Humanity, multiple interfaith events, and clothing drives, and they also offer community outreach by providing tours of the facility and informational sessions as well. This specific application is for the establishment of a cemetery basically behind the mosque where members of the community can be afforded a dignified burial. Most of the congregants, there are almost 300 members of the mosque and many of them live in the community and currently People are being buried out in Toledo Memorial all the way out in Sylvania or Ottawa Hills Memorial, which is completely out of the way. The mosque does have quite a bit of land behind them. They would like to establish a cemetery for their members. And, you know, they're... The reason to support this is there's no disruption or destabilizing impact on the surrounding area. The immediately surrounding area is currently composed of blighted homes, abandoned homes, or industrial properties. A cemetery will provide green space in a heavily urbanized area. It's not going to disrupt the community in any way. We've held extensive meetings with the community with the Warren Sherman Neighborhood Association where we've met with members. We've discussed the project with them for hours and we after our last meeting we actually were able to gain the support of the Neighborhood Association Group Miss Wanda Love. I do believe she is the president of the group and you know there's. There's a lack of a negative environmental impact. By the Islamic burial process, it's synonymous with the green burial process, which prevents pollution of soil and water due to the avoidance of embalming fluids such as formaldehyde, which can leach into the ground and pollute the ground. The Islamic burial process does not do that. And there's no impact on any drinking water due to a lack of wells in the area and a far distance between the cemetery and sources of drinking water, such as the Collins Water Treatment Plant. The Plan Commission and the Lucas County Health Department have recommended this for approval after analysis of the project. It's consistent with the Forward Toledo Comprehensive Land Use Plan. It will reuse vacant lots without a negative impact on the neighbors. And like I said, most of the congregants, they do live in the neighborhood. This would help them and generations to come.

Thank you. I do know that there's a lot of churches that in the past have had cemeteries attached to them. I know just in my own district, we have the North Collingwood Cemetery, which we actually, the city maintains. through woodlawn this is a question for miss Cottrell do you know is if you start a cemetery is there any kind of state requirement for starting a cemetery

there are and the planner for the case actually alex out there did a fabulous job of going through the state uh requirements and this site is actually too small to have to meet certain requirements there's they have additional requirements for some chairs over four acres this is too small but health department has approved this environmental services has approved it and state regulations are okay and what is the acreage four i believe

mean what is the acreage that you are seeking i'm sorry it's less than one acre less than one acre okay all right um president williams

Thank you. Yesterday we actually voted to finish the vacation of that alley that was holding on. I know it came forward along 2023 and it was some stipulations on there that were crazy and I waived those. So that alley is vacated now and this council voted unanimously for that. I did get, people did reach out to me. I actually lived in that neighborhood on Utica and Walnut for 15 years, so I'm very familiar of the mosque. It's always been a good neighbor, and they've been there longer than anybody else, because nobody's over there now, which is sad. I remember the Ruezes, everyone was a community there. And now McDonald's is closed. It's the trashy gas station that's on the corner of Bannercroft and Cherry. Is the car lot that's trying, the fake car lot on Cherry Street, is our beloved Quality Unclosed and they have been steadfast and have been there. And I have received some very disturbing calls about why are we allowing this because of smells, like that is so racist and I take issue with it. First of all, Jesus got buried and wrapped up in cloth and set into the side of the mountain. This is traditional burial and it actually grows more, allows the soil to be enriched more. by being buried this way. I definitely appreciate you guys wanting to take this neighborhood to the next level by doing this. I am in total support of it and I think my colleagues are as well just because that neighborhood deserves it especially with the blight around there i think that having a cemetery where people go and fellowship and can go out and talk and and fellowship with their family that has passed on is is a is a is a gift so i am in total support and i definitely urge my colleagues to visit the area it is an area that is semi-forgotten um toledo grows is not too far away from there and i would say even collaborate and get some trees from them or something um and i'm i'm so excited to see the decorative fencing that will go up there too on the other side i actually got robbed on that side of the fence too so we need some good juju in that area just because it was some It was bad vibes over here when I lived over there, so I'm glad that we have someone to bring some cleansing over to that neighborhood. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. Council Member Gaddis.

Thank you. I just had some questions for, um, director for trial. Um, were there any calls about this?

So there was a community meeting. Uh, there were about eight to 10 people residents in attendance. I believe we did not get any calls. Alex can confirm that we did have a little bit of opposition at our hearing. One person in opposition, one person in support. And I don't know, Alex, do you want to add anything?

i don't think i got any calls if i did it was just a general inquiry

And then it sounds like, I tried to read the report, I didn't see, but it sounds like there'll be fencing around it. Will there be trees inside or is it just gonna be gravestones and, no?

So as part of the special use permit, we are requiring a decorative fence and at least two trees along Utica Street.

Okay, okay. Thank you for the clarity. Thank you for all you do for the community. I appreciate that.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you. Councilman Driscoll.

thank you chair uh i wonder how many council members have come and gone without voting on a special use permit for a cemetery i didn't expect this to come up but it's a i think it's pretty it's an interesting use of the site and i'm very supportive and and uh looking forward to pass it i'm just curious what the fencing looks like uh do we know or

Okay, all right.

Yeah, I hope that, and I assume you probably will, but just it's something that fits the character of the neighborhood and it's just something that the residents of the surrounding neighborhood can be proud of and think of as an asset to the community. But until this moment, everything that this institution has done has been an asset to the neighborhood, so I'm sure that will be the case. So thank you for this. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilman Sorrento.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Will there be monuments or will it be flat, the gravestones?

So Muslims, they mostly use flat markers.

Okay. Okay, great. And this will be restricted to the members of the mosque, am I correct?

I don't think it would be specific to the members of the mosque. I mean, the way it currently works is most mosques, they have a section of the cemetery in Toledo Memorial, and they, I mean, I think you would be better off answering that. I'm sorry.

That's the initial idea behind it. However, though there are some members of the community that have difficulty and other cemeteries or or affording the cost of another cemetery day, of course Okay, they could a case-by-case Okay, so they would be welcomed and obviously you try to accommodate and that that's commendable.

Okay. Thank you very much Thank You madam chair

Will you have, who's going to be helping maintain the actual site and digging and mowing? Who is going, is it the members of the church? Will you hire it out?

i'm sorry my stars currently we're going to we have we've we're establishing a committee uh... bereavement committee that will be responsible for maintaining the uh... the cemetery that's the plan members of the mosque uh... currently there uh... will be responsible for all of those things uh... i intend to oversee that uh... my name is justice out i'm overseeing that committee okay starting it and developing it

Yes. Um, I knew a lot of the members, um, that, uh, that started that mask, um, specifically John Schauscher and a lot of the, of the Syrians, uh, Lebanese, uh, a lot of the individuals from the Levant. Um, so, uh, you're, you're following in a lot of good footsteps, um, there. So I think that gives it good juju. Um, is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number three? Again, we got somebody. Gentlemen, you will have to come up to the microphone. And gentlemen, if you can go ahead and have a seat there in the front row. Thank you. Would you state your name and address for the record?

My name is Malcolm Mutaki. I live in 580 Yondota Street, Toledo. I just want to say that...

Excuse me, we have to swear you in. Oh, yeah. Would you raise your hand? Do you swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth? So say I do.

I do.

Thank you.

Go ahead. I don't have too much to say. I'm a member of this mosque. And, you know, the last 10 years... COVID, and now we've seen a lot of people come and go and, you know, members of our community, we essentially have to go way outside of our community to be buried in a place where we can be surrounded by like minds. I mean, you know, as crazy as that might sound, you know, people like to be together in life and in death. And, you know, we've been meeting with the Warren Sherman Council, and we initially had some opposition, some people that basically had misinformation. And like you mentioned, you know, they were under the impression that having a body was buried naturally would be detrimental to the environment. When in all actuality, the soil needs nitrogen. And nitrogen either comes from lightning or it comes from decomposing matter. So this is a benefit all the way around. And I don't see a lot of opposition, but I want to say that even the people that were opposed to it they couldn't make it now but they gave us our word the president of the warren sherman committee that she would support this after you know just sitting down like human beings and having conversations so uh... you know i don't seem opposition and i just want to say i appreciate everybody for uh... supporting this and uh... you know not being islamophobic and uh... you know uh... having a spooky thriller type attitude. So I just want to thank you and God bless you all. Thank you.

Thank you. You actually may end up, you know, getting more members, you know, if Councilman Hobbs.

Thank you, Chair. The question I have is once you are finished with the cemetery, approximately how many burials or bodies do you think will be able to be buried on this site?

It'll probably be just around 200 sites here currently. So then when you reach that... Well, we hope it's not going to be reached in this century or the next, but when it does...

If that's reached, what happens?

Once it reaches its capacity, then hopefully some of the other mosques by that time will have done the same thing that we're doing. Thank you, sir. Okay.

They also do possess an additional plot directly on the other side of the alley as well.

Thank you. And the Plan Commission recommends approval subject to 13 conditions. Do you agree to those 13 conditions?

Yes.

Okay, thank you. And I'm going to ask one more time, is there anyone in the audience who would like to speak for or against case number three? Gentlemen, please go ahead and have a seat. If you could please come up to the podium. That's okay. You take your time. Would you state your name and address for the record?

Pastor Charles Walden, 2123 North 13th Street, Toledo, Ohio, 43620.

Sir, 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. Go ahead, sir.

I am a member of the Warren Sherman Area Council, and I'm the former president. Ms. Wanda Love is the president now. Just to let all council know, we are in agreement with them. Ms. Love sent that word today by me. The whole thing was really unnecessary because it was misinformation, ignorance, and when we met with them at the new YMCA, by the way, do you all know we got a new YMCA right in our neighborhood? I live at 2123 North 13th Street. That's just two streets over from the, and thank you all for that YMCA. But, um, I'm on the board there too, but, um, yeah, it was ignorance. And, uh, when they, we met with them, they explained thoroughly because they enlightened my eyes of, uh, how Muslims buried their dead. I knew about Jewish bearers and I didn't know much about, uh, Muslims, but. The way they explained it, it's legal. Columbus agrees with it, the state and the city. So it's good. Just wanted you all to know it's good. Amen.

Thank you. All right. President Williams, what is your recommendation?

uh... thank you pastor long for coming out i appreciate you uh... and i'm a senator for city council has approved and uh... i'll be looking for that fits i can't wait because that neighborhood i know he did my colleagues here today uh... at the character of neighborhood we don't have no character that they've got a couple of people now that that is going to give it that character that it needs the only character we have was it was a came out the quality self

thank you so much and uh we appreciate you guys moving forward with this project seeing no objections so ordered this will go to the full city council on august 25th we do have some paperwork for you to fill out so if you'll go over and talk with dana we'll get that all taken care of thank you so much thank you all thank you let's move on to uh case number four with the applicant for case number four please come forward and clerk can you please read case number four

Case number four is a request for a special use permit for a scrap and salvage yard for the property located at 4103 in the Green Street, case number SUP 26-0011. The plan commission recommends approval subject to 44 conditions and three waivers.

Thank you. Could you state your name and address for the record?

Yeah, my name is Clark Vandenbosch. I'm at 3169 Elmview Drive, Toledo, Ohio.

Okay, would you swear a myth?

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

I do.

Thank you.

Thank you. I had talked with some folks, and they said that you were interested in deferring this. Is that what I understand? Yes. Okay. Do you want to tell us a little bit about the project, or were you just coming to say you wanted to defer it?

I was mostly coming just to do that.

Okay, thank you. Ms. Cottrell, do you have anything to add?

I do not, other than there was a neighborhood meeting held. There was one person in attendance. We've had about four or five calls on it, but no significant opposition.

Okay, thank you. I, as the person who represents that area, I will make a motion to defer this until the August 19th, 2026 Zoning and Planning Committee. Seeing no objections, so ordered. So we'll see you in a month.

Sounds good, thank you so much.

Thank you. All right, Ms. Cottrell, can you go ahead with the rest of the agenda?

So case number five is the text amendment amending the sign code. It's not a comprehensive amendment. We definitely still want to work to control the aesthetics of signs and keep a good balance, but this is really a reaction to some economic development issues with small local businesses, and I will let Alex take it from here.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, so now that we've had the new sign code for over two years now, we've seen some things that weren't quite right, and this is one of them. Our nonconforming signage section is a little overburdensome, so we're going to pull some of those back. So this will do three big changes. The first one is it will allow EMCs, electronic message signs, to convert to a regular sign if they do not want to maintain it anymore. We had a request from one of the billboard companies, one of the big ones that changes all the time, to convert it to a regular billboard. We think that's an improvement, so we think that should be allowed. So that's the first change. The second one would be the big one. Currently, anytime someone comes through a site plan review or a special use permit, could be a tiny expansion to your gas station or just occupying an existing building for special use uh... all signs have to come into compliance which has caused many issues that you all have heard as well this change would change it to uh... all signs have to come into compliance if the principal building on a site is demolished uh... removed or expanded by more than 50% and it's just tied to big improvements to a site rather than going through a review through us because a lot of things change trigger that last thing is currently if you abandon a sign for six months you've got to either take it down if it's non-conforming or put a white face on it we're going to change that to one year which is consistent with all the other non-conforming sections in the code And that's it.

Thanks, Alex. President Williams.

Just a question. That sign that was requested, is it on Monroe and Detroit?

I do not know. Can we find out? I can look it up, yeah.

You know that one that's over rallies?

I know the one that does it every day.

Thank you.

All right. Council Member Gaddis.

Thank you, thank you for this. The change in the timeline, I know you said it's from six months to a year that it's to meet all of code, but how do we measure, like how do you know when it starts to where, you know, the one year?

So that can be difficult. That's why we have our zoning compliance specialists. We can look at Google Street View is a great asset because it says the month and the year, and we can see when a sign might have been there. It's also like the Polk directories. You can see if they're still listed on the Polk directory as being there. We can consider them open. Aerial pictures can help sometimes too. There's a lot of different ways we would do a research to see if it's open, if it's not. And if we can find a date that it's definitely not open and it's been one year since that date, we can for sure say that they have to take their signage down or whatever they have to do.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Councilman Sarantu. Thank you.

Thank you. We have a number of limitations on billboards in terms of new billboards. So what do you recall that number is that we allow in the city of Toledo?

Can you repeat the question?

How many billboards do we allow in the city of Toledo? Currently in the sign code billboards are not permitted So if it's there currently it can remain as a grandfather, but no new ones because you know When I drive around town, I'm not drinking alcohol, but it just seems to me that we have more billboards That's just a joke it seems like we have a lot more billboards lately in different locations where i didn't see them before and has the has the commission uh been uh looking at that and counting the number of billboards because it just seems like we have more we have not been counting them as far as i'm aware um but i mean no new ones can be built so okay Just seems like we have a lot more in places that we never had them before. And I don't believe that if you take one sign down, can you replace that in another location?

No.

That's why I didn't think we could. Okay. Well, perhaps we should talk to inspection or somebody in the city because we really should be monitoring that. It just seems like there's a lot more out there now.

Yeah, and they would require a building permit for a sign that size and a sign permit through our office.

All right, we'll check with the authorities then. Thank you. Thank you.

I can tell you that on Alexis Road, by the form of Delaney's, there is a double-decker billboard that went up, and I had asked Director Cottrell

Uh about it and apparently they had gone in it's a it's a double decker I've never seen a double decker before but you've got one billboard on top of another billboard So there were a few billboards that snuck in right before the sign code came in and that's on alexis um There was one in the 200 block and one and and maybe the 700 block. I'm, sorry I can't remember the exact but there were two on alexis that did sneak in before the sign code. Um We are the ones who take in the sign permits and approve them. I think I can go ahead and pull that data for all the sign permits that have been approved since the sign code has fallen under our responsibilities. We have not approved anything new, but I can get you the list of what has been approved.

That would be very helpful. Sure. Thank you.

And when, so I had asked Director Cottrell about that, but then also we had a really big windstorm. And so then it was the signage had bust through, like somebody threw something at it, and so it's just kind of waving in the air. And luckily, they did replace it very quickly. So good, bad, or indifferent, at least they did that. But yeah, I was very concerned about that, because number one, I'd never seen those those two of them like that before, so.

And thankfully we've got a great team of zoning compliance specialists, so just text me or email me if you have one of concern and I can get that right to them.

Thank you. All right. Anything else with the text amendment or the rest of the...

I think, you know, one of the major concerns, one of the reasons I pushed for this amendment, and Alex, I think you'll agree, is that The current sign code does hurt small businesses. You know, one of the basic tenets, one of the five themes of the Ford Toledo plan was helping small business. We have a lot of daycares trying to open that they go into an existing vacant commercial space and then they have $30,000 immediately added because they can't bring that sign into compliance. where we have a restaurant just trying to put a patio in and they can't do it because they can't afford the sign. That's what this is about. It's just trying to help the small businesses and not put such an onerous amount to their redevelopment that it just makes it impossible to redevelop.

Thank you. All right, anything else? Want to talk about the outstanding studies or the moratorium explorations?

So we're working, you know, the only moratorium we have is the historic district. We have selected the consultant. I have talked to the consultant about the priority sites. We do need to meet with Councilwoman Gattis on that, but we are, I've directed the consultant to start with what I know are the top priorities, and you will see those coming through Resolutions first soon and then through the Planning Commission City Council process Other studies are the light industrial and Reynolds corners studies. We're actually making some progress some good progress on those and adult business study we're making some progress switching that to licensing and and following since the city of Cincinnati's Process and they have eliminated all adult businesses in Cincinnati. So it's an interesting process We are also working on murals. So we will be the intake body for murals We'll send those off to the Arts Commission, but we'll do the intake at any enforcement and you'll see that text amendment coming through we are also starting the complete streets guide which will be completed out of our office and of course the big thing is the zoning code rewrite we are going to initiate meetings with council within the next couple of weeks we want to introduce it to council first before the public and we'll have to break you up into groups of three or four to do that and then we'll present the consultant we'll present our our our path our timeline on that so you'll see those meeting requests soon

Thank you.

President Williams. Just a question about self-storage. They have to get a special use permit, right? That's correct. Okay. Do we have any that have applied? No.

So any occupancy building permits, I would see through my desk. I haven't seen any come in.

Okay. Thank you. All right.

Seeing no further business, this meeting is adjourned.

The hush is right here next to the spoon too. All right. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Thank you.

Yes, and do you know what's there?

Glory. Are you in there? I just heard.

There is a, there is a glory hole there. Do you know what a glory hole is? Okay, fine. There may be more, I don't know. How do you know? I was told. Mr. .

I didn't know.

Okay.

Thank you. It's terrible. It's terrible. Thank you.

. . .

Oh, my God. Like, I don't need to know.

Oh, yeah.

Cut to try it.

Bring it over here. All right. All right. You're welcome.