After a year of discussion, possible litigation and negotiations, Bainbridge Township Trustees agreed to a consent judgment decree through the Geauga County Common Pleas Court for the rezoning of 4 acres near the corner of Chillicothe Road and Washington Street.
After a year of discussion, possible litigation and negotiations, Bainbridge Township Trustees agreed to a consent judgment decree through the Geauga County Common Pleas Court for the rezoning of 4 acres near the corner of Chillicothe Road and Washington Street.
The lawsuit settlement will give the green light to the proposed Signature Square shopping and office complex.
The parcel, adjacent to Dunkin Donuts on land formerly belonging to the Nash family, will become the headquarters for local developer Otero Homes and will include other businesses permitted by the judgement entry.
Trustees held a special public hearing Oct. 20 to discuss the latest of the year-long discussions and the proposed consent judgment entry. The hearing lasted about 45 minutes with few negative comments from the public.
For the past year, trustees have hesitated to rezone the vacant 4-acre parcel from R-3 residential to commercial because it is part of the existing Dalebrook subdivision and trustees questioned the rezoning’s impact on Dalebrook residents. Trustees also expressed concern about existing traffic headaches from frequent back-ups at the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru and the difficulty making left turns from there onto Chillicothe Road.
Trustees held a special meeting last year with Dalebrook residents to get their input, as Otero assured them the traffic problem would be alleviated with two new entrances, including a new driveway onto Washington Street near Discount Drug Mart and KeyBank.
“For me, personally, the issues associated with the traffic at that intersection are problematic,” Trustee Jeff Markley said during the Oct. 20 hearing. “Unfortunately, we have a business that isn’t functional from the standpoint of traffic management.”
After trustees denied the rezoning proposal, the issue spent several months in the court. Trustees agreed after the hearing Oct. 20 to approve the settlement, which allows the project to go forward.
“This project, to me will help resolve that (traffic) issue because it will redirect traffic meant for not only the applicant’s business, but also that morning and late afternoon business into the site and not on public roads, so it tends to address more of a traffic management issue more than anything,” Markley said.
The trustees’ legal counsel, Tom FitzSimmons, said he was happy with the trustees’ decision to allow him to pass the judgment entry on to the court.
“These sorts of cases are not always settled and they frequently go to trial,” FitzSimmons told the audience.
The attorney said he believed the trustees’ decision was in everyone’s best interest, allowing the township more control over how the complex is developed.
“This resulted in a lengthy discussion with the developer, which involved a lot of back and forth,” FitzSimmons said. “And for what it’s worth, there was plenty of ‘give’ by the developer in this situation.”
He called the resolution of the litigation an “outstanding” outcome.
Trustee Lorrie Sass Benza said trustees had originally denied the rezoning for two main reasons: the impact on the adjoining Dalebrook residents and the traffic concerns at the Chillicothe Road/Washington Street intersection.
“We denied it because the zoning recommendation did not meet those two things,” Benza explained.
But after a year of negotiations, Benza believes the issues have been sufficiently addressed in the declaratory judgment, she said.
Janet Carson, a 52-year Bainbridge Township resident, said she was curious about the timeline and deadlines that were put into the agreement to avoid problems such as noise and light pollution.
“Not to sound arrogant, but I think we have thought about every possibility, every aspect of the development, in this document,” Markley replied, adding they have had the Bainbridge Township Zoning Department, Fire Department and Police Department looking at the preliminary plans, as well as the Geauga County Engineer’s Office, Ohio Department of Transportation and Geauga Soil and Water Conservation District.
Bainbridge Township resident Craig Woodson asked trustees how much the project will cost to develop.
“I do not know the answer to that yet,” Markley replied. “I do not think the developer has the answer to that yet.”
