Despite lengthy and insistent objections from a neighboring family, Munson Township Zoning Commission voted March 25 to recommend township trustees approve rezoning four parcels owned by University Hospitals.
Despite lengthy and insistent objections from a neighboring family, Munson Township Zoning Commission voted March 25 to recommend township trustees approve rezoning four parcels owned by University Hospitals.
William and Dorothy Bauer own land at 13149 and 13153 Ravenna Road, which is adjacent to one of the UH-Geauga Medical Center parcels up for rezoning — a 4-acre section that runs parallel to a 2.87-acre lot along Hospital Drive also looking to be rezoned.
The other two parcels in question are at the intersection of Ravenna Road and Ravenwood Drive and total more than 5 acres.
All four parcels are zoned for residential use and UH attorney Alejandro Cortes told the zoning commission the hospital would like to have them reclassified for medical use.
UH-Geauga Medical Center bought the two parcels south of the Bauer property in 2018 and in 2019, cut down many trees on the eastern side to expand a parking lot and mitigate flooding problems.
The woods had served as a buffer for the Bauers against the traffic along Hospital Drive, which leads to the trauma center and emergency room.
In August 2019, the Bauers attended a Munson Township Board of Zoning Appeals meeting objecting to the construction and removal of the buffer. UH agreed to plant a buffer of pine trees along the back of the parking lot.
On March 25, Cortes, speaking for UH, acknowledged the center had started construction of the parking lot assuming the parcels were zoned to allow expansion of the campus.
“We have taken steps to mitigate this mistake,” he said. Those steps included covering the work already done with soil and grass and planting the trees.
“The primary reason we are here today is to clear up zoning issues so we know what to expect when the hospital wants to develop a master plan,” Cortes said, adding the master plan has been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“These four parcels are zoned residential,” he said. “We need to correct that.”
By having the parcels rezoned to medical use district, the hospital can make its plans and avoid coming back to the township board of zoning appeals every time it would need a variance for future projects, he said.
“Re-zoning is in line with the township comprehensive land use plan,” he said, showing on a map where the township zoning commission identified the area south of the intersection of Bean Road and Ravenna Road as possible venues for medical offices and uses, encouraging such growth in the area. The corridor extends from Bean Road more than 2,500 feet to Hospital Drive.
Dorothy Bauer said she is especially concerned with the parking lot that was an issue in 2019.
“We don’t want to move. We don’t want to live next door to a parking lot,” she said, adding she believes a helicopter pad or future construction on those acres could affect her property values.
“It would devastate us if the hospital moved next door,” she said. “Please don’t improve the property any more.”
William Bauer called it a “David and Goliath situation.”
“We don’t want someone to take away the value of our property that we have worked so hard to afford,” he said. “I think it’s a horrible situation.”
Cortes pointed out the evergreen buffer zone created to protect the Bauers from the effect of the parking lot and noted the setback is 80 feet from the property line.
UH-Geauga Medical Center President Don DiCarlo said putting a parking lot close to the hospital is for the safety of those coming into the trauma center.
Even though the center could not get a variance for the parking lot, they still planted buffer-area trees at a cost of more than $20,000, he said.
“We wanted to try to be good neighbors to (the Bauers) and the community,” DiCarlo said.
Having the property rezoned is a business decision, he said, adding many hospitals have a 2% margin and it is important for people to want to come to the center.
“It would be tragic if this hospital were to close on many levels. We need to be able to provide the highest level of care for the hospital to remain viable,” DiCarlo said.
Ed Hren, zoning commission member, said he was on the commission when the land use plan was created and the members realized growth in the township is inevitable.
They determined the corridor from Bean Road south should be encouraged for institutional and hospital use.
“It was clearly listed in the long-range land use plan,” he said.
Dorothy Bauer said it would have been nice if the real estate agent who sold them the property had told them that and she is concerned for the neighborhood since she expects the hospital will continue to expand.
“What is (state) Route 44 and Aquilla (Road) going to look like as the hospital gets bigger and bigger and bigger?” she said, adding she and her husband paid $365,000 for their 11 acres and won’t be able to recoup that if there is a hospital so close to the property.
DiCarlo said UH will only be expanding to meet the needs of the community and if the deal to acquire Lake Health is complete, UH will be dealing with some redundancies between the medical center and Lake’s TriPoint Medical Center in Concord Township
“There is no use putting X, Y and Z into the hospital if the community doesn’t want it or need it,” he said, adding he doesn’t know what the center is going to put on the parcels being rezoned.
UH-Geauga Medical Center was built before the Bauers bought their property in 2015. DiCarlo said he lives in Geauga County.
“I would never live close to a hospital or down the street from the sheriff’s office or across the street from a recovery place. I wouldn’t do that,” he said.
Zoning Commission Chairman Nick Christie said he appreciated the public comments and the commission’s purpose is to make sure the land in the township is zoned and used appropriately.
In addition, the Geauga County Planning Commission recently reviewed the change in zoning, he said
The township commission voted unanimously to approve an amendment for rezoning the four parcels from residential to medical use district.
A number of Geauga County offices are scheduled to be built south of the hospital campus and UH owns 3.9 acres east of the campus. The Bauers own a 3.9-acre parcel north of the campus and the Geauga Hospital Association owns 46 acres northeast of the campus, according to the Geauga County Auditor’s Office website.
“It is fairly institutional down there,” Christie said to the Bauers. “We are trying to limit industrial development along (Route) 44. Unfortunately, your residence is in our targeted area.”
