by To the Members of the North Olmsted Building & Zoning Appeals Board,
Thank you for your service to North Olmsted.
We are writing you today to express concern over item 21-18351; Sheetz listed on the agenda for March 1st, 2021.
As listed 24400 Lorain Road, known commonly to residents as the site of Buckeye Lanes, has been the site of family fun, bowling leagues and many fond memories for at least two generations. Our entire city will miss this cultural amenity greatly. While many residents will lament the loss of our only bowling alley and prefer that new owners maintain the property as such, we recognize that it is the current owner’s prerogative to sell their property and close the business as they see fit.
As to the future of the property, we have significant concerns as to the variances requested. While hundreds have gathered at Buckeye lanes on evenings and weekends for decades, there have been few traffic, sound, or lighting issues. Each of the requested variances are very substantial changes from our code. Some of our specific concerns include, but are not limited to:
• Residential neighbors and our historic Coe Cemetery have benefitted from significant setbacks from Buckeye Lanes. This appears to no longer be the case for the future.
• Excessive lighting is ill suited for a residential area.
• Maintaining full lighting 24 hours a day suggests the business intends to operate 24 hours a day or into the 11 pm-7
am time frame.
• Adding a car wash next to residential areas has proven to be problematic. The residential neighbors of the nearby
new Blue Falls Car Wash greatly resent the noise and light from that facility.
• Walter road, a residential street, is not designed for a vastly higher churn of traffic.
• The traffic lights on Lorain road at Columbia road and Walter road are very close together. The turning lanes from
both directions at Walter are not well suited to accommodate a high-volume business coexisting in the traffic pattern.
Finally, we are concerned about the collateral impact of allowing these variances to go forward. Sheetz is a well-run company that offers a great product to its customers. We welcome the possibility of their joining the North Olmsted community. However, existing demand for gas stations has not been able to support the supply of current gas station sites we already have. Redevelopment of abandoned gas station sites have proven very challenging. Other types of businesses have no purpose for underground gasoline tanks, nor likely the funds to remove them to prevent environmental problems. If our city cannot support the additional level of business for gas stations, we will likely be functionally trading a proper site for a gas station for an ill-suited location.
On behalf of the residents in this area and for the benefit of our community, we respectfully request that you deny the variances for this plan.
Sincerely,
Chris Glassburn, City Council Ward 2 Patrick Kelly, Council At-Large Angela Williamson, Council At-Large
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