We are a group of tax paying, law abiding citizens, that are at risk of losing the quality of life they chose for their families and themselves.
At various moments in history, we purchased our properties at Lansdale Rd and Bushnell Rd, believing that we had acquired a safe and quiet environment for our children and ourselves. We deliberately chose streets with low traffic, low pollution, and low noise level. Furtehrmore, we were looking for an environment that was safe from a legal point of view. Streets where we were not to worry about the safety of our children, the possibility that there could be criminal attempts to steal a few bucks for low level thieves trying to acquire drugs, or an easy booze. Streets that were relatively litter free.
All of this may now be at risk... If you want to know why, please keep reading
A company named Waterway Gas and Wash Company wants to transform a strip of retail shops into a gas station and other... the problem being that houses are practically attached to this strip.
We as residents are concerned that this structure will increase the local traffic on two streets raising several kinds of concerns.
We are collecting signatures for a petition AGAINST this project.
Will you help us?
What we ask you to do is the following: Add a comment to this blog showing your support. If possible, sign it with your name.
We hope that by showing the big number of people against this project, we may be in the position of being listened to.
Thank you for your help.
33 comments:
We agree and will sign the petition!
Jose & Jennifer Torres
3884 Washington Blvd.
We don't need a gas station/car wash/convenience store at 2216 Warrensville Ctr. Rd.
We have CVS and Walgreens right there, and they are open 18 and 24 hours respectively.
They carry all the things we may need on a last minute notice.
Traffic, noise, pollution, and the risk of small criminality will all increase if this project is actuated. We have to say "NO".
Vincenzo Scivittaro
3966 Lansdale Rd.
Univesity Hts, Oh, 44118
What ever happened to the slogan "city of beautiful homes...with a small town feel"? A home certainly would not be very beautiful with a gas station and car wash butting up next to it. Anyone can figure out (without a fancy traffic study) that the traffic will increase tremendously. I don't care how many architectural awards this company has won, it will still be a gas station and car wash. What about our property values? It's already difficult finding buyers for the homes on the other end of Bushnell because of the large parking garage with stadium lighting. Our elected councilpersons have to realize all this and not sell out to the almighty dollar.
This is no location for a car wash/convenience store. There will add huge traffic problems to an already congested section of road, excessive light pollution on the the adjacent residence, noise from the car wash and litter.
While the city council of University Height may be trying to increase the business and tax base of UH, the proposal for a gas station, car wash, convenience store is both misconceived and short sighted. These types of large corporation stores add to urban blight and only marginally improve upon taxes. Coupled with a decline in REAL property values (those that are seen by the seller at the time of sale rather than those that are assessed by the city) this is a loosing proposition. Urge everyone in UH to stop this from occurring.
Our University Heights officials need to do their elected and paid jobs and serve our community to meet the needs of our residents.
We oppose this new development which will forever change the City of Beautiful Homes!
We do not need a car wash/convenient/gas station. We need the city planning commission to work on developing our property, seeking loans to improve the shopping strips, and fill them with family friendly and safe stores.
Other communities have been successful in doing this why can't we? Where is the passion and energy to do the right thing? Let's not take the low road and have another "Disney like" structure that will bring increased crime, traffic, pollution, and reduce property values in our city.
Mary Lou McHenry
The proposed plan to demolish a retail building at 2216 Warrensville Center Road, across from Cedar Center and near Whole Foods Market, and build a car wash, gas station, and convenience store facility – within feet from residential homes will have dire consequences. This proposal will undoubtedly compromise the safety of surrounding homes by augmenting traffic, amplifying noise, increasing pollution, and essentially mandating that residents breathe in toxic gasoline fumes of pumps housed just yards from our homes where our children play. These serious hazards to our children and families and obvious conflicts with the well-being of taxpaying community members are undermined simply by the appeal of money.
In addition, what concerns me a great deal is the lack of vision that this City has clearly demonstrated for its commercial landscape? It seems to be a classic case of lets pay the highest bidder and let them build what they want – provided they give fancy plans and ambiguous traffic reports. What further concerns me is the believe, right or wrong, by many residents that this is already a done dealer. Money has spoken. End of story. If this is indeed so, besides what it means about the council and its integrity, it is also an indication of the type of people who run for office and whom we, the residents, voted into office. We have to continue to do whatever research we can to mobilize our neighbors to speak up against this issue. We have to act as if it is not a done deal. I am afraid this is an example of what is wrong with some of our elected officials today. The Mayor and the Council must act on our behalf, must produce a vision for long-term city planning and benefit, and must not be blinded by the shortsightedness of this temporary financial windfall.
Maghboeba
Lansdale Resident
magoh44118@gmail.com
Gas stations, inappropriately placed like this one will be, cause traffic nightmares. Car washes around here create huge lines of cars. Are those cars going to line up on an already congested Warrensville Center Road? Will they line up down our residential streets, creating noise and congestion in our quiet neighborhoods? Convenience stores are synonymous with beer, cheap wine and cigarettes...we have CVS and Walgreens for the rest of the convenience sundries.
Come on...this is going to improve our community? How about efforts to keep families here instead of further declining our home values and chasing folks away?
I am strongly opposed to this venture. NO!
Jen Bopple
3837 Washington Blvd.
University Heights
The propsal for this project is nothing short of ridiculous. We will support the effort to cease all conversation about moving forward with this development.
There are many logical and clear reasons why this is a poor idea listed on this blog -
- terrible traffic pattern
- remediation / cost
- overall cost to the taxpayers in a failing CH-UH District
- another Car Wash and (2) national drug stores within .25 miles of the proposed cite
- air, water, land pollution
- potential crime and increased law enforcement cost
Whoever thought of this should has clearly not evaluated the scope of this development and it is time to re-think another plan.
Let's take a fresh look at the district and find a better use of space and solution.
Instead of building a new convenience store/car wash/gas station 10 feet from my neighbors' homes, the City needs to save "relationships" it has with residents and businesses here now. Pick an issue. Property values have plummeted; residents are leaving; schools and businesses are failing; and taxes are completely ridiculous. While it's obvious plenty of real issues need to be addressed, the Mayor is more concerned about her legacy, rushing to accept a 6 million dollar project at any cost. Is there any plan for our City--other than racing to the bottom? The City of Beautiful Homes has become the Capital of Covenience Stores. In the City of University Heights alone, we have two CVS stores (and one more on the border of UH and Shaker), a Rite Aid, and in nearby South Euclid, a Walgreen's and yes, another car wash. I do not support this project and will vote against those who do.
Bill Mangano
University Heights, Ohio
.....
The city will probably allow anyone to move in as long as they generate tax revenue. Forget about the residents. This is a small suburb with small ideas. What about revitalizing it with businesses that offer something that isn't already a block away or an overabundance of?
It's challenging enough to walk/run in our city -I can only imagine that a gas station/convenient/car wash will cause additional traffic and logistical issues and deter anxious & loyal patrons of our wonderful Whole Foods, First Watch, Target, Macy's etc away-is this good for our city's economy? More imporantly than the additional congestion there's the collateral damage ......gas stations smell and are ugly-the beautiful city of UH doesn't need the noise, air or aesthetic pollution. I'm sure there's a better business choice out there.
The fact that our Planning Commission passed this proposal, tells me that they are an unqualified group of individuals who do not have any sense of city planning. Furthermore, the Planning Commission blatantly disregarded the concerns of homeowners and business owners in the area at their last meeting. Once we get council to turn down the building of Waterway, we need to focus our efforts on replacing members of the Planning Commission.
A gas station, convenience store, and a CAR WASH?
Where will the water (run-off) with the car wash chemicals go??
Will they have a water reclamation system or just dump the water into our storm sewers or the street?!!
Judy Nappy
2600 Traymore Road
University Heights
I will sign any petition, march in any protest, etc. I think that the idea of a car wash and gas station in that location is ludicrious! There is a gas station not 2-3 blocks away, plus drug stores, grocery stores within the same block. What can the Mayor and Council be thinking! Oh I know, maybe promise of assistance with a new City Hall Complex? This will only give limited jobs to the area since hourly or daily workers are mainly hired to wash the cars....so why couldn't there be a tear down & build a 2-Story ofc. building that looks like town homes and rent them for professional offices - isn't that just as much a tax base? I think we need new leadership and better vision to the "City of Beautiful Homes".
At today's workgroup meeting it became exceedingly clear that if our voices of opposition are to be heard by the City Council of University Heights, it will have to be the collective voices of the majority of University Heights residents. Apparently, it is not enough to be a concerned, frustrated, and fearful resident of Lansdale or Bushnell roads. No, our views on our street by itself does not matter. I bet our votes are going to matter when the time comes. It is now more important than ever that we work together whether we live on these streets or not. This proposed monstrosity of a car wash will affect all our lives, all our property values and it will have adverse implications for all our safety, quality of life and sense of pride in our community. We should all be concerned about what this infiltration in our neighborhood will mean for the quality of life and the perception of our city, property values and community life 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. Our opposition against this carwash, gas station structure is as much about our quality of life today as it is about our future. We are not a first ring suburb, not yet, but if this structure goes up, we will be well on the way to having to contend with a host of issues that come with having rental properties and negligent property owners. None of which this city will be able to deal with effectively. Please inform your neighbor, tell a friend, tell your colleague at work who lives in UH. You will be surprised how many UH residents still do not know about these plans! Send out emails, post your comments on this blog. Let the city council know that you matter, that we matter. Tell them that the taxes the city will get per year from this structure will not compensate for the short and long term losses they will suffer financially. Two weeks ago, this city council most likely believed approving the gasstation plans were a slam dunk! Our neighborhood activism and outrage made them think otherwise. After all, we vote in this city. We pay taxes in this city. We raise families in this city. We care about this city. We have a say in what happens in this city!Maghboeba
We agree as well, we do need a gas station/car wash and we definately do not need anymore pass through traffic on our street!! We would like to sign the petition.
Joe and Lori Lembach
3825 Bushnell Rd.
A little history
That land was originally covered by the Van Swerington restrictions which would not allow commercial enterprises. When the building was built, it was in violation of the restrictions but, if I remember right, there was a permanent condition that no parking or activities would take place in the parking lot which was behaind the building from 10 pm until 6 am. For many years there was a sign posted saying that. I assume that restriction is still in place but nothing is open at night or early in the morning so it had been a mute point until now
We totally agree with your comments and will be attending the Council meeting. We have signed the petition! -Renee and Dave on Fenwood.
We totally agree with your comments and will be attending the Council meeting. We have signed the petition! -Renee and Dave on Fenwood.
I would like to add my comments opposing the demolition of the retail building on Warrensville Center Road in order to construct a car wash on the site.
My wife and I have lived in many places before coming to the Cleveland area, and we are disappointed so far to see so little urban retail shopping and services in the Heights/Beachwood area. Instead, we see strip malls, regional malls, parking lots and other facilities which almost everyone must access by car. In fact, all life seems to revolve around automobile transportation in this area. This is why every effort must be made to preserve the limited amount of sidewalk-facing retail buildings that are left here. They create a face to a town and help preserve its urban character. Here I compare Coventry Village with Mayfield Boulevard between Richmond Boulevard and Golden Gate Shopping Center, or Shaker Town Square with the retail shops on the south side of Chagrin Boulevard. It is the sidewalk-abutting retail shops that are found in Manhattan, in Tokyo, in Montreal, in London, in Arlington, Virginia and in Chicago that create walkable, interesting urban environments on a human scale. Strip malls, parking lots, gas stations and big box stores are not a pleasant urban environment. On these issues, James Kunstler has written several books such as “The Geography of Nowhere” (main theme: unlike cities, suburbs are not tourist destinations – their subdivisions and shopping centers and office parks all connected by cars are “nowhere”). His website is www.kunstler.com.
In this regard, I am extremely surprised in the debate of the car wash proposal for Warrensville Center Road that there has not been anything that I have seen that discusses a master plan for the urban planning of University Heights. Does University Heights not have one? Where does a car wash on that site fit into the plan, if it exists? The city should place value on this small stretch of sidewalk-facing retail space for its own sake in preserving the urban character of University Heights, rather than sacrificing it to the needs of the automobile. Constructing a car wash on the site would take another chunk out of the human scale of University Heights and further degenerate the area into an automobile-dominated “nowhere.”
I worked in University Hts for a pediatrician who was located in that complex for some odd years. I think it needs to be a work friendly environment, not a gas station that will allute deliquents to hang around. The people that live in that area deserve better. They have paid taxes for years and have the right to have a say so about what goes in there. You as council people and mayor sit back and think that taxes from having big business will make your pockets bigger. We have too much shopping and way too many gas stations everywhere. Think creativity, and put something there that will please the community and make the community safe.
It is simply outstanding to see a community come together to support what they feel is best. You move into a community and you have certain expectations. I commend everyone involved. Stay focused and don't give up the fight
This is interesting. I posted some comments last evening, Feb. 4 at about 8:50 p.m. Now I can't seem to find my post. Perhaps a moderator could leave a note here. I probably just missed it.
BTW, I looked at the link to 'University Hts future.' I thought the signs were placed by residents as a protest. The page makes it look like this is real. Somewhat misleading. Oh, and if rental property is so bad why not protest the apts. along Cedar and Milton, Kerwin, University Blvd. and any two family homes that are rentals. Maybe those that own rental property should be chastied also.
Dear Bluestone,
we, University Heights residents don't have problems with rentals. The Mayor does.
She has been trying to discourage the increase in rental properties, worried that this may bring down the property values of houses in University Heights....
What we are addressing with the rental signs is the following: If rentals are so bad, for you Mayor, since you think they lower the demographic status of University Heights, what would you have: a gas station with lots of rentals, or residential homes that bring property taxes payers to the City? We are sorry for the way our Mayor considers our renting residents, but this is her view, and not, by any means, ours.
I've read many concerns on this blog. And the only one that has merit is incresed traffic.
So I'll start there. Al Paul carwash up the block in South Euclid may be going away when that property is redevloped. But I don't know that for certain. If they leave, then this will make Waterway the only carwash near here. Unless you wash your car in your driveway. So on days when the weather is right, there may be a line of cars around the corner onto Landsdale. That could happen after a long spell of bad weather then a warm day. But I will GUESS that will be less than 30 days each year.
Another concern is pollution. New gas pumps have vapor recovery systems that prevent gas fumes from escaping into the atmosphere. So only when the consumer misuses the pump, will there be a spill or vapor release.
Noise. Yes the vacuums will be noisy. But until someone measures the decibels with a meter, that level of noise will be subjective. The truck that will deliver the gas should not be running while it is transfering fuel. BTW, there was a gas station at the corner of Silsby and Warrensville for many years. And when the building was fully occupied, there had to be delivery trucks of various types.
Bright lights. Here the neighbors have a say. There are many styles of fixturew that shine the light down on the ground where it belongs. They facility can certanily choose a fixture of this type. Street lights throw off alot of light pollution.
Crime. I think you are looking at shoplifting and gas theft. I would guess that if you surveyed Target, Whole Foods and CVS, you would find this is a problem for them too. We are not in Mayberry. And even Sheriff Taylor had those problems.
Right now there is an empty building that is generation no income tax dollars and maybe less property tax dollars. This facility will absolutly generate more tax dollars than are currently being collected. Also, the current building is not what buisness are looking for to place a store. Parking is bad and folks simply do not walk to the store. So if this company wants to demolish the building, I fell the city is better off. If this buisness fails, the store and car wash are far cheaper to demolish and start over. The gas tanks that are installed will meet current standards and should not pose a hazard.
I hope that you all take an objective look at this project. Emotions can cloud judgement. I feel this can be a plus for University Hts.
I think that it's a little naive, on your side, dismissing the traffic volume as a minor inconvenience. For a road, as congested as Warrensville is, any light increase in traffic will pose problems. The problem with traffic, is that people will cut through Lansdale and Bushnell, regardless of the car wash. With the car wash, 30 days a year (12%) of the year... there will be INCREASED traffic lined up on the streets. can you try to imagine what would happen when a school bus tries to pass through the street and cars come from the opposite direction. Even with little traffic, a small traffic jam could already be created, imagine with increased traffic. Lansdale and Bushnell are simply not fit to accomodate traffic.
Second, the health hazard is not solely represented by the gas station "per se", but also by the increased traffic on the two streets. Cars emit high levels of carbon monoxide and ozone that children will breathe, day in and day out. Believe it or not, people walk to the stores, with the increased traffic, they cannot do it anymore, first because there won't be sidewalks, second because they will keep breathing the vapors.
Then, you are saying that crime is normal, and that people on those streets should live with it. What happens if a felon tries to escape from a chase and ends in one of the homes? Is anybody going tell him/her that he/she is not supposed to be in those houses because he'she was only supposed to shoplift and stay in the store?
Third the problem with the empty spaces is due to Waterway. After the owner heard that they wanted to buy, he didn't renew the leases, that's why the place it's empty. There was a beauty salon there, Hold it!, Hungtington Learning Center, a good business, Oriental rug store, and Empire kosher chicken. If it wasn't for Waterway other good businesses may have opened there.
Has anybody asked the other store owners on Warrensville how they feel about this endeavor? They are concerned about traffic too. People will want to run away from congested Warrensville as soon as possible.
Fourth, Property value: no matter of what Waterway says, property values will go down, a gas station is a gas station, is a gas station.
It's not a buffer business, is a pervasive business ,and it will always be.
we, University Heights residents don't have problems with rentals. The Mayor does.
The SMART residents do. It's basic economics. HomeOWNERS have an investment, a stake in the community. Renters do not, and ANYWHERE you go, that lack of a stake in the community manifests in the statistical preponderance of their behavior as renters. The central tenet of why free enterprise works and communism doesn't is that people care about something more when they own it. Look at any metric of urban blight, and it correlates positively with the percentage of residential property that is not owner occupied. If the people opposing Waterway truly think rentals are just as good as owner occupied housing, that speaks volumes about their ability to discern what is good for a community, and pretty much destroys their credibility.
Thanks BW, that was exactly our point.
Thanks BW, that was exactly our point.
Except that it's the exact OPPOSITE of your point. UHNOGAS supporters posted the remark I quoted and to which I was responding. You can't have it both ways.
Notice that Waterways plans to BUY the property, thus converting it from rental to owner occupied commercial. They will have a stake in the community as well. Businesses depend heavily on the value of real estate they own because it influences their credit and the interest they pay. If they don't make a profit there, the only way to recoup their investment is to get a good price for the property, so they have a vested interest in property values too.
Our point when posting the "for rent" signs, instead of the "for sale" signs was: the Mayor knows that rentals are detrimental to overall property values, because rented properties are not kept as well as owned properties. We are concerned about the property values, and so should be the Mayor. People will not come to live in a city where the property values are at risk. Since we could not sell our homes, because nobody wants to buy a house near the gas station, the only way we will have to live this City would be to rent out our properties. This means that we move out, and rentals come in, at that point that's the Mayor's headache. It' a message we are sending of what it will look like. It already happened for Bushnell facing the parking lot monstrosity, it will happen to our streets as well.
Since we could not sell our homes,
But you CAN, just not at the price you would like. You invested in a house near a huge high traffic commercial district - sort of like investing in bonds backed by subprime mortgages - a shaky investment. This was reflected in the lower price you paid compared to a comparable lot size and structure on, say, Edgerton or Dysart. That was your choice; no one held a gun to your head, but now, you want the city to hold a gun to the heads of other property owners, to guarantee you a profit on a questionable investment.
Don't buy within a block of a commercial district. It's almost always a sucker bet.
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