Former Wendy’s to become Ohio Mulch

ThisWeek CW 09/15/2011

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2011/09/14/former-wendys-to-become-ohio-mulch.html

Redevelopment of a former Wendy’s restaurant and construction of a new dentist’s office topped the Canal Winchester Planning and Zoning Commission’s Sept. 12 agenda.

Ohio Mulch wants to open a store in what was a Wendy’s at 202 Winchester-Cemetery Road, near U.S. Route 33. The company plans to reuse the current building, but will remove a refrigeration unit from the back and the plastic banding around the structure that was a part of the Wendy’s branding.

The planning commission unanimously approved a conditional use permit for the outdoor display of landscaping materials, over the objections of local builder Herb Pfeifer, who said the site is the “wrong location” for the business.

“I just built 200 homes out there and those people are finicky,” Pfeifer said. “If this comes before the committee for a hearing, there isn’t going to be a room large enough to hold all of them. I’d urge you to start looking elsewhere.”

Ohio Mulch also requested three variances dealing with different aspects of screening the property. After some discussion, planning commission members and Jeff Brown, developer for Ohio Mulch, agreed that the screening proposal presented wouldn’t be appropriate — particularly the use of chain link fencing instead of wood.

Currently there are trees screening the property from Route 33 and along the east side of the property, along Bush Ditch. Brown said Ohio Mulch would add a wood fence around the perimeter of the property and improve the landscape screening.

“I would think we could be very compatible to the neighbors, and these 200 residents will become 200 of our new customers,” he said.

Brown said amended plans will be presented at the planning commission’s next meeting to address concerns raised by members and by Pfeifer.

Advance Construction Inc. received approval to move forward with the first phase of construction on the Diley Ridge Dental building for James McCray, DDS.

It will include a 4,000-square-foot dental office, parking and landscaping at t he northwest corner of the Meijer property on Diley Road. An additional 1,000 square feet may be added to the building if another dentist joins the practice, according to McCray.

The office will be a one-story stone and plank building with windows and gables on all sides.

City planning and zoning administrator Andrew Dutton said two sides of the parcel being used by McCray are affected by the city’s stream corridor protection zone rules because a small stream crosses the north and west borders of the property.

“The outlot for Meijer’s northwest corner is near a stream and retention pond, so they propose reducing the lot size from 1.5 acres to 0.7 acres due to a portion of that not being buildable because of the stream corridor protection,” Dutton said. “Another minor change is that the original Meijer development language said this would be a bank, not an office.”

In other business Sept. 12, the planning commission gave Hidden Lakes Winery owner Damon Pfeifer approval to add a refrigeration unit to the side of the winery building. Pfeifer explained that the unit is necessary to allow his business to be more efficient and productive.

“We originally didn’t have any idea that we’d need to have this much freezer space, but right now, I’ve got to go to the store every day for supplies,” he said. “I built this building so I will make sure that this unit matches.”

Planning commission member Mike Vasko cast the only dissenting vote.

“Before I vote, I want to explain that I continue to disagree with the continuous applications for accessory structures at this site,” Vasko said.

The commission also agreed to recommend to Canal Winchester City Council that the rules governing how residents are notified of potential zoning changes be changed. The current rules require the city to send letters by certified mail if more than 10 residents must be notified. According to Dutton, the certified letters cost $4.50 each and are cost-prohibitive for larger mailings.

The proposed change would allow the city to send notifications via regular mail.

The next planning and zoning meeting will be at 7 p.m. Oct. 10 at Town Hall, 10 N. High St.