CLE Ohio City homeowners share concerns about proposed apartment complex

CLEVELAND — Whitney Anderson and a group of Cleveland, Ohio City homeowners, representing two neighborhood block clubs, shared their concerns about a proposed apartment complex at W. 44 Street, W. 45 Street and Lorain Avenue.

Anderson told News 5 she believes the proposed “45 West” project, which calls for the construction of three apartment buildings and 87 units on a vacant parcel near her home is simply too large for that historic neighborhood.

“One of the buildings that’s being proposed is five stories and it’s zoned for two family, so that’s really just an egregious request,” Anderson said. “We really want to see an incremental increase in density that also respects the neighbors and the fabric of this historic district, and this project doesn’t achieve that.”

Meg Sattler, an Ohio City mother of two, believes the project will create even more traffic in an area that is already congested.

“This is absolutely a safety risk for the neighborhood; we are out walking; we walk to school every day,” Sattler said. “This is an already busy intersection; it’s crowded, people are going quickly, they’re not following the traffic laws, there’s the gas station here with traffic in and out.”

Ohio City resident Charles Davis believes the project doesn’t call for enough parking in a neighborhood where the streets are already filled with vehicles.

“The plan calls for 87 units, 94 bedrooms and 48 parking spaces; it has less than half the parking it’s going to need,” Davis said. “The number of units needs to be reduced, and then the height needs to drop back as it approaches the residential part of the neighborhood.”

Martha Loughridge, whose husband has been an Ohio City Homeowner since 1998, told News 5 that her group is not against development. Still, she’s not sure producing apartment units for that section of Ohio City is a good idea.

“We would love to see the empty lots have homes,” Loughridge said. “To me, it’s building in transients, people are going to come, they’ll be here for a few years and then they leave. There’ll be constant turnover, but what makes a neighborhood strong are people who stay here.”

The proposed project presented by My Place Group and the VOCON architectural firm was approved by the Cleveland Landmarks Commission during an Oct. 26 meeting on a 7 to 1 vote, with some contingencies. During the meeting, My Place Group and VOCON made it clear they have had several public meetings on the project and have incorporated public input in significantly scaling down the size of the project.

Both My Place Group and VOCON explained to the commission how they have taken great care in making sure the proposed project has been tailored to match the architectural identity of the historic neighborhood and how the plan provides discrete garbage collection and other services to limit impact in the residential areas of the plan’s footprint.

News 5 made several calls to VOCON and sent a specific email request; we were told My Place Group was contacted for comment on the project. News 5 also placed a call to My Place Group, but we’re still waiting for a response from both companies.

Cleveland Ward 3 Councilman Kerry McCormack told News 5 he understands the concerns expressed by some Ohio City homeowners but believes the developer continues to actively work with the neighborhood. McCormack told News 5 the proposed project is set to now make its way to Cleveland’s Board of Zoning Appeals for consideration, but he said it’s unclear if that will happen before the end of the year.

Still, some Ohio City residents like Charles Davis hope the project will be scaled back even further.

“It’s being presented as a project that’s on the main corridor, but most of it is on residential lots, which had two-family homes on it before,” Davis said. “This is a total disregard of the zoning, the historic guidelines that the rest of us have to abide by; we’re not allowed to use those materials, we’re not allowed to build something that tall, we’re not allowed to put curb cuts in an historic district, and that’s all being allowed for this project.”

News 5 is committed to following through on this developing story.