CORRECTION (9-29-09) Thielen is not zoning inspector
In a Sept. 26 story about a proposed Kroger store in the City of Perrysburg, Planning and Zoning
Administrator Rick Thielen was incorrectly attributed as the zoning inspector. Additionally, the
Planning Commission is asking developers to provide a 25-foot landscape buffer at Roachton Road and
Route 25, not a 10-foot buffer as shown in the preliminary site plans.
PERRYSBURG – Neighbors to a proposed Kroger store are warmer to the project now that developers are
considering a shopping list of suggestions from residents and the city.
About 20 people attended the approximately two-hour discussion by the planning commission Thursday of a
preliminary site plan and traffic study for a 90,893-square-foot supermarket with a pharmacy and fuel
station at the corner of Ohio 25 and Roachton Road. As recommended by the city zoning inspector, board
members asked the developers to submit a revised preliminary site plan and traffic study next month that
will include required conditions and modifications.
Kroger’s revised plan is expected to accommodate adjustments to landscaping, parking and access to the
store as well as solutions to ease the impact upon the adjacent Perrysburg Heights neighborhood.
Specifically, the board will look for the plans to maintain a 10-foot greenspace buffer along Roachton
and Dixie Highway as well as mounding on the north side of the site to obscure the view of cars in the
parking lot.
Anita Serda, president of the Perrysburg Heights Community Association, said the community was encouraged
by the preliminary plan but that certain issues still need to be addressed before the city issues a
final stamp of approval.
"Today, we’re very much in support of Krogers being our neighbors," Serda said. "We do
have some concerns."
Serda said residents remain primarily concerned about safety and traffic flow. She said traffic
congestion already exists at the intersection of Roachton and Dixie Highway, especially in the morning
when Heights residents are trying to leave the neighborhood on their way to work. There are also no stop
signs between Roachton and Jefferson Street or Apex Lane and Broad Avenue, which creates increased
traffic through the neighborhood. Many cars exceed even the 45-mile-an-hour speed limit, she said.
She asked the city to consider lowering the speed limit and to remain sensitive to the effect on traffic
loads when considering what sort of access at the store will be allowed. She thanked the city for
providing residents with a copy of the plans ahead of the meeting, and added that most of the
neighborhood understands the area is developing and that a new Kroger store is likely.
"It’s not that we’ve had a change of heart," she said. "We have some significant things
that we really want you to consider. This community is excited about having that there. We want a safe
way to be able to get across the street to the plaza to be able to enjoy that."
Residents from the Heights, situated north of the proposed development site, originally objected a zoning
request for the development due to concerns about increased traffic and the lack of a buffer between the
development and the neighborhood.
Mayor Nelson Evans said a speed study might be conducted after the substantial residential development
construction behind the proposed Kroger site is complete.
Much of the board’s debate about the preliminary plan surrounded the store’s proposed access drives.
Zoning Inspector Rick Thielen’s report concurred with recommendations from the Mannik and Smith Group’s
traffic impact study regarding the need for: left-turn and right-in lanes and a traffic light along
Route 25 on the south end of the project; a full-access drive onto Roachton Road; and a right-in and
right-out drive onto Roachton Road.
However, Thielen recommended against a right-in/right-out drive to Route 25 farther north on Dixie
Highway
Initially, Evans expressed concern that the right-out drive onto Dixie Highway would create a weaving
issue as people would try to enter the left lane and conflict with people wanting to get into the right
lane. Board member Mary Krueger also worried about the effect on busy traffic in the area, adding she
was "really opposed to any right-in/right-out." Member Jim Bilkovsky said the drive only
seemed to serve the fuel center.
But Jean Hartline, senior project manager for Mannick and Smith, stressed that eliminating the drive
would increase traffic on the north end of the site where cars would try to turn left onto Roachton
Road.
Jerry Turner, president of engineering firm Bird and Bull, said the two outlots of different sizes that
border the fuel center could be switched to move the drive farther south. Since the board ultimately was
split on whether to require the drive or not, Chairman John Wanick advised developers to use their
judgment to design a plan that will have the best effect on traffic.
The developers, whose plans call for 546 parking spaces, made their best case for permission to retain
future parking areas that Thielen recommended be removed in exchange for more landscaping. Turner said
the additional areas would be needed as the area begins to develop and on holidays.
George Oravecz, a project consultant, noted that tenants of the site will invest a "tremendous"
amount of money in the community and that they will depend on the ability to fully serve their
customers.
"We would not ask for these if we did not need them," he said.
However, Thielen said he was "not a big fan of setting aside property for future parking" and
that proposed expansions should come back the city for approval. The board later decided that additional
parking areas would depend on what sort of landscaping adjustments were made. The developers said they
preferred to replace canopy trees primarily in front of the store with shorter ornamentals but it was
not clear how many trees would be removed.
The developers will return with a revised plan on Oct. 29, and plans for outparcels on the site will be
considered separately at a later date.
