Menards approved in Granger Township

GRANGER TWP. — Construction of a Menards store at state Route 18 and Medina Line Road will take place following trustees' final approval of plans Monday night. The decision was unanimous among trustees Richard Pace and John Ginley with a third trustee, Terri Berry, having recused herself from Menards discussions due to her family owning a minority stake in land that's part of the construction site. Pace and Ginley voted yes on preliminary approval for the project in August with a Menards store expected to anchor a new development in a 124-acre commercial subdivision with 11 subplots. "All my questions have been answered," Ginley said just before Monday's vote, referencing recent project recommendations from engineers. "I think now that we have everything finished we can make a decision now." Pace said earlier in the day that no tax incentives or abatements have been offered to Menards and that such measures have not been part of project negotiations. Public comments were not taken before trustees ended Monday's virtual meeting to go into an executive session. The prospect of Menards being approved has been met with strong opposition from residents since plans were introduced with viewership Monday hovering around 30. Many attendees' chosen on-screen names carried opposition sentiment. Trustees said Monday that 18 phone calls expressing opposition had been received over the past week compared with one email and one voicemail in support of the Menards store. A petition put forth by a Citizens Action Group garnered 553 signatures in opposition with many complaints centering on heavier traffic that will come with a large store, noise pollution, disruption to surrounding wildlife and potential harm to nearby small businesses. Trustees were emphatic in stating that a Medina Line Road entrance will only be used for first responders in extreme emergencies, another expressed concern from residents. Planners added that any such entrance would not even be created until a future "phase two" of site development. "From the beginning of this development, our fire department wanted to make sure, in case of a larger emergency, that there was a second emergency access point," Pace said. "That will be off Medina Line Road but that is not a public driveway. It will be locked. No one else gets to use it." There will be two public entrances to the shopping center, a shared driveway and right-turn access with both located on Route 18. Plans show four private streets including one that features a roundabout with Menards in the center. A traffic light at a Route 18 entrance shared with the Pinnacle Sports complex next door would terminate at the roundabout. One street accesses Route 18 and is a right-turn only going west, a safety measure that officials hope will mitigate long-standing safety concerns. Project planners, Menards representatives and trustees met April 8 but talks were continued until Monday due to drainage information from engineers in Medina and Summit counties that still needed to be considered in final plans. Stormwater basins have been added at the northwest and southeast corners of the development site. Updates have also eliminated the need to keep an on-site soil stockpile, officials said. Two rows of evergreen trees are staggered along Medina Line Road to create a buffer for nearby homes. Updated plans have those trees now extending to the northern end of the property. Other additions cited by Menards earlier this month included reduction of parking lot light wattage from 300 to 150, with future development adhering to that same limit in their parking lots. Prospective street light wattage has been cut down from 300 to 185 watts. In January, the Medina County Department of Planning Services gave its stamp of approval for Menards plans and prospective future site development under the tag The Market at Medina Line project. The property is in an area designated as a PDD, or planned development district, in Granger's zoning resolution. The PDD includes a frontage on Route 18 with a depth of approximately 2,200 feet and covers the area from the eastern property boundary of the Pinnacle Sports property to Medina Line Road. Campus-style commercial, office and industrial areas are traditionally the main development goals in PDD areas. The development will be served by public sewer and water infrastructure. Contact reporter Jonathan Delozier at (330) 721-4050 or jdelozier@medina-gazette.com.