PUBLIC HEARING BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS July 24, 2014 The Austintown Township Board of Appeals held a Public Hearing on Thursday, July 24, 2014, at the Township Building, 82 Ohltown Road, Austintown, Ohio, for consideration of the following cases: APPEAL CASE 2014-20-A-Devlin Auto Sales; APPEAL CASE 2014-21-A-Wedgewood Park Evangelical Congregational Church. The following Board members were in attendance: Mr. Robert Satterlee Chairman Mr. William Glaros Mr. James Mahoney - Absent Mr. Michael Beaudis Vice-Chairman Mr. Rick Stauffer Mr. Lynn Parker Chairman Satterlee opened the public hearing at 7:00 P.M. The following testimony was given under oath or affirmation. Court Reporter in attendance, complete transcript taken of the hearing. Motion by Mr. Glaros to approve the minutes of the June 26, 2014 public hearing. Seconded by Mr. Stauffer. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Beaudis Yes; Mr. Stauffer - Yes; Mr. Parker Yes; Mr. Glaros Yes; and Mr. Satterlee Yes. APPEAL CASE 2014-20-A Devlin Auto Sales, 924 Jewel North Road, Newton Falls, Ohio, 44444, on behalf of property owner James Molnar, 6617 Mahoning Avenue, Austintown, Ohio, 44515, appeals from the decision of the Austintown Township Zoning Inspector and requests a conditional use permit from the terms of Article XI-Business B-2 District, Section 1102- Conditionally Permitted Uses, Paragraph #7-Used Car Lot, of the Austintown Township Zoning Ordinance, as amended through June 9, 2014, to allow for the establishment and operation of Devlin Auto Sales as a second used car lot at the property located at 6615 Mahoning Avenue. Said property is further described as Lot No. 1, Jim Molnar Plat No. 1 Re-Plat, is located on the south side of Mahoning Avenue, approximately 162.07 feet east of the North Turner Road-Mahoning Avenue intersection; and is zoned as Business B-2 District in Austintown Township, Mahoning County, State of Ohio. 1
Zoning Inspector Crivelli read the applicant s letter dated June 9, 2014 into the case record, referenced a site plan, the case mailing list, and three plat maps prepared by the Zoning Office. Chairman Satterlee stated the mailing list of those property owners notified for Case 2014-20-A would be incorporated into the case record. Dave Devlin, Newton Falls, Ohio, submitted a letter of permission from the property owner which was subsequently read into the case record by Zoning Inspector Crivelli. Mr. Satterlee asked if the letter was notarized. Zoning Inspector Crivelli answered in the negative. Mr. Devlin stated he has operated a car lot in Windham, Ohio but the area is small and the lot did very little business. He went to work for Gene Molnar and now would like to work on his own. He proposed having 10 to 15 cars on the lot and replace them when necessary and clean the cars up. He stated they have cleaned up the car lot already by removing two dumpster filled with auto parts, have done some tree cutting, filled the pot holes in the parking lot, and if approved they will pressure wash and paint the building. He stated they are not going to do buy here pay here. They will not wholesale at this location. Mr. Satterlee inquired about Steeltown Motors parking cars where the concession stands are. Mr. Devlin stated he would not be parking cars on the next property and stated they have enough room for the inventory they intend to keep. Mr. Satterlee advised the abutting lot is not part of this request and they could not park their cars there. Mr. Devlin agreed and stated that cars were stored there during tax season with prices on them but he would not do that. Mr. Devlin stated he has a dealer s license and he put in for a change of address and the State should be out soon to approve. He stated he did put up signs but removed them at the request of Eric. Mr. Satterlee asked if Steeltown Motors uses the whole area where he will be locating. Mr. Devlin stated Gene Molnar is 77 years old and he only wants 10 to 12 cars now. Mr. Beaudis inquired about the inventory there now. Mr. Devlin stated that he has inventory lined up in front of 6615 Mahoning Avenue. Mr. Beaudis estimated 34 cars on the lot. Mr. Devlin stated Gene has all the cars from when Matt was going to the auctions and he is trying to slim down to 10 or 12 cars. Mr. Devlin observed that he has about eight cars there now. Mr. Satterlee asked how many cars both dealerships would have on the lot at one time. Mr. Devlin estimated that both dealers ship will have 30 vehicles or under. Mr. Devlin will work there along with his brother and nephew. The hours of operation will be ten to four Monday through Friday. Saturdays would be by appointment as the phone number will be on the door. Mr. Stauffer inquired about price range. Mr. Devlin stated the prices on the cars there right now are under two thousand dollars and they would like to get a better quality car once this inventory is gone. He speculated prices in the $3,500.00 dollar range and down. Mr. Stauffer asked if the two companies would merge. Mr. Devlin stated Gene has been doing this for 47 years and talks about retirement. However, he wants to be a separate dealership and will fix up the office if the request is approved. 2
Mr. Satterlee inquired about signage. Mr. Devlin stated signage was installed, photographed for the State, and then taken down. The signs are aluminum wall signs with six inch letters. Mr. Parker inquired about restroom facilities for customers. Mr. Devlin stated he would have a restroom and he has already fixed a water line. Mr. Parker inquired about the windows on the back side of the building. Mr. Devlin stated he would have to ask Mr. Molnar about that but they want to clean that area up also. Mr. Parker asked who would be responsible for maintaining the property. Mr. Devlin stated he would like to paint the building and he will maintain the property so it looks presentable. Mr. Parker inquired about customer parking. Mr. Devlin stated he wants to keep the horseshoe so customers can drive-in one way and out the other and the corner area was cleaned up by removing two dumpsters full of auto parts. Mr. Parker stated they would like to improve that area. Mr. Devlin stated he would like to make the lot presentable and redo the office. Mr. Stauffer asked for more detail regarding customer parking. Mr. Devlin stated customers can pull straight up against the building. He stated only two or three customers are there at a time and once the inventory is down there will be more parking. Zoning Inspector Crivelli asked how long it would take to get the inventory down to 30 cars or less. Mr. Devlin stated July was a slow month but he could reduce down within two months. Mr. Stauffer inquired about a lease. Mr. Devlin stated he has a verbal agreement right now, has paid two months rent thus far, and has done a lot of maintenance work on the building. He would like to have a one year lease after approval from the Board and the State. Thomas Devlin, 420 Airport Road NW, Warren, Ohio, 44481 stated on a personal level this is his uncle and father he is going into business with. He discussed his future at CCA and this being an opportunity to work with his father and uncle. They are all veterans. The vehicles they are offering for sale will accommodate single moms and other people as a lot of the vehicles will be vans and affordable cars. There will not be any riff-raff and they will clean the place up. They are stand-up guys. No one else in attendance to speak for the request. No one in attendance to speak against the request. 2014-20-A-Devlin Auto Sales: Motion by Mr. Glaros to approve the conditional use request including all representations made during the hearing. Seconded by Mr. Parker. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Beaudis Yes; Mr. Stauffer - No; Mr. Parker Yes; Mr. Glaros Yes; and Mr. Satterlee Yes. 3
Zoning Inspector Crivelli stated that they have to secure a zoning permit for the signage and reduce the inventory to 30 cars in two months and power wash and paint the building. APPEAL CASE 2014-21-A Wedgewood Park Evangelical Congregational Church, 1944 South Meridian Road, Austintown, Ohio 44511, appeals from the decision of the Austintown Township Zoning Inspector and requests a variance from the terms of Article XVII Supplementary District Regulations Section 715: Donation Boxes, of the Austintown Township Zoning Ordinance, as amended through June 9, 2014, to allow for the placement of a shed structure measuring 8 x 12 x 9 (32 cubic yards) to serve as a donation drop-off box at the property located at 1944 South Meridian Road. Each donation drop-off box shall have a capacity no greater than six cubic yards or exceed eight feet in height. Said property is zoned as a Residence R-1 District in Austintown Township, Mahoning County, State of Ohio. Zoning Inspector Crivelli read the applicant s letter into the case record, referenced a site plan, four color photographs of the proposed donation box, non-scaled architectural drawings of the donation box, cubic yard calculation, Section 715- Donation Box regulations, the case mailing list, and three plat maps prepared by the Zoning Office. Zoning Inspector Crivelli provided an overview of the recent adoption the donation dropoff boxes legislation and the current enforcement action throughout the Township for non-compliance. Mr. Beaudis asked if this should be a conditional use request. Zoning Inspector Crivelli advised he wrote the request as a variance from the new regulations and stated he would have issued a permit had they met all the new criteria. He suggested the Board use the practical difficulty guidelines in making a decision. Chairman Satterlee stated the mailing list of those property owners notified for Case 2014-21-A would be incorporated into the case record. Alex Hillis, 1067 Gateway Drive, Farmington, New York, 14425, stated he wrote the letter and offered to answer any questions. He stated St. Pauly has been rated as A+ by the BBB for the last 18 years. They are based on Rochester, NY and have over 900 dropoff sites in several different states. He stated that 85% of clothing is discarded as per EPA statistics. He stated there are local agencies who residents can donate too. Most of the local organizations have more clothes than they can distribute on a local level and they will pick-up the excess. Most people do not want to drive to a thrift store with limited donations hours and that is why the clothing bin use has expanded the last few decades. He observed the bins can be messy, are not picked up often enough, and there tends to not be a community affiliation. St. Pauly provides a shed to a non-profit or church within a given radius. The sheds are valued at a couple thousand dollars and they do not want to put one on every street corner. They prefer to partner up with a church as part of community service. People are more motivated to donate clothing to a church. 4
The sheds can hold a couple hundred bags of clothing if stacked properly. The church is responsible for moving clothes away for the donation shute. He submitted a list marked as Exhibit A of the churches in the Youngstown area that have their sheds on-site. He state the clothing may stay in the U.S. or go to developing countries in Africa and South America. He stated some companies sell their clothing to be recycled into insulation and other products. St. Pauly sells their clothing for a few pennies per pound in bulk to organizations who want to redistribute to people on a world-wide basis. He stated they sell to the UN, the Red Cross, the U.S. government and foreign governments. The churches receive four cents for every pound of clothing donated. The church should expect to receive from 50 to 300 dollars a month. Mr. Beaudis inquired as to how the clothes are divided up. Mr. Hillis stated the church has 100% access to the shed and can take whatever amount of clothing they want to distribute on the local level. He suggested this model works well and people will donate between 50 to 150 bags of clothing per week. Mr. Parker stated he did not read a lot of comments on-line about this business and referenced Grace Church in Warren, Ohio having problems with cardboard boxes not fitting into the donation slots. Mr. Hillis stated he was surprised to hear about this situation as he had just spoke to the pastor of the church who is delighted with the program and has referred him to a couple other churches. He stated they are an A+ business with the BBB and fly under the radar by not advertising on television as they are principally associated with churches. He said they very rarely receive complaints about clothing left outside the sheds. Mr. Parker asked if everything goes to charity. Mr. Hillis provided an overview of their business model. They collect about 80,000 pounds of clothing per day. They are a for profit business that gives back to the churches and a lot of clothing goes to the Red Cross for example which is a charitable organization. He described open-air markets and how they operate in foreign companies. Mr. Glaros inquired about pick-ups. Mr. Hillis stated there will be a pick-up once a week. He also stated they have a maintenance team on-call to repair any problems. Damaged sheds, for instance from a snow plow, are usually fixed within 24 hours and sheds are inspected once a year. James Dudley, 4721 Woodridge Drive, stated he is Chairman of the Board and head trustee of the church. He stated Alex explained the program to the church and they know they will not make a fortune from this. They discussed maintenance of the property. The pastor is there daily Monday through Thursday and other personnel Friday and Saturday. There is no contract and the shed can be removed at any time. No one else in attendance to speak for the request. No one in attendance to speak against the request. 5
2014-21-A-Wedgewood Park Evangelical Congregational Church: Motion by Mr. Stauffer to approve the variance request including all representations made during the hearing. Seconded by Mr. Parker. Roll Call Vote: Mr. Beaudis Yes; Mr. Stauffer - Yes; Mr. Parker Yes; Mr. Glaros Yes; and Mr. Satterlee Yes. There being nothing further to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 7: P.M. AUSTINTOWN BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS Darren L. Crivelli, Zoning Inspector, Austintown Township APPROVED: Robert Satterlee, Chairman DATE: 6