Morel Landscaping LLC had hoped to move its headquarters from North Royalton to this site on Broadview Road in Broadview Heights. The property currently is home to offices for Petros Homes and Creative Home Concepts. (Bob Sandrick, special to cleveland.com)
BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Morel Landscaping LLC has pulled back on a plan to move its headquarters to Broadview Heights after residents living near the proposed site protested.
City Hall received about 30 emails in February from residents living in and around the Macintosh Farms subdivision -- which is just north and east of the property Morel has targeted for its headquarters -- objecting to Morel moving to the area.
Residents said Morel, a landscape design and maintenance company now headquartered in North Royalton, would bring noise, dust, foul odors and excessive traffic to the neighborhood and worsen flooding.
“Macintosh Farms is such a peaceful, lovely development that I enjoy walking around every day,” Bridget Sproul, who lives on Peppercorn Lane in Macintosh Farms, said in an email to City Council.
“I believe that if Morel Landscaping moved to its proposed location, it would disturb a great number of residents nearby.”
Morel’s proposed site in Broadview Heights is a 3½-acre parcel off the west side of Broadview Road, four lots north of Boston Road, in the south end of the city. The parcel is owned by Heywood Properties Ltd. -- a company associated with Broadview Heights developer Sam Petros -- and the site currently contains offices for Petros Homes and Creative Home Concepts.
Morel Landscaping would use existing buildings, parking spaces and driveways on the site. The company would add a gravel parking area for its landscaping trucks and trailers and concrete pavement for outdoor mulch storage.
Morel was scheduled to appear before the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals Wednesday (March 2) to seek approval for zoning variances it will need. However, the company has withdrawn the variance request from the BZA agenda.
“We didn’t anticipate the opposition to this plan,” said Greg Modic, president of land development with Petros Homes, speaking for Morel Landscaping President Rob Morel.
“We want to take a step back and make sure we have all the right pieces in place,” Morel told cleveland.com Tuesday. “We want to see if we can rework things and better understand the concerns of residents.”
Morel would need three zoning variances to occupy the Broadview Road site, although city Engineer Gary Yelensoky said they are considered one variance under municipal code.
Code requires that parking lots and driveways on the rear and sides of the parcel are set back at least 50 feet from residential properties. In the front, the setback requirement is 20 feet.
Morel Landscaping has proposed setbacks of 35 feet along one side and the rear and 12 feet in front, according to a document provided by Yelenosky. The company said it would screen the parcel from neighboring residents using mounds and trees.
In addition, Morel needs the Planning Commission and City Council to approve the business as a “similar use” within a local retail commercial district, where landscaping firms normally are not allowed under code.
Council President Robert Boldt said he opposes Morel’s move to Broadview Road because the company would operate outdoors, at least in part.
“I will fight against any materials stored outside or any reduction of buffer (between the proposed Morel site and neighboring residents),” Boldt told cleveland.com Tuesday.
Noreen Butano of Buckboard Lane in Macintosh Farms expressed her displeasure with Morel’s plan in an email to council.
“This business will be removing trees, which provide absorption of water and a noise barrier, along the property line,” Butano said. “There will be trucks in and out loading landscaping materials.”
Stephen and Sonja Metzler of Newton Pass in Macintosh Farms, in an email to council, said Morel’s piles of landscaping materials would worsen the area’s flooding problem.
“Traffic on Broadview Road has increased exponentially in recent years, and additional commercial vehicles going in and out of this property will exacerbate this and increase the wear and tear on the road surface,” the Metzlers said.
Marilyn Houdek of West Royalton Road, which is not in Macintosh Farms, said council and the Planning Commission should not grant similar use status to Morel because municipal code explicitly disallows similar-use businesses that “create a danger to health or safety” or “create offensive noise, vibration, dust, smoke, odor, glare or other objectionable influence to an extent greater than normally resulting from other (permitted) uses.”
“Ordinances are made to protect our residents and our community,” Houdek said in an email to the city. “I do not feel approving a variance for this type of business next to a residential community is in the best interest of our residents or the city as a whole.”
Debra Kasmer of Windmill Lane in Macintosh Farms said she purchased her home in November because of the area’s rural feel. She said she didn’t anticipate a business like Morel moving in.
“I also would not appreciate breathing in chemicals and other additives the company works with,” Kasmer said in an email to council. “If this company is approved, I feel that many others like myself will choose to sell and live elsewhere.”
Read more from the Sun Star Courier.
Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.
Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 5/1/2021).
© 2022 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.
Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.