2026-09-22 - Development, Planning and Sustainability Committee (Zoning)

00:00So, um, to the chair, uh, this project

00:02actually has already received city

00:04planning commission's final approval

00:05back in March of this year. Um, the main

00:08thing that, uh, was kind of holding up

00:09the project was moving this legislation

00:11forward, uh, to allow them to, to move

00:13forward with the building code review

00:15that'll actually take place after this.

00:17>> Okay.

00:17>> Um, the project team is here that maybe

00:20be able to answer like some more

00:21specific questions you have about the

00:22timeline.

00:23>> Any question? Um, I don't have a

00:26question. My colleagues don't. Um,

00:28madame clerk, do we have any public

00:30comment for this? Okay. Well, no other

00:33qu hearing. No other uh questions,

00:36comments. Ordinance number 9352026

00:40is approved. Please sign on.

00:43There we go. This will be moving quick

00:46today. Okay. Next. Ordinance number

00:50936-2026.

00:52Council member Santana and Ornance

00:55changing zoning district of parcel land

00:57north of Meyers between West 31st Street

00:59and West 30th Street as shown on the

01:02attached map. Okay,

01:06good morning. Uh my name is Xavier Bay

01:08again presenting uh from zoning and city

01:11planning. Um so these next two

01:12presentations are going to be very

01:14specific to CMSD sites, existing CMSD

01:16schools. Um first we're going to start

01:18off here with map change 2699.

01:21And so this proposal is going to be uh

01:23primarily for the redevelopment of the

01:25Lincoln West High School um located in

01:28Clark Fulton neighborhood. And so um the

01:31site is already a school. Um so you know

01:34it this resoning really just kind of

01:36continues allowing that use to take

01:38place there.

01:41[clears throat] And so the current

01:42zoning here is two family. You can see

01:44just center of the map there provided is

01:46the Lincoln West High School. I'm

01:47actually graduate from this high school.

01:49So really excited to see uh some of the

01:51redevelopment happen of the school.

01:54Um and so we're proposing the civic uh

01:56formbbased code zoning district here.

01:58And so the civic the formbbased code

02:00zoning district is really uh intended to

02:02be used for your uh local institutional

02:05and uh civic uses. And so this being a a

02:08public, you know, high school, it's just

02:10that. Um, so we're only reszoning uh the

02:14parcels that are owned by the school

02:16included in the the scope of the

02:17school's project. Um, I'm sure in the

02:20future you'll eventually see us

02:21expanding formbbased code throughout all

02:22the neighborhoods of Cleveland. Um, and

02:25so here is the current context of the

02:27neighborhood. Uh, you can see the school

02:29again just center screen there

02:30surrounded by a lot of different homes,

02:33a lot of single family, two family

02:34homes. And then there's actually a local

02:36park just to the um south there with the

02:39pool at Meer pool.

02:42And then I'll also include some more

02:44existing context. You can see the

02:45existing school standing there. Um and

02:48then some more additional context. Just

02:50looking up and down the street. You can

02:51see you got your kind of average

02:53Cleveland residential neighborhood. Um

02:56so that's Oh yeah, there typically is a

03:00less There it is. Yep.

03:03So, uh, in conclusion, we're reszoning

03:06the properties owned by CMSD, uh, to the

03:09civic formbbased code zoning district

03:11really to allow the school to move

03:12forward with redevelopment.

03:15>> Um, so Xavier, if they don't do this

03:17form based code um, zoning that they

03:20can't redevelop Lincoln West.

03:22>> So, to the chair, this is Xavier. Um, so

03:24not by right. So um whenever uh you're

03:27establishing a new school, building a

03:29new school, there are specific uh yard

03:31requirements that are that are needed um

03:33to build it by right. And so the two

03:36family district does generally allow the

03:37use as uh educational schools uh you

03:40know local um public and private

03:41schools. Um but there is uh kind of

03:43heavy standards as far as the setbacks

03:45uh required to do so. And so uh we would

03:49want to see a school here and so they'd

03:51have to go through kind of a couple of

03:53hurdles with the board of zoning

03:54appeals. um if they did want to build

03:56the school in the two family district

03:58and then depending on the sighting of

04:00the school, things of that nature, they

04:02may not be able to um overcome some of

04:05the front yard setback standards that

04:07the board of zoning appeals is limited

04:09to. Um so this project has made its way

04:12through uh city planning commission up

04:14to the schematic approval. So they still

04:16have to go uh back to city planning

04:18commission for final approval. Um so

04:20it's not completely done yet, but it has

04:21made its way through a lot of the design

04:23process.

04:24>> Got it. and it also went through design

04:25review. Well, just for my colleagues,

04:27it's been maybe a decade that we've been

04:30talking about Lincoln West being

04:32rebuilt. So, I'm very excited that we're

04:34at this point. Any questions? Councilman

04:36Harsh.

04:38>> Chairwoman, I think you're being

04:39generous when you say a decade. I think

04:40it's been 20 years that we've been

04:42talking about ever since the voters of

04:44Cleveland passed the first levy for

04:46rebuilding schools, we've been promised

04:48a new Lincoln West. Um, and CMSD has

04:52been dragging their feet on it for 20

04:54years. So, um, I

04:57I'm I understand that this zoning change

05:00can facilitate a lot of the work and

05:02save some paperwork and some, uh,

05:05headaches down the road as planners

05:07figure out how to build something new. I

05:09don't think uh, anybody in this body or

05:11in the city of Cleveland would have

05:12thrown up any obstacles current given

05:14current zoning, we would have just

05:16passed a different type of variance and

05:18support for the new school. We've all

05:20been waiting for this school for a long

05:21time. Uh but I do think this is a good

05:23example of how um the uh oh what's the

05:27new zoning? What do we call it?

05:29>> Form based

05:29>> form based

05:30>> form based code.

05:31>> I do think this is a good example of how

05:32formbased code can be used in uh

05:35specific applications to help us

05:37facilitate work that the city needs

05:39anyway. So I think this is a really good

05:41um uh proposal and uh has my full

05:43support and God love it. One day we'll

05:46see a new Lincoln West.

05:48>> Definitely. Thank you. Any other

05:50questions? No. Hearing no other

05:52questions, ordinance number 936-2026

05:55has been approved. Please sign on.

06:00Next, we have ordinance number 937-2026.

06:04Council member Conwell, an ordinance

06:06changing the zoning district of parcel

06:07of land south of St. Clair Avenue

06:09between Lake View Road and Thornhill

06:12Drive.

06:13>> Good morning. Saber V again with the

06:15zoning section of city planning. Uh so

06:18this is the Glenville High School that

06:20we're proposing this uh resoning for. We

06:22do have the support from uh council um

06:24sorry Conwell,

06:27[clears throat]

06:28>> excuse me. All right. And so here you

06:31can see the existing zoning is a mix

06:33between one and two family. It is a

06:34rather large swath of land here going

06:36from St. Clair Avenue um down to the

06:40intersection there at Thornhill.

06:42[clears throat] Excuse me. Sorry.

06:44[snorts]

06:45All right. So, uh, here we're proposing

06:46the civic zoning as well. As I

06:48mentioned, this is primarily for your

06:50civic institutions. Um, this being

06:52Glennville High School, makes sense to

06:54reszone it, uh, for civic. And so, this

06:56land also being used as a as a school,

06:59continuing to be used as a school. It

07:01aligns with our, um, citywide plan for

07:03that reason. And so, here you can see

07:05another aerial view. Sorry, this view is

07:09>> Yeah, this view is looking um,

07:11southerly. So then, um, so basically you

07:13see St. Clear Avenue there at the south.

07:15Um Oh, thank you. Sorry, I think the

07:18AC's got my nose dripping a little bit

07:20here.

07:20>> It's the air conditioner. [snorts]

07:22>> Yeah, thank you. [laughter]

07:24>> Little embarrassing. All right.

07:26Uh so yeah. And then so next we're

07:29providing some more of those uh

07:31contextual photos you can see going up

07:33and down the street around the school.

07:35Um yeah, land is being used for the

07:37school, some playground areas.

07:40surrounding this property is your

07:41average Cleveland residential

07:43neighborhood.

07:45Um, but yeah, so in conclusion, this is

07:48very straightforward. We're only

07:49including the land that's uh owned by

07:51CMSD for this reasonzoning as well. Um,

07:54again, in the future, I'm sure you'll

07:56see some proposals to uh expand

07:58formbbased code around some more the

08:00neighborhood.

08:02>> Thank you.

08:03>> Any questions from my colleagues?

08:06Councilman Far

08:07>> and Madam Chair to Mr. Bay. Um, are

08:09there any existing residential

08:11properties that are uh caught in this

08:15civic change or is that all pure park

08:18and school space currently?

08:20>> Yeah, exer bait. This is ex bait through

08:22the chair. Um, so all this land is

08:25currently um park and school uh space.

08:28That's right.

08:29>> That was my only question. Thank you.

08:30>> I did forget to mention uh this project

08:32hasn't made its way through uh the city

08:34planning commission's design review

08:36process as of yet. Um but you know them

08:38building a school uh yeah it'll

08:41eventually make its way through our

08:42processes. Got it.

08:44>> Can you talk about when it goes through

08:46design review they report to the

08:49commission and then you guys take in

08:51account the recommendations? How does

08:54that work?

08:55>> Yeah. Yeah. That's right. So um I'll

08:57start off and then I I'll probably defer

08:58to uh our assistant director Mara here

09:00for any fill in that's needed. Um so uh

09:03traditionally uh in the so in a designer

09:06review district or if a project uh

09:10reaches a specific threshold um they

09:12would be required to go through the

09:14design review process. And so that does

09:15include typically it'll include a

09:18concept conceptual schematic and final

09:20review uh hearing by the local design

09:23review committee as well as the city

09:24planning commission. And so uh the local

09:27design review is typically advisory to

09:29the city planning commission. And so

09:31they could um make a motion at the local

09:34level uh including specific uh uh

09:37conditions or things of that nature uh

09:39recommend those to city planning

09:40commission and then city planning

09:42commission could uh choose to include

09:44those recommendations that were made at

09:46local or um add additional things or

09:48leave out some things that were uh

09:50mentioned at the local committee. Um,

09:52this being in a form-based code

09:54district, uh, that process may look a

09:57little different. Um, but because of the

09:59size of the school that's being

10:00proposed, it will still be, uh, going in

10:02front of city planning commission for a

10:04design review hearing.

10:06>> Got it. Do you want to add anything? No.

10:08Okay. Thank you. Any other questions

10:11from my colleagues? Hearing no other

10:13questions. Ordinance number 937-2026

10:16has been approved. Please sign on. And

10:19that is our last piece. Yeah. So, um,

10:23thank you everyone. Good morning and,

10:26um, DPS has been adjourned.

10:28>> Thank you. This is DPS.

11:13We have to evolve the policy positions

11:15to make sure that everybody can feel

11:16safe, protected, seen and heard. Second,

11:19we have to have the modeling and

11:20inclusion

11:22for too long because