Paper packaging company requests variance for $20 million JEDD project
by Erica Peterson
Dec. 5 township trustees meeting
If the Richfield Township Board of Zoning Appeals approves a variance for the Richfield Industrial Park, located in the Joint Economic Development District off Columbia Road, it might clear the way for a paper packaging and distribution company to invest $20 million in an operation there.
That’s what property owner John Allega and developer Paul Thurston from Becknell Industrial of Chicago told the township trustees during a presentation about changes to the industrial park they said would attract development and meet the JEDD’s light industrial office zoning code requirements.
Trustee Janet Jankura said the two gave the same presentation to the JEDD board.
Thurston said the paper company wants to build a 240,000-square-foot, 40-foot-tall facility that includes a 15,000-square-foot office component. The project would include $11.3 million for the building and $3.6 million for the property. “Soft costs and fees bring it up to about a $20 million project,” he said.
The company would employ 80 and have a $4 million payroll, “which equates to an $80,000 a year payroll tax,” Thurston said. A tax analysis estimates the operation would generate $360,000 in property taxes annually, Thurston said.
He said confidentiality agreements prevent him from naming the company, but he said to “think Dunder-Mifflin, but on a larger scale,” to laughs from the audience. He was referring to the fictional business of The Office TV show.
For the plan to move forward, Allega is asking the Board of Zoning Appeals for variances for the entire industrial park regarding the amount of space that must be allocated inside buildings for warehousing and distribution.
Thurston said his capital partner “will not fund this building with the existing zoning language,” because it severely restricts the amount of office space, a regulation that likely would also discourage other prospective developers.
Allega shared revised plans for the industrial park that he said make it more attractive to development and address concerns nearby residents expressed about nuisances like noise and light that future development might bring.
The new location for three prospective buildings, including the one for the paper company, comply with LI-O requirements for setbacks and buffers, including 10-foot-tall buffer walls and detention basins, he said. The three buildings would provide about 850,000 square feet of space.
The plan also locates loading docks in the middle of the park, surrounded by the buildings. That way, the buildings themselves act as buffers between the noise and homes. The loading dock areas are also 4 feet lower than the rest of the property, providing even more of a buffer, Allega said.
Road access plans are being finalized with the county, he said, “and we are discussing with the village of Richfield putting in a secondary road in the future out to Route 21 [Brecksville Road], out where the old Clark gas station was.” Currently, the only access to the area is Columbia Road to Brecksville Road.
There are also plans to put in a gated, emergency-only access road off Black Road. If the secondary road off Brecksville Road goes in, the emergency access would no longer be necessary, Allega said.
“We think we’ve got a pretty good design for the entire park, and what would really kick it off is this Fortune 500 user, that I think is a real ideal user,” Thurston said.
Jankura said she was “encouraged” by the potential development, revenue for the township and jobs. “I’m also encouraged that you have gone above and beyond some of the requirements to protect the residents in terms of buffering,” she said.
The Board of Zoning Appeals will consider the variances at its Dec. 16 meeting.
Organizational resolution
The trustees approved the township’s organizational resolution for 2020. Jankura said the administrative measure is passed every year and “basically spells out how the township operates, contracts that we have, salaries that we pay, meetings, and so on.”
The resolution includes a 1.5 percent salary increase for all township staff for 2020.
It also includes several board appointments. Zoning Commission member Chris Sivak’s term is up. At his request, he was appointed as an alternate Zoning Commission member for 2020. The trustees appointed Dwayne Gentner to the Zoning Commission seat through 2024.
Natalie Grubb was reappointed to the Board of Zoning Appeals through 2024, and Christi Gable was appointed as an alternate BZA member for 2020.
Trustees authorized the following general fund expenditures toward community events next year: $2,000 for Community Days, $1,100 for the Snowbird Festival, $1,000 for Arbor Day and $300 for the shredding event. The trustees also moved the February trustees meeting to Tuesday, Feb. 4, due to scheduling conflicts.
Feature image photo caption: John Allega
