Hospice facility wins close rezoning vote
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published Oct. 22, 2008

With one member’s name left for clerk Susan Prehoda to call, council was locked in a rare 3-3 tie.

Ed Hack, Jim Connole and Dennis Sullivan, who represent wards 1, 2 and 3, respectively, had each voted Thursday against a rezoning ordinance that would allow the Hospice of the Western Reserve to build a new branch on Crocker Road. Council President Michael Killeen, Ward 6 representative Nan Baker and Ward 5 Councilman Ken Brady had voted in favor of the ordinance.

Michael O’Donnell, who represents ward 4, paused for about 15 seconds when Prehoda called his name, adding a little more suspense to the vote.

Finally, he said, “Yes.”

His vote cleared the way for Hospice of the Western Reserve, which has its headquarters and a 42-bed facility on East 185th Street in Cleveland, to build a planned 32-bed facility adjacent to Bonnie Bell’s current manufacturing site on Crocker Road.

Hospice of the Western Reserve has an option to purchase 30 acres there, according to David Simpson, CEO of the organization.

The wooded running and hiking trails now on the property will be preserved, Simpson said.

Resistance on council to allowing a hospice to build on the Crocker Road property comes from the fact that the land had been zoned for industrial use only. The ordinance, which passed by the 4-3 vote, changes the zoning of several parcels to health campus district.

Hack called the rezoning ordinance part of “a continued assault” on the city’s exclusive industrial zone.

In July, by an identical 4-3 vote, council approved a zoning ordinance that will allow Cuyahoga Community College to build a 32.9-acre Westshore campus at the corner of Bradley and Clemens roads. The property on which the college intends to construct three buildings had been zoned exclusively for industrial uses.

Like Tri-C, the hospice, as a nonprofit organization, will not pay property taxes on the land it purchases.

The city’s exclusive industrial zone sets Westlake apart from other communities in terms of economic planning and “is and should be the backbone of our long-term strategy for a sound economic base for the city,” Hack said before the vote.

Hack acknowledged that the city’s industrial zone has not developed as fast as had been anticipated. But he said it should be preserved for future development from which the city will collect property tax.

Hack said approval of the rezoning amounted to a future tax increase on Westlake’s residents. He noted that the Westlake Board of Education had written council asking that it weigh the loss of property tax income when deliberating the matter.

“By allowing this rezoning on the 30-acre industrial site, we will never receive a share of tax assistance for schools and lose potential tax relief for our citizens,” said the letter, signed by school board President Andrea Rocco on behalf of the board.

Hack and Connole suggested that the hospice be located at the campus of St. John West Shore Hospital, which is already zoned as a health campus district and therefore not liable for property taxes.

“I would think there should be a very, very high standard of requirement on applicant before we would even consider a rezoning anywhere, much less in our exclusive industrial,” Hack said.

“We’re essentially, through the back door, saying we’re changing our policy for that area,” Hack said.

Hack said that the city was so weakening its criteria for building in the exclusive industrial zone that it should now consider whether there should be any limitations at all on building there.

Killeen agreed, saying the city should consider modifying its zoning criteria for the area.

“You’re not going to get what people think ‘industrial’ is anymore,” Killeen said. “It’s distribution and it’s offices.”

Connole agreed with Hack that it would be better for the hospice to build at St. John West Shore Hospital. He acknowledged that Hospice of the Western Reserve does good work in its ministry to the dying but urged council members to keep emotions out of the issue.

Connole acknowledged that manufacturing jobs have largely left the country. However, he said good, high-paying research and development jobs could be lured to Westlake’s industrial zone.

Mayor Dennis Clough, who has been in favor of the rezoning, said the hospice will create about 800 jobs, which will bring income taxes.

“I do believe that this is a good project, in fact, that it’s going to sustain our economic vitality with bringing additional jobs and additional people into the community,” the mayor said. “I think it’s a plus, and I think the plus outweighs the minuses at this point in time.”

Clough rejected the suggestion that the hospice be built at St. John West Shore Hospital, noting that the hospice will draw patients from other hospitals.

Despite his hesitation before voting, O’Donnell told West Life that he was firmly behind the hospice rezoning. Although he said he considered the letter from school board members, he said he believed the Crocker Road site was a good location for the hospice.

He also said the concern about losing tax-generating industrial land was overstated.

“There’s still a lot of industrial land left,” O’Donnell said. “We’re not giving it all away.”

According to Hospice of the Western Reserve, completion of the new Westlake Hospice House is slated for late 2009.

On the Web:

• Hospice of the Western Reserve