Dear Councilman Zone, Thank you for your response. When did the objective of redeveloping Fifth Church narrow to exclude commercial development? Fifth Church has always been zoned single residential. A rezoning of it for potential commercial use is not a new revelation. Nor is the opposition to a zoning change from the Edgewater Homeowners Associations executive board. With due diligence and all parties engaged, I am confident EHAs issues can be addressed appropriately and satisfactory. When the City of Cleveland took possession in 2002 and issued an RFP that same year, would you consider that to have been a disingenuous and unproductive effort by the Citys Department of Economic Development, not to mention, a big waste of time for the commercial developers who responded? Neighborhood residents and leaders fought hard to see Fifth Church locally land marked in order to protect it from demolition. The 2001 Cudell/Edgewater Neighborhood Master Plan described redeveloping Fifth Church as a highest priority. And included in a 2001 Statement of Long-term Vision released by the Stakeholders group, it details ...the ultimate development should be one that is a destination--a unique place that will attract people not only from the neighborhood but from the surrounding area and beyond. Why now the sudden termination of a long-time effort (which included commercial use as an option) to see through the rehabilitation of a signature structure, especially when a viable local prospect has made their interest known? As the climbing center prospects explained during an in person meeting with Peter Meisel / Carnegie Companies last month, the redevelopment of Fifth Church will not disrupt Carnegies site plan nor delay their timeline. It will enhance and drive business to the Shoppes on Clifton and benefit the overall social and economic revitalization of the neighborhood. Chick and Niki said Mr. Meisel was amenable to the proposal, and expressed it is ultimately a decision of the City of Cleveland. Personally I am skeptical Carnegie will achieve the objective of breaking ground in April anyway. The statement goes on to read It should be a place that attracts people not only because of retail opportunities, but because of the uniqueness of the development design itself. Chick Holtkamp and Niki Zmij (along with their team, which include Architect Jonathan Sandvick and Jera Construction Management) first made their commercial redevelopment and interest to repurpose Fifth Church officially known to the City in November 2013. They are committed to remaining a redevelopment option for the designated landmark and the Edgewater neighborhood. Regardless of how the narrow scope of the RFP was written, it is my understanding they are planning to proceed ahead and submit a climbing and wellness center proposal by the RFPs March 27, 2014 deadline. Frankly, as a member of the stakeholders group and a resident of the neighborhood, the manner in which they have been treated thus far is an embarrassment, and sets a negative precedent to other developers / investors who may opt to rather spend time using Edgewater as a pass through neighborhood it is in danger of becoming. Throughout Cleveland there are many prime examples of other neighborhoods who are maximizing their strengths and recognizing the need to re adapt, re brand and re attract. Detroit-Shoreway is one of those proven neighborhoods. Your own track records shows the extraordinary relationships you are capable of bridging and bringing to fruition a vision of creating a thriving and unique neighborhood. Councilman Zone, you represent the invested interest of the entire neighborhood, not just a select segment. I, too have spoken with many residents (including several living on Lake Avenue and Edgewater Drive). Despite some who are exhausted, interest remains with others to see accomplished a high priority goal set forth years ago to redevelop the designated landmark. Let us not also forget it was a homeowner living across the street from the site that recommended in November 2013 to Chick and Niki they consider the Fifth Church landmark as an option. Your hail mary comment in last months Fresh Water Cleveland article surprised me a bit based on personally having witnessed your ability to lead a team that has successfully turned around what is now considered to be a destination neighborhood, Detroit-Shoreway. freshwatercleveland/devnews/churchclimbingfacility021314.aspx Dont lose sight of who this game is really for, those of us in the stands. Go long because if anyone can catch the ball at the 99 yard line and score a game-winning touchdown talked about and benefited from for years to come, it is you. Youve proven it before, and I know you can do it again. Sincerely, Jeon Francis (216) 526-8473 Neighbors in Action, Spokesman NeighborsInAction.Info FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK, https://facebook/pages/Neighbors-in-Action/570311742988541 On Thu, Mar 13, 2014 at 2:55 PM, Matthew Zone wrote: Dear Jeon, The RFP was always intended to be solicit developers for concepts on housing. Initially, the RFP was to be issued for concepts that would build townhouses and reuse portions of the church. Following our last meeting, and at the initial suggestions of Michael Ruffing, seconded by others in attendance, we agreed to include another option for the RFP -- namely, to reuse the entire church structure as housing. There was never any discussion of issuing an RFP for adaptive reuse of the church as anything other than housing. There was conversation about sending the RFP to Chick and Niki to allow them to propose housing for the site if they so desired -- Chick, as you know, has experience in retrofitting buildings for housing, and someone in the group suggested that we send the RFP to him in light of that. In addition, it made sense in terms of transparency with Chick and Niki so they would know what had been issued. We do not intend on issuing an RFP for general adaptive reuse of the church. It would disingenuous and unproductive to issue a general adaptive reuse RFP for the church at this point. The site is zoned for residential, not commercial, and the immediate neighbors in the community would need to support a zoning change, which I have heard is not desired, both through the stakeholder group and in my individual conversations with residents. We are not in the business of wasting developers time seeking proposals for commercial development when the site is not currently zoned and unlikely ever to be zoned to support such a use. Matt~ Matt Zone Fifteenth Ward Council Member clevelandcitycouncil.org Board of Directors, National League of Cities nlc.org Cleveland City Hall 601 Lakeside Avenue, Room 220 Cleveland, OH 44114 p: 216.664.4235|f: 216.664.3837 e [email protected]
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 12:20:48 +0000
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