We can only hope that Drug Mart "might" be responsible with this property's maintenance. Past performance usually indicates future behavior- just look at the two current Detroit Avenue properties! So one is getting a "facelift" after how many years of being an eyesore ? Grace Avenue residents should be appluaded for their endeavors in maintaining some of the finest Victorian homes in Lakewood . Will the City be a mindfull watchdog ?

Im sure joann knows more than i do, so ill ask..does DDM own either of these two lkwd sites? If shes has knowledge that DDM abuses these properties please share. DDM has many locations in NEO, how do they compare? Their stores in westlake or north olmstead..owned or leased? Do i understand, correctly, they will own this site? I want the BEST for lkwd, but i find it hard to believe an outdated,ugly, former auto dealership is preferable to a modern "local" business that wants to COMPETE for my business. Thats good for my bottom line and the citys also..& please DDM promise to pick-up our lazy citizens trash..we might give you a certificate & put your picture in THE PATCH!

Doug, There's no problem if Drug Mart wants to take over the old Ganely site. Unfortunately they want to expand their footprint onto Grace. They want to raze a "zoned residential" apartment building on Grace and take a chunk of property from a turn of the century home on Grace. They want to extend an asphalt parking lot up Grace to accomodate a sprawling 2800sq ft DM. (as a point of reference the the new CVS is 1400sq ft ). This proposal is too large for the commercially zoned Ganely lot and much too large for our neighborhood .

Does it strike anybody else as odd that DM presents their architechual plans a mere 24 hrs before they go before the Architechual Board of Review? Not a lot of time for thoughtful analysis.

Mark..1st- to a lot of people, for several reasons, DDM at that location is a problem. 2nd- i think sveral projects, recently, have taken property that touches new developement..hospital ER, library, even new CVS..correct me if im wrong. I dont any that took property in the middle of any block. And, i think Grace Ave is beautiful & will continue inspite of DDMs devious plans to destroy it. I stated yesterday that commercial must meet residential somewhere & next to detroit or madison is logical. Please realize that vibrant competitive cities & towns are never finished. Smart ones under go revision to meet the best interest of the whole. Do these property owners have to sell? Evan stated this issue was resolved weeks ago with DDM making the adjustment. 3rd- what do these 2800/1400 sq ft represent? & 4th- congrats lkwd, few communities assemble committees, use forums & work for common good like you do! You prove everyday citizens can do more than bitch & moan! But remember..like your city youll never be finished.

Mark..i hope the ARB lets DDM know that they & the citizens of lkwd dont appreciate this "stunt" & they will do whats necessary for proper review..maybe to the detriment of DDMs timeline.

Doug, You should know that DDM pulled the exact same stunt on the Planning Commision (and the residents of Grace) last week. This appears to be the way they conduct business. Unfortunately the Director of Development ( Dru Siley) did not share our concerns regarding this conduct.

Mark..to simplify, let me ask..if the library or hospital needed this land would it then be OK?

Mark..im going to take your "distinction" as a yes & ill hope a 3rd party can clarify when houses were taken. This position raises an important focus that is often denied or ignored. The overall health of the community is tied to everything else. Cleveland would still be Cleveland without the Indians & Lakewood would still be Lakewood without Beck Center..but these cities are greater because of them. Ask East Cleveland what its like since they lost a hospital & check out the ratio of vacant store fronts & the lack of convenient retail competition. Lakewood will never have a "big box"..theyre very close if we want them. CVS, Walgreens & Rite Aide are "little boxes" & want to sell everything..just like GE, Walmart, Target, etc. But theyre gonna do it in a different way. They need reasonable space. The competition they create will determine how many we need not an arbitrary number. Like it or not we need a mix to keep all of Lakewood strong. Strong communities sustain quality hospitals & wouldnt Westlake love to have Beck Center?!

East Cleveland what its like since they lost a hospital & look at the ratio of vacant store fronts & lack of local, convenient retail choice. Lkwd wil never have a

Doug, while I'm as pro-business as you are and get annoyed with everyone who complains when a business wants to build something, I'm not of the opinion that a business gets to do whatever they please regarding lot size, configuration, and traffic flow. The ABR (in my opinion) has done an impressive job at assisting businesses to achieve the optimal structure given the lot they have to work with. Making DDM conform to Lakewood's requirements is not anti-business. Especially since the ABR is fair. They're tough in some ways, but in the end all these new box stores have a classy look that we can be proud of. Even if we dont intend to shop there. The role that Lakewood has is to protect home owners where their property meets the commercial lots. Some people on here seem to want the city to halt construction of any business that wants to build close to their house. I think that's wrong. You can modify designs to tailor to the neighborhood and surrounding properties. I work in the commercial construction industry, and this is very routine.

I went to the ABR meeting last night and towards the end the architect mentioned that Dru Siley had finally capitulated on the much needed traffic study. What is glaring about this, is that the study will be conducted while SCHOOL is OUT. So by stalling a request we made a month ago Mr. Siley is going to gift wrap a traffic study that will approximate traffic flow from the new Dollar Store. Approximate traffic flow from the new Drug Mart and either ignore or Approximate traffic flow from Garfield Middle school. This isn't just negligent in the end it may prove to be tragic. I believe The Patch and Obsever should call him on this.