Mayor Bruce G. Rinker and the Village Council welcome you to Mayfield Village.

Chapter 4 .. Focus Areas

    Most of the Village’s land, if not in open space or recreational use, is developed, with the exception of some smaller sites, some of which are currently being considered for public or private projects. Since there is so little remaining undeveloped land in the Village, future economic development strategies must focus on the reuse or increased utilization of existing commercial and industrial areas. The Focus Areas referenced in this Chapter have been identified as “under performing” or areas that are in need of redesign or redevelopment to enhance the quality of life and character of the Village.


    The Committee supports the redevelopment of the Village’s commercial areas, but cautions that traffic and other possible negative impacts of redevelopment must be thoughtfully addressed and mitigated as the redevelopment proposals evolve. To assist the Village with assessing the costs and benefits of various redevelopment options, a table is provided in Appendix B as a tool to help estimate both the economic and
traffic impacts of various types of development.


    In recent years, Village leaders have worked strategically to purchase available land to facilitate achieving the Village’s redevelopment goals. The Village government currently owns more than 140 acres of land. This proactive approach has provided the Village with several successes including accommodating the expansion of the Progressive Insurance office campus at the north end of the Village, providing a high quality greenway as part of the SOM Center Road widening project, and securing the southwest corner of the Village center area for development consistent with this Plan. The Village should continue strategic acquisitions of the minor parcels needed to complete the Village’s redevelopment goals as represented in the Plan.


    A key next step for assuring the productive use of these Village-owned parcels is to agree to a strategic plan for the location of new or renovated public facilities and a targeting of existing Village-owned land/buildings for those facilities. Similarly, the Village should move ahead to adopt guidelines or a concept plan for the revitalization of the Village retail center that would identify existing and future parcels needed
to accomplish the Village’s goals for a mixed-use center.


Focus Area #1: SOM Center Road Corridor
 

    The project to widen SR 91, SOM Center Road, has been imaginatively designed to provide the Village with a greenway corridor linking its Village Center on the south with the North Chagrin Reservation Metropark on the north. By strategically acquiring land adjacent to the road project to complement Village-owned land and with the thoughtful engineering of streetscape features, crossings, and quality design features, Village leaders have developed a “showcase project” for metropolitan Cleveland. When construction is completed, the SOM Center Road Corridor will provide additional capacity to accommodate the growing number of vehicles moving north/south through Mayfield Village while providing Village residents with a greenway corridor for biking/walking and other recreational uses to be enjoyed by future generations.


    The primary goal of the road project is to provide two additional lanes on SOM Center, one in each direction, and to construct a tree-lined, landscaped median in a portion of the widened roadway. The centerpiece of the SOM Center Road Corridor is the construction of two underpasses that will allow pedestrians convenient access to park and trails and will assure that the connection between the east and west sides of the Village is not destroyed by the expansion of the existing road corridor. To the south, a pedestrian underpass will provide for the flow of Beechers Brook in a new setting as part of a new 4-acre park and permit east/west crossing of SOM Center Rd. At this location, a small plaza will function at the intersection of east and west side trails and offer a scenic gorge overlook. To the north, opposite the Parkview Pool, another underpass will provide linkage between the recreational facilities on the west and the Metropark’s North Chagrin Reservation to the
east.
 

Focus Area #2: Beta Drive Office/Industrial Area

    The office/industrial area on Beta Drive, containing nearly 1.5 million square feet of industrial/warehouse space, serves as a key source of commercial tax base for the Village. The Beta Drive industrial area contains 67 acres and represents 3 percent of the Village’s total land area. With an estimated vacancy rate of 24 percent, the Village needs a focused strategy for attracting new users and property owners to assure that this economic asset remains productive.

     Buildings in the Beta Drive corridor range in size from 45-195,000 square feet, with typical buildings in the range of 70-100,000 square feet. Recent market rents in the Beta Drive office/industrial area are in the range of $7-10 per square foot. Zoning recommendations for the Beta Drive properties are illustrated in Map 5. Most of the properties situated on Beta Drive are currently zoned “Production-Distribution”, while properties at northwest corner of Beta/Wilson Mills Roads are zoned “Motorist Services.” Property on the eastern edge and northeast corner is currently zoned “Office-Laboratory.”

     The Village is currently considering a proposal to develop a hotel/office/restaurant use on a vacant parcel in the Beta Drive Focus Area--an area currently zoned for production/distribution. Many of the businesses operating at the Beta Drive location are considered office, light industrial or warehouse users. Industrial/office use is the preferred use in this area as it generates higher-paying jobs than retail and service businesses, maximizes property and income tax revenues for the community, and provides modest external impacts in terms of traffic volumes. Yet, the Village may have to relax some of its limitations in this area in order to attract private investment.

     In addition to more aggressively marketing the Beta Drive location to potential businesses, the 2020 Vision Plan recommends that the Village consider reworking zoning code provisions for Beta Drive businesses to permit property redevelopment to standards that would be more competitive in the market place.


     The current building size and layouts of several properties are too small or are not efficient by today’s standards. By adjusting the permitted uses and development standards in the zoning code, companies could be enticed to locate to the Village and redevelop property to suit their needs. Specifically, the Plan suggests amending the zoning regulations as summarized in Table 13.

 

Table 13

Beta Drive Industrial Area

Zoning Changes for Consideration 

Note:  These are suggested standards at this time.  Zoning provisions should reflect current market conditions and should be evaluated at the time that Village leaders consider zoning code changes to assure their relevancy.

Focus Area #3: Village Center

     Expressing concern with the outdated design and inefficient layout of the Village’s downtown, the Vision Committee supports the redesign and development of the Village’s SOM Center/ Wilson Mills intersection area so as to create a “Village Center” reflecting the character of the community and enhancing pedestrian access to shops, government buildings, and restaurants. The Committee acknowledges that redevelopment of the center could take 10-20 years, yet encourages Village leaders to pursue this vision. By working with private property owners, through Village acquisition of strategic parcels, and by developing new Village facilities in the Village center campus, the Village can reconfigure its central area to serve as its commercial and governmental center. In the near term, the Village should work to provide safe pedestrian access to the Village Center area for all of the community’s residential neighborhoods.


     In the near term, there is also strong support for moving ahead to provide for the future needs of municipal government by consolidating operations in the former Methodist Church building or in new facilities on the northwest corner of the Village Center. In addition to the municipal complex for the center, the 2020 Vision Committee identified three key areas of private redevelopment opportunity for the remaining three corners of the SOM Center Rd. and Wilson Mills Rd. intersection.

Opportunity Area #1: NE corner of SOM Center & Wilson Mills Roads (Musca Mall/Yours Truly Plaza)

     Currently occupied by a strip of retailers that includes restaurants, a pharmacy, a bank, and other locally oriented services, this central area of the Village serves as its crossroads where residents run errands and visit with neighbors. The Committee supports the redevelopment of this key Village retail center to accomplish a traditional Village downtown that could even reuse the existing space to provide attached/cluster housing options adjacent to the retail area.

     Specifically, the Plan recommends that the Village work to: 
 »           Bring buildings closer to the street, relocate parking to the rear and sides of the lots, and create a defined street edge with benches/landscaping and increasing visibility/exposure for stores.

    »           Establish a strong corner presence to allow eastbound traffic on Wilson Mills Rd. and northbound traffic on SOM Center Rd. to experience a sense of arrival into the Village Center.

    »           Reduce the dominance of automobiles and create an environment that is conducive to pedestrian/bicycle travel and circulation.

Opportunity Area #2: SE corner of SOM Center & Wilson Mills Roads (Shell Gas, Deacon’s Chrysler Plymouth, Pizazz Pizza area)

     Most of the buildings at this corner are older and are likely to need replacement in the near term. Over the longer term, there is the possibility of the relocation of the Chrysler/Plymouth dealership that could present the Village with a gap in its key retail area and an opportunity to attract new investment that would be built in the “Main Street” style. Working with existing property owners and providing financial incentives is a key strategy for achieving the type and character of retail development desired for the Village Center.
 

     Redevelopment at this corner should incorporate the same standards discussed for the northeast corner: bringing buildings closer to the street; locating parking behind buildings; increasing the bike/pedestrian linkages to the retail area; and creating a high quality design for new buildings at this location. As long as the existing businesses continue to operate at this location, the Village should focus on ways to integrate the uses in this area and to provide landscaping and other visual enhancements to create a more cohesive and attractive look for this quadrant through coordinated development and shared parking arrangements.


Opportunity Area #3: SW corner of SOM Center & Wilson Mills Roads (Methodist Church and Heinen’s area)

     The Heinen’s corner offers a different challenge in terms of the redesign of the existing retail facilities and the integration of the Village-owned church structure. The site of the former Methodist Church is a strategic parcel and the new use of the facility must be carefully integrated to create synergy between adjoining users and to minimize traffic impacts on weekdays. The temporary use of the facility is encouraged based on the need to generate revenues for the Village and to discourage deterioration of the building. After completion of a strategic plan for needed government facilities, the Village should reuse this special building to serve a public use, freeing up space on the northwest corner for other community uses.


     The Heinen’s grocery store has not undergone any significant exterior rehabilitation, beyond maintenance, since it was constructed. Like several Heinen’s around the Cleveland area, the store serves as not only a grocery store, but also an important meeting place for members of the community. Heinen’s should be encouraged to consider expansion of the existing Mayfield Village store to a least add café space similar to that provide at its Rocky River location. This key addition would serve the community’s interest for additional casual restaurant and coffee shop locations and provide more shoppers for Heinen’s overall. Further, the Village should work with Heinen’s to upgrade the site with additional landscaping and pedestrian-oriented amenities as it proceeds with reuse plans for the church facility.

»           Use the existing church structure (or its replacement facility) as the focal point for this quadrant.

»           Work with Heinen’s to enhance its landscaping and design and to consider opportunities for expanding the size of the market, bringing a portion up to the street, providing a café, flower market or other service that would complement the existing Village center retail offerings.

»        Consider shared parking and vehicular circulation opportunities to improve ingress/egress for individual businesses at this location.

»           Determine appropriate land use for deep residential parcels along Wilson Mills Road directly adjacent to the church property that would complement reuse of the church parcel and additional investment at adjacent sites.

 

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Index

Summary

Chapter1

Chapter 2

Chapter3

Chapter 4

Chapter5

Appendices

Mayfield Village
6621 Wilson Mills Road
Mayfield Village, OH 44143-3499
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