A resident speaks out against a proposal to block off a portion of West 215th Street during a meeting of the Fairview Park Planning and Design Commission. (West Life photo by Kevin Kelley)

Action on West 215th delayed
By Kevin Kelley
Fairview Park
Published Sept. 26, 2007

City approval of Messiah Lutheran Church’s plan to block off about 150 feet of West 215th Street near Lorain Road has been delayed for at least a month.

The city’s apparent failure to notify residents who would be affected by the proposed vacating of a section of West 215th Street was the cause for the delay.

At a Sept. 19 meeting of the city’s Planning and Design Commission, several residents spoke out against the plan, saying it would heavily inconvenience them.

In December, Messiah Lutheran purchased a two-story medical building located at 4402 West 215th Street, just west of the church campus, for $775,000. The building is now being renovated to house Messiah School’s sixth, seventh and eighth grade classrooms as well as art and science labs.

A drawing shows West 215th Street vacated with Messiah Lutheran’s campus extended to its newly purchased building. (Drawings courtesy of Messiah Lutheran Church)

The school wants to block off about 150 feet of West 215th Street so children can travel back and forth between the renovated building and the main campus without having to cross traffic. The church wants to build a small park-like area between the main campus and its recently purchased building.

Messiah Lutheran officials said they had discussed their proposal earlier in the year with neighbors and modified it to mollify their concerns.

“The neighbors recapture the residential nature of their part of the street, and the commercial activity is kept to the part by Lorain Road,” said Martin Uhle, co-chair of the church’s building committee.

But some neighbors objected to the plan, saying they weren’t notified of the public meeting. They also objected to their access to Lorain Road being blocked.

Don Zabin, owner of an apartment building just south of the building the church purchased and is renovating, said the plan will isolate his property.

“I don’t care to live on a dead-end street or have tenants on a dead-end street,” Zabin told the commission. He also expressed concern about whether garbage trucks and snowplows would be able to service his building, where northbound traffic will meet a cul-de-sac under the church’s plan.

Ward 1 Councilman James Robatin, who attended the meeting, responded by saying that the closure would not affect any city services.

Betsy Kim, who operates a martial arts school at the corner of Lorain and West 215th Street, objected to the inconvenience that the blockage would have on her customers.

“I’m concerned, too, about the value of our business going down, and who’s going to compensate us for that,” she told the commission.

If the street is vacated, by law the area vacated becomes property of the church. Kim argued that this was a violation of the separation of church and state.

“To ask the city to give them additional land at no cost is highly illegal and could make one great lawsuit, which would cost the city of Fairview even more money to try and defend it,” she said. “That property belongs to Fairview Park, and if you give it to the church you’re in for a lawsuit.”

Other residents said that blocking off West 215th Street from Lorain Road would require ambulances and fire trucks responding to the neighborhood to lose valuable time circumnavigating the closure.

Some residents asked why crossing guards would not be adequate enough to ensure the students’ safety.

Kyle Chuhran, principal of Messiah School, said that was not a satisfactory solution because students of all ages would be crossing West 215th throughout the day to use the building’s art and science labs.

The Rev. Jerome Burst, pastor of Messiah Lutheran, acknowledged that the plan might inconvenience residents.

“There is, without doubt, going to be an impact on the convenience of the people who live on the streets,” Burst said. “There’s no doubt about that at all.

“But I also know that by the time we’re done, the benefits to our neighbors are going to be great and obvious.”

Neighbors will be welcomed to use the park-like area and playground the church plans to build on the vacated street, Burst said.

“It is going to be a place put together at our expense that will be available to the public of Fairview Park,” he said.

Burst said his church is committed to being as good a neighbor as it can. Emergency vehicles would always be allowed to cut through the church’s driveway to service the neighborhood south of Lorain Road, he added.

About an hour into discussion of the West 215th Street plan, Mayor Eileen Patton, who sits on the Planning and Design Commission, announced that the body was deferring any action on the street vacation proposal.

The mayor, who expressed support for the church’s project, asked residents to view it as a redevelopment project along the lines of the construction of the new Gilles-Sweet Elementary School.

“Messiah Lutheran is going to create a learning destination point that will encourage young families to continue to move here and be education in the city of Fairview Park....There’s a whole other aspect to this than inconvenience,” the mayor said.

Patton said she would personally see that all the residents on West 215th are notified of the next meeting of the Planning and Design Commission, scheduled for Oct. 17 at 7 p.m..

While the City Charter requires the commission to submit a recommendation on the plan, the final decision on whether West 215th is closed off rests with City Council.

Previous West Life article:

• School expansion proposal draws opponents (Sept. 12, 2007)