Commission approves buffer reduction at 8666 Mentor Avenue after agreement to relocate dumpster and update landscaping

The Mentor Planning Commission unanimously approved a conditional-use permit to reduce a landscape buffer at 8666 Mentor Avenue after commissioners negotiated a revised dumpster location, additional parking and updated landscaping requirements.

Applicant Jeff Rosenthal, the tenant at 8666 Mentor Avenue, told the commission his office has grown since moving in three weeks ago and that he needs more parking. "Simply put, we need more parking," Rosenthal said, adding the applicant hopes to add about six spaces.

Neighbor Randy Nichols opposed the proposal, saying the plan would put a dumpster "within 10 yards of my bedroom window." Nichols urged the commission to keep the originally recommended design and to add a separating fence between properties.

Staff and the applicant described two versions of the site plan; staff said the engineer had updated the plans but the landscape architect had not yet reviewed that update and that the discrepancy would be reconciled during permitting. Engineer Rich Cantanzbury explained the updated plan symbology and confirmed the applicant planned to move the dumpster to a new pad. Cantanzbury said the blank square on the exhibit denoted existing dumpster pad and that pavement changes around it were intended to show new versus existing surface.

Commissioners and the applicant discussed service access, dumpster size and maneuverability. Rosenthal said the dumpster provider’s schedule and routing have limited options but that the dumpster is on wheels and could be managed; he also said the business is a health-care facility, not a restaurant, and that they would maintain the enclosure and greenery to screen the dumpster. "It's on wheels, and it goes from cement to asphalt. Easy to move," Rosenthal said.

To address neighbor concerns, commissioners directed that the dumpster be located adjacent to two new parking spaces on the east side of the lot, surrounded by a six-foot vinyl fence and buffered with landscaping as shown on a revised plan. The commission also required the applicant to update the landscape plan to show the dumpster’s new location as part of the approval. A motion to approve the buffer-reduction request with four staff conditions, with the first and third conditions amended to reflect the new dumpster location and revised landscape plan, passed on a unanimous roll-call vote.

Staff said the plan discrepancy would be clarified for the building-permit process and that administration prefers cross-access agreements between commercial lots where practical. The commission closed the public hearing and approved the application with the amended conditions.