10-22-02: Wal-Mart

10-22-02: Wal-Mart
Celina board OKs variances for new store

By SEAN RICE
The Daily Standard

    The odds of a Wal-Mart Supercenter sprouting up in Celina got better
Monday night, as the Celina Board of Zoning Appeals approved variance
requests from a Dayton development company.
    Bo Gunlock of RG Properties unveiled the development plans before the board, confirming Wal-Mart's plan to relocate across the street from the current store on Havemann Road.
    Gunlock came with a site plan presentation and requests for variances to side yard setback rules, lot frontage requirements and sign regulations.
    On the 37-acre site, RG will construct a 184,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter, two adjacent buildings and a Wal-Mart gas station. The site plan showed room for future development on four undeveloped out-lots
    The site is laid out so the parking lot entrance to the future shopping center will be directly across from Irmscher Boulevard. Lots for future development and the Wal-Mart gas station will be on the Havemann Road frontage, with another exit to Havemann Road further west. Further back on the property will be the supercenter and two adjacent buildings, with more than 1,000 parking spaces.
    Gunlock said the Wal-Mart will be a "combination" store with a full line of groceries, auto zone, one hour photo and eyeglass center.
    RG Properties has a long history of building for Wal-Mart, Gunlock said, and the current deal with Wal-Mart represents "the kind of projects we've completed in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky."
    Gunlock said studies have been completed, and the future intersection at Irmscher Boulevard will warrant a traffic signal, which will be completed as part of the project.
    Gunlock said the shopping center will be unique because Wal-Mart insists on owning the building and property where the store will be housed. RG will own the remainder of the center and rent out lots, or possibly sell them.
    "In the future there could be as many as eight lot owners out there," Gunlock told the board.
    Wal-Mart leases its current store from Lakewood Village Inc., which owns that shopping center.
    Gunlock said RG has a covenants document that states the new Wal-Mart and neighboring stores have equal rights to use the adjoining parking lot.
    The board granted a request to allow approximately 500-square-feet of additional sign space to allow each store to have signs on the road frontage and at the front of the building.
    Gunlock also said the current city requirements for signs are not adequate for the Wal-Mart because the proposed building is much bigger than the rules deal with and the signs would be dwarfed by the big building. Board secretary Karen Seibert agreed with Gunlock.
    The other variance was needed to allow the "mini-anchor" store to be built, as Gunlock called it. It would sit to the immediate east of Wal-Mart.
    Because that store would share a wall with Wal-Mart and another wall
with a proposed store to the east, a zero side yard setback was needed. Another variance was needed because the stores to the east of the proposed Wal-Mart would have no street frontage.
    The board approved each request and Seibert said a parking issue variance request would be addressed at the next city planning commission meeting.
    After the meeting, Mayor Paul Arnold said the construction should coincide with the city's widening of Havemann Road next summer.

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