First Interstate, Citizens for Oakwood Respond to Ohio Supreme Court Ruling

The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled 6-1 in favor of a group trying to stop developers from building on the former Oakwood Country Club land in South Euclid.

The court that it agreed with , which is made up of residents from South Euclid and Cleveland Heights, that South Euclid voters should decide whether the land is rezoned. The court has directed South Euclid to put the issue on the November ballot or repeal the decision to rezone the property.

First Interstate Properties, the developer behind Legacy Village, Steelyard Commons and other developments in the area, plans to build a mix of retail, residential units and parkland on the property, and responded to the decision.

“We are surprised and disappointed by this ruling because we had a strong case before the court. We will now take our case to the voters,” said Mitchell Schneider, president of First Interstate, in a press release.

South Euclid City Council unanimously on June 27 so that First Interstate, which bought 62 acres of the Oakwood land that falls within South Euclid in December, could build there.

The other approximately 90 acres is in Cleveland Heights, and First Interstate to purchase that land in March.

Despite the court ruling, Schneider is confident that the people will vote to rezone the land.

“We feel very good about our chances of winning this referendum,” Schneider said.  “We conducted a survey in the spring and found that most residents of South Euclid want a mix of public green space and new retail options in their community. An overwhelming majority also think the new jobs and tax revenue are very important to the community. Despite the ruling, we will proceed with our planning process. We are in the process of having the Planning Commission review our site improvement drawings."

Citizens for Oakwood, which wants the land turned into a park, also sent a press release Thursday reacting to the court's ruling.

“Citizens for Oakwood is deeply grateful to the Ohio Supreme Court for deciding, as the Court states in the Slip Opinion, ‘in favor of the power reserved to the people to permit rather than to preclude the exercise of power,’” the group wrote.

Though the group hopes that Oakwood is not rezoned, it is happy that the court put the decision in the hands of South Euclid residents.

"Now that the Ohio Supreme Court has removed the developer’s artificial impediment to the democratic process, South Euclid voters will be able to decide for themselves: should the Oakwood property be rezoned to permit yet another Big Box 'value oriented' retail development? Or does the community have easy access to enough of those?"

Schneider said in the press release that he will continue to work with the city of South Euclid and finalize plans for the Cleveland Heights land.

"We continue to actively look at a wide variety of non-retail options for 75 acres in Cleveland Heights, so we haven’t submitted any plans yet to the city,” Schneider said. “Our plan is to come up with a realistic, economically feasible plan bringing a mix of housing, senior care facilities and high-paying jobs to this parcel of land, while still preserving a green, campus-like environment that can be enjoyed by the entire community.”

Citizens for Oakwood will continue its to rezone the land, said Fran Mentch, founder of the group.

"We took 10 minutes to celebrate, but now we're full steam ahead," Mentch said.

Spokesman for the city of South Euclid, Keith Benjamin, did not comment before publication. Cleveland Heights Patch will continue to update this story.

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