Council to Consider Proposed Business Projects

Three companies are expanding in Stow if City Council gives the projects the OK.

Jaco Environmental, a national recycler of refrigerators and freezers that uses part of a facility located at 1540-1550 Commerce Dr., will seek council approval to add four pieces of equipment behind the south side of the building.

According to a company representative, adding the outdoor equipment will allow insulation to be reused and waste materials captured in a process currently used nowhere else in the U.S. The closest unit using the process is located in Montreal and a study on the practice was conducted in Germany.

“I see this as becoming revolutionary,” Goran Cvetkovic, Jaco Environmental operational field manager, told the planning commission April 11.

Expanding on its current recycling process of removing refrigerants, oils and compressors, Jaco Environmental proposed a second stage of shredding the remaining panels, then separating it to recycle.

Cvetkovic said this would also result in the addition of at least 20 employees at the existing facility in Stow.

Several councilmembers expressed concern as to whether placing such equipment outdoors would create unwanted noise, odor or increased traffic. Cvetkovic said the decibel level in the German study indicated sounds would not extend beyond the industry property line and that the process itself is contained within a sealed, closed system that would prevent any odors or chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) from being emitted into the air.

He said traffic from the additional recycling process would be limited to two trucks each day.

In another project, Dr. Geoffrey Besso of Hudson will seek approval for a medical-office development on a 2.2-acre site at the southeast corner of the intersection of Darrow Road and Bryn Mawr.

Dr.Besso was granted three variances recently in the conditional zoning certificate that permit: building coverage 1.3 percent greater than the allowed maximum of 15 percent; a setback from Darrow Road that is 5 feet less than the minimum requirement of 45 feet; and, a 1.5 percent decrease in landscaping of the interior of the parking lot, where the minimum requirement is 5 percent.

“Overall, we’re exceeding the [required] green space, even though we have 3.5 percent elsewhere,” Besso told the planning commission during the April 11 meeting.

Resident Karen McCrady, who lives near the site of the proposed medical offices, expressed concern as to the aesthetic impact of the project on the neighborhood as well as the potential for water run-off to affect nearby residential and business properties.

Rob Kurtz, assistant planning director, said the drainage of water will be redirected to run off toward Darrow Road rather than toward properties to the southeast corner of the site.

Also proposed is an approximately 690-square-foot addition to The Briarwood, a health care facility at 3700 Englewood Dr. The expansion would include its dining room, an office and the addition of a patio near the dining room. The brick exterior would match the existing building.

The next council meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on April 14 at , 3760 Darrow Rd.