College appeals parking decision

Oberlin College has appealed the decision of planning commission requiring the college to build angled parking spaces in the curb lawn of Tappan Square, but officials are hopeful a settlement can be reached before it gets to court.

Law director Eric Severs said the college filed a notice of appeal with planning director Gary Boyle on Wednesday, Feb. 24. He said the planning commission has 40 days from the date the notice was received to prepare a transcript of all proceedings leading up to the Jan. 28 decision and conclusion of facts.

"It's an administrative appeal, so they file the praecipe for transcript with the commission that made the appealable decision," Severs said. "After that's prepared, the college will file it in common pleas court, where it will be assigned a case number and a judge. Sometimes when people file these things, they file it in common pleas court at the same time, but the college didn't do that."

Boyle and administrative coordinator Wendie Fleming have until April 5 to prepare those documents. In the meantime, city and college officials have begun talks to resolve the issue outside of court.

City manager Eric Norenberg, speaking at the March 1 city council meeting, said he has begun working to broker a compromise.

"We've had some initial conversations between myself and other city staff with the planning commission, and with representatives of the college separately," Norenberg said. "We're hoping to find some form of what I like to call common ground and compromise. Hopefully this can be revisited by the planning commission in the next couple of weeks, and secure a solution satisfactory to the planning commission in terms of addressing the needs for parking, the businesses in the downtown area, as well as the parking requirements for the jazz facility, and an alternative to the angled parking spaces."

The college is required to build 41 angled parking spaces along the north side of West College Street, "or a suitable alternative," according to conditions for site plan approval for the Phyllis Litoff Jazz Studies Center currently under construction. According to those conditions, the spaces must be constructed prior to the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the building, scheduled to be dedicated during the weekend of April 30 to May 1.

Because the north side of West College Street currently has 23 parallel parking spaces, the 41 angled spaces would result in a net gain of 18 spaces. The college had proposed a lease for 26 spaces in the Verizon parking lot, but the commission rejected that plan, saying the lease terms were too loose to satisfy the commission's concerns.