COPLEY TWP.: Copley Township is experiencing a building boom. Last year, building permits were issued for residential and commercial projects totaling $25.4 million — a spike from $2.6 million in 2014.
The figure contained in the Copley Zoning Department December & Year End Report for 2015 represents a 1,000 percent increase over 2014, when the value of residential and commercial building permits totaled only $2.6 million. Four new single-family home permits were issued in 2014 compared to 48 last year.
The new construction includes $10 million for Greenfield Estates, a single-story ranch-style 32,856 square-foot, 24-hour special Alzheimer’s care facility designed to house 66 patients. It’s tentatively scheduled to open this spring.
The plan for the facility at 3522 Commercial Drive was approved in 2014 by the township Architectural Review Board. It includes putting $150,000 to $175,000 into landscaping for trees, shrubs and flowers “to create a homelike atmosphere” for residents.
The new facility is still under construction about three-tenths of a mile south of the busy Montrose shopping district intersection of West Market Street and South Cleveland Massillon Road.
New residential construction includes homes at the Preserve at Miller Farm at state Route 18 and Medina Line Road.
The bustling new construction is raising a question of whether the township is approaching maximum development. Planning Director Matt Springer says the answer is yes and no, explaining that most of the prime areas with readily available water and sewer have been developed.
However, he said south of Copley Road could be a prime spot for future residential development. In contrast to the bustling West Market Street shopping corridor, the area still reflects the look of a time when rural farms dominated and where most houses sit on large lots.
Springer said the area offers possibilities for residential development but in the near term could be limited by not having easy access to sewer lines. The township requires at least one and a half acres for a septic system.
The area could have been changed substantially by plans in 2012 to move Walmart and Sam’s Club from their Fairlawn location to a site off nearby Rothrock Road in Copley. The proposal has been the subject of court actions, opposed by residents across the street from the proposed site and a cause of friction between township and neighboring Fairlawn officials.
Springer says he has seen no movement on the matter.