Proposed Social Security building gets negative reviews
Food for thought
- It seems like in the rush to keep the Social Security office in Lakewood, the city is getting stuck with a building whose aesthetics don’t blend very well with the existing neighborhood.
- It’s unfortunate the city didn’t go the extra mile and keep the residents of Spring Garden and Roycroft in the loop about details of the building’s design. At one point during the meeting, residents were crowded around a drawing of the project. It was clear they hadn’t seen it beforehand. At minimum, the Ward 1 councilperson should have requested a copy of the drawings and shared them with his constituents earlier. It’s never good to see angry residents at a meeting like this.
-The city needs to put all of its Architectural Board of Review documents online. I’m sure if the material was more readily available, there would be much greater scrutiny of the design plans and a happier outcome for the neighborhood.
Quick notes from the 7/9 Board of Building Standards/Architectural Board of Review/Sign Review Board meeting
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INA Building/Bailey Building (14701 Detroit Ave.)
- Panera Bread hopes to open in the INA Building around October.
- An agreement for an unnamed tenant to move into the Bailey building fell through. As a result, funding to remove the ugly pre-cast concrete from the brick exterior of the building is not available. The city is very unhappy about the situation because it was told the pre-cast was definitely coming down.
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Proposed Social Security Building (17513 Detroit Ave.)
- This project is tricky because the federal government has a strict floor plan and building template that doesn’t allow for much divergence. Even though the original building and landscape design has been modified somewhat so that it better blends in with its surroundings, there remain several unhappy nearby neighbors and critics.
- Lakewood Christian Church, which is currently on the site, will be demolished because it could not be retrofitted to meet the federal government’s building standards, which includes a deeper setback from the street for security reasons. Three nearby houses will also be razed. Demolition will begin in 90 days.
- The new one story building, which will be leased to the government, will span the entire length of Detroit Rd. (176 feet) between Roycroft and Spring Garden.
- The building’s biggest flaws are that it will be built with its back to Detroit Ave and have only one entrance. Imagine if the Detroit Rd. Lakewood Library was flipped around so that the columned front entrance was in the rear parking lot and there was no entrance on Detroit.
- The one and only entrance will be on the south side of the building, in front of the 63 spot parking lot. The rear of the building (the part facing Detroit) will have a door, but it will be an exit only. There is an effort underway to improve the appearance of the rear door so that it has the aesthetics of a front door.
- One member of the Lakewood Heritage Advisory Board (LHAB), who was at the meeting for another issue, called the proposed metal rear door “an abomination” and “an insult.” Another LHAB member disagreed with the position of the building and said, “I think it’s the wrong way to go.”
Richard Sicha, West Clifton resident and LHAB member, was very displeased with the situation. “This looks like a bad joke,” he said. He called it “the most unfriendly pedestrian building in Lakewood.” He wondered if anyone had conducted a foot traffic study or taken into consideration the distance of nearby RTA bus stops. Sicha noted that many elderly and physically disabled people will be walking to the building and the lack of benches and protective coverings could be an impediment. “There has to be more work done,” he said.
- Lakewood resident Bob Clark, who owns a four unit building on Spring Garden, was concerned the parking lot’s night time lights would disturb his tenants. Project architect, John C. Waddell (who recused himself from the board responsible for judging the building’s design), said there would only be two light poles in the center of the parking lot. A board member asked that photometic measures be taken to determine if there will be a lighting problem.
- John Graham of 1434 Roycroft was seriously perturbed about the proposed close proximity between the building’s fence and his driveway. “I thoroughly object to that,” he said. “I find it totally unacceptable.” The board agreed his concern was legitimate. Graham was also worried about the inevitable increase in traffic on his street since it runs through to Madison Ave. A city representative said a sign would be posted in the parking lot discouraging traffic from traveling down side streets. Graham also noted that there is a terrible drainage situation in the street during heavy rainfall and worried this construction would only make it worse. The project developer said the problem would actually be remedied through construction.
Graham’s wife, Linda, was unhappy that the building’s dumpster was scheduled to be placed directly next to their house. “There’s no concern for us,” she said. The project developer said the dumpster could not be repositioned because it would come at the expense of a parking spot.
- Nearby resident Gretchen Hurley was concerned the parking lot would attract skateboarders, late night traffic and overflow parking from area bars. Hurley’s family owns one of the homes on Roycroft scheduled to be demolished. The project developer said the Social Security office closes at 4:30 p.m. or 5:00 p.m. at the latest, so there wouldn’t be any late night traffic to the building.
The Architectural Board of Review approved the building proposal with the stipulation that the project developer provide more details about photometrics, the design of the south side residential buffer and possible bench construction. The board also wanted to see some kind of landscaping concealment around a proposed super-sized AT&T lightspeed box scheduled to replace smaller existing boxes.
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