By Joshua Benton
Blade Staff Writer
Page 19
Toledo’s plan commission will consider two of the city’s contentious construction debates today: a proposed Home Depot on Secor Road and an eight-foot-high fence the Toledo Zoo wants to build near Amherst Drive.
Developers submitted preliminary site drawings for the Home Depot store for commissioners to consider.
Those plans must be approved for a zoning change the commission approved Nov. 6 to happen.
The proposed store, in the Westgate Shopping Center area near Central Avenue, would cover 130,000 square feet on a 15-acre site. It includes the former Best Products, Inc., store and would require that eight apartment buildings be torn down.
Home Depot must get permission from city council before starting construction. Council’s planning committee voted to approve the zoning change Nov. 26, and the full body will consider the matter at its Dec. 9 meeting.
Home Depot, Inc., an Atlanta-based retailer, already has a store on Airport Highway.
The commission will consider a proposal to amend the Toledo Zoo’s special-use permit to allow construction of a barbed-wire fence on zoo-owned property off Amherst.
Zoo officials maintain that the fence is necessary to meet federal security requirements. But neighborhood residents claim the fence would destroy a grassy space used as a buffer between the zoo and local homes. It serves as a park for some neighborhood children.
The plan commission meets at 1 p.m. at One Government Center.