The IVEX Paper Mill
Upon taking office, Mayor Brick announce that one of his primary goals was to encourage the productive use of various underutilized property in the Village of Chagrin Falls. The IVEX paper mill, closed in 2004, was among these properties. The Mayor commissioned land planners, Cawrse and Associates of South Russell, to develop a vision plan. A series of meetings were held to gather public input and opinion and in March of 2007 the Vision plan was presented to the Village. One of the preferred scenarios called for the adaptive reuse of the old mill as a mixed use development including a conference center, inn, offices, restaurant, spa, condominiums and art gallery.
The Mayor followed the Vision Plan with the formation of an ad hoc Paper Mill Vision Committee. Its charge was to investigate and make recommendations on the best use of the IVEX mill site. The committee held many meetings and called upon a number of experts and sought the advice of the Trust for Public Lands. Ultimately the committee strongly recommended saving the old buildings and reusing them. Several developers took an interest but after some initial investigation each concluded that saving the buildings was cost prohibitive.
Just when the Paper Mill Committee had lost nearly all hope that the buildings could be saved, a group of local residents headed up by Darren Wyville came forward with a plan to fulfill the goals of the Vision Plan and Paper Mill Committee. Mr. Wyville and his partners, Robert Darden and William Phillips became the Spillway Partners and purchased the vacant IVEX paper mill and surrounding lands.
The Village Planning Commission culminated a series of meetings on October 20th with a recommendation to amend the Limited Industrial zoning district to allow the uses proposed by the Spillway project. The Planning Commission heard many concerns from the surrounding neighbors. The concerns included, traffic safety, parking, odor control and noise. The Commission asked the Law Director to rewrite the noise ordinance and required the developer to do a traffic engineering study.
The details of other controls will be up to Council in the form of a Development Agreement. The Planning Commission also agreed with the developer that the zoning amendment should be put to the voters of the Village. Council will hold a public hearing on November 10, 2008 to take public input and vote on the ordinance that will put the zoning question to the voters.
The traffic study and other public records related to this project are available for download from this page.
Download the Spillway Ordinance
Download the Traffic Study
Download Structural Engineer Letter
Download Proposed Site Map
