Lot Size Charter Amendment May Go on November Ballot

Calling cluster housing a "terrible experiment" in Avon, spoke out at Monday's work session in favor of a charter amendment that would increase the minimum size of a single-family residential lot by about 17 percent.

If council approves the proposed amendment at next Monday's regular meeting, it would be submitted to the Lorain County Board of Elections for the November ballot. Council returned to work Monday night after a two-week summer break.

The proposed charter amendment would increase the minimum size of a subdivided lot from 15,000 square feet to 17,600 square feet. The minimum width and frontage of a lot would be 110 feet. The exception would be cul-de-sac (which are pie-shaped) and flag lots (which are deep but narrow), where the square footage remain unchanged but the frontage minimum would be 60 feet. Corner lots get their own regulation.

Lots that are already on existing streets could apply for a variance from the .

Planning director Jim Piazza said about 3,100 of the approximately 5,800 single-family homes built in Avon since the early 1990s have been cluster homes, where lots are smaller.

The problem is, Smith said, houses got bigger on those smaller lots. Between bigger homes and wider driveways to accomodate larger garages or garages built along the side of the home, there is less grass to absorb rainfall.

"You could mow the lawn on some of these lots with a pair of scissors," Smith quipped.

That runoff is putting a strain on the city's sewer system, he said, and flooding is becoming a problem.

"This isn't the solution," Smith said. "There are a lot of factors. But this is one part of a solution."