New Strongsville Homes Should Be on Bigger Lots, Councilman Says

Ward 3 Councilman Jim Carbone wants Strongsville to rezone its remaining undeveloped residential land to require developers to build homes on larger lots.

"Do we want to put house on top of house?" Carbone asked. "Or do we want larger lots so when it rains, there's somewhere for the water to go, so we're adding less traffic, and so we're increasing our home values?"

He wants Strongsville to do away with 75- and 85-foot-wide lots and change its residential zoning district to require single-family homes to be built on 100- to 125-foot lots.

"There's still enough (undeveloped) land left to make a definite impact," he said.

The new zoning would apply only to vacant land where plans have not been submitted — excluding projects like the final phase of Waterford Crossing, which council approved Monday night, and the new Fieldstone Preserve on Pearl Road.

Carbone said he has heard complaints from residents for years about Strongsville's rampant growth and traffic woes. 

"People are tapped out with new homes," he said. "You can't stop development, but what we can do is control it."

Would developers be happy about the larger lots? Not likely — they would be able to build far fewer homes on their property. 

But Carbone said other communities, including North Royalton and Broadview Heights, have revised their zoning laws in recent years to increase residential lot sizes.

Bigger lots would allow new developments to better maintain the natural landscape and would fill a need in Strongsville, he said.

"It would be nice t be able to have more estate lots," he said. "I think there's a demand in Strongsville for it. When you have a 100-foot wide lot, you have a different product as a home."

Ward 2 Councilman Matt Schonhut said he supports Carbone's idea. Other council members will have their say, Carbone said, at a special meeting he hopes to call in August, in which he will lay out a map of the remaining undeveloped land in Strongsville and ask his colleagues to discuss which should be rezoned for larger lots.

"Even though we don't have a lot of undeveloped land left here, let's go out with a bang," he said. "Let's do it right."