Fairlawn Will Gate Neighborhood Against Traffic From Proposed Walmart Move

Fairlawn Planning Commission members voted unanimously last night to install electronic gates that would close Rothrock Road west of Sawgrass Drive to through traffic from a proposed Superstore.

Mayor William Roth submitted a site plan for the gates. He said traffic generated by the Walmart will destroy the residential character of the neighborhood.

"We really have no other choice," Roth said. "If nothing happens (to regulate the commercial traffic) and this development goes in -- or any big box -- imagine the trouble you'll have on a two-lane road. It's unworkable."

The gates will cost about $335,000 and will be installed after council approves bids, sometime before the end of summer. Roth said road improvements to handle the increased traffic would cost between $6 and $7 million. "Walmart is pledging $1.2 million for infrastructure improvements," Roth said. "That doesn't come close, so it would eventually be paid by raising taxes."

Roth showed a video of what the gates would look like. Residents would have a key card for each vehicle owned that would operate the gates. He said the city has the right to install the gates because the part of the road where they would be located is within the city limits.

Not everyone agreed with the mayor's assessment.  Copley Township Trustee Helen Humphrys said she believes that the county has jurisdiction over the road because it intersects with a county road.

"We have always been with Fairlawn on road repair," Humphys said. "We even put in $50,000 to have Rothrock Road improved. We will file an injunction if he does this. It's just not right."

Throughout a more than hour-long public question-and-answer session residents spoke for and against the gates. Many directed their remarks to Humphrys, whose board of Trustees is considering approval of Walmart's move from Fairlawn to Copley Township. One woman told her "We residents are David against Goliath, and Goliath is Corporate America."

Humphrys said the township has no choice but to approve the development because it falls within the township's commercial zoning regulations.

"You're sitting in the heart of retail," Humphys told the Rothrock neighbors. 

A lawyer for LRC Copley Investors LLC also said the developers will sue to stop the road closing.

Jason Segedy, director of the Akron Area Metropolitan Traffic Study said the proposed Walmart would generate an estimated "14,000 trips a Saturday they would have to go somewhere." Segedy said a study that considers the traffic effect of the Rothrock Road closing and the gates will be available on the AMATS site Monday.