Carter Lumber Granted Zoning Variances to Improve Its Property

The Kent Board of Zoning Appeals approved variances this week that will allow on West Main Street and on Cherry Street to improve their businesses.

Carter Lumber

The board approved three setback variances that will allow the Carter-Jones Lumber Co. to construct a new 11,830-square-foot pole building on a recently purchased .686-acre sliver of land that runs parallel to the Wheeling & Lake Erie railroad tracks.

Chuck Price, vice president of construction/development for Carter Lumber, said the new parcel is adjacent to the 1.57-acre plot the company has been conducting business from since 1962.

The new parcel houses , which will remain in business there in its former railroad station building.

Price said Carter Lumber will be razing an existing lumber storage building measuring 9,154 square feet and replacing it with a new 11,830-square-foot structure measuring 35 by 338 feet.

“The new property is so narrow and long that this new building will barely fit on there while keeping another business (Kent Feed & Supply) alive,” Price explained.

The zoning appeals board approved setback variances that will allow the new, three-sided lumber shed to be constructed 10.1 feet from the new parcel’s west property line, 10.25 feet from its rear property line and 9.47 feet from the east property line.

Both of Carter’s parcels are zoned industrial, where setback requirements are typically 25 feet.

One advantage of razing the existing storage building – which Carter Lumber inherited when it bought its property from another lumber company in 1962 – is that it was erected over city-owned sanitary and sewer lines.

Removing the old building will allow the city to obtain proper easements for the utilities and to easily make repairs to the utility lines, when necessary.

Another advantage of “relocating” the lumber shed is that it will allow Carter to operate more efficiently by opening up the area and making it easier for vehicular traffic to flow into and out of the property.

Price said soil testing was being done on the new parcel Thursday, and that the company hopes to start construction in 30 to 40 days and complete the project in three to four months.

Carter-Jones Lumber Co., founded in Akron in 1932, now has about 200 locations in 10 states. The company employs more than 3,000 people, including about 10 at its West Main Street location. The company’s corporate office is located in Kent at 601 Tallmadge Road.

Extra Space Storage

The zoning appeals board granted the 950 Cherry St. storage facility a variance to allow for the creation of a 1,670-square-foot apartment to be used as a residence for an on-site manager.

City code only allows for a one-bedroom or efficiency apartment no larger than 800 square feet in an industrial zoning district.

Empty offices at the business will be converted into a one-bedroom apartment that cannot be rented out to anyone other than those related to the business.

Building permits will be required for the interior alterations needed to convert the space into living quarters, including new plumbing, electric and the removal of some walls.