ASHLAND — The Burger King on Claremont had a whopper of a letdown at Ashland City Council Tuesday night as the entity voted to vacate Jefferson Street, handing it over to Ashland University.
The vote was unanimous, and came after nearly an hour of public comment on the matter.
Mike Hooper, a lawyer representing Carrols LLC and the Burger King, characterized AU’s proposal to vacate the street as a “vanity project.” Ashland University officials made the case that vacating the street would add value to the property as they worked to beautify the area.
Years in the making
The school’s proposal originated more than two years ago. At that point, the Board of Revisions and Assessments remanded it back to AU, Burger King and an impacted resident to resolve.
Ashland University’s vice president of operations and planning, Rick Ewing, told city council last month they’d spoken with the resident and worked out an agreement. He shared that the school hoped to pave a gravel parking lot on Jefferson Street, which is why the issue came up again.
He also said vacating the street served as a matter of safety for AU students.
“It’s disturbing,” said Mindy Sheriff, the longtime manager of the Burger King.
Burger King’s concerns with the street vacation stemmed from shutting off the cut-through between Broad Street and the business.
With AU’s proposal, part of Jefferson Street will be closed off to thru-traffic as it repaves and expands a parking lot on Jefferson Street.
Sheriff said she estimates around 20% of Burger King’s customers come off of Broad Street, using Jefferson Street as a cut-through to access the establishment.
Hooper said 67% of Burger King’s business is conducted through the drive-thru.
Two sides, one coin
Sheriff, Hooper, Ashland city council Ward 4 candidate Zachery Casler and lawyer Joseph Kearns spoke against the proposal.
AU president Jon Parrish Peede and Rob Ward, a citizen and AU trustee, spoke in favor.
“This is a taking with no public purpose, but rather only a private benefit,” Hooper said.
Hooper and Kearns, the lawyer representing the property owner, both pointed out that the school could undertake other options aside from closing the street if safety of pedestrians was a concern.
They also protested the notion that Burger King should have to conduct a traffic study in the area. That suggestion previously came up at council. Kearns said the business looked into it, but it came with a $10,000 cost.
They also said the vacation of the street would come with a potential loss of profit and devaluation of the property.
“From our perspective, we would consider it a wrongful taking,” Hooper said. “We certainly would seek appropriate damages, potentially injunctive relief if need be.”
Both urged council to vote against the matter or to table it.
Peede, AU’s president, disagreed with Hooper’s critique. The university’s convocation center is one of the city’s only places to convene for large gatherings, he said.
“Five hundred and seventy-nine non-AU organizations rented in … our space,” Peede said. “We have head counts given to us for events, catering charges against that.
“We estimate, or I have a precise number of 67,849 people. That doesn’t include a single athletic event.”
Including athletics, Peede told council the university brings tens of thousands of visitors to the community, several of whom visit Burger King.
But his greater message was clear: AU’s position in the community makes Ashland better.
Ward spelled out the same idea, highlighting AU’s role in attracting students and visitors to the community.
“I’ve often said to my wife, ‘What would Ashland be if we didn’t have Ashland University?'” Ward said.
Casler, who is running to represent Ward 4, told council he’d spoken to several members of the public who opposed vacating the street, but worried AU would get its way regardless.
Sheriff felt that way, too. She said she left February’s meeting about the issue feeling like she knew how council would vote, but wanted to try.
That notion is one that city council president Steve Workman protested.
“AU doesn’t just get what they want,” he said. “The proposal has to make sense.”
Council weighs in
Council voted 5-0 to vacate the street following the public hearing.
Workman and several other council members said their decision was considered carefully. Dan Lawson, a city councilor at-large, said the decision wasn’t made lightly.
Jason Chio, Ward 2’s city councilman, said most of the university sits in his ward. He reached out to several constituents, and received calls and emails from others. Chio claimed all but one supported the street’s closure.
“We’re elected to these positions to legislate the city’s business on behalf of the people who live in our wards,” Chio said. “I will go to bed tonight knowing that I did exactly that.”
Peede, AU’s president, said the school employs more than 1,000 people, many of whom live in Ashland. In his eyes, a win for the school is a win for the community.
Peede didn’t yet have an exact timeline for the project, or for when the street will be shut down. He said the repaving and a project of that magnitude will have to take place over the summer while students are away.
As for Burger King, Sheriff said, change is coming.
“Hopefully it works out for the best.”
