LORAIN — Residents and city officials raised concerns this week that a proposed zoning change for the former Apples Market site on Meister Road could create a food desert in central Lorain.
The discussion took place during a Ward 3 town hall meeting held Thursday evening at Grace Community Church, where community members addressed plans by the property owner to convert the vacant grocery store space into a self-storage facility.
Lorain City Council at Large member Mary Springowski said she does not support rezoning the property from business to light industrial, describing the proposal as spot zoning in the middle of a residential area that would not add value to the neighborhood.
Springowski said the loss of the grocery store has already reduced food access for nearby residents and that replacing it with storage would worsen the situation.
“This is not value-added for the neighborhood or the community,” Springowski said. “It creates a food desert.”
She also said the area already has multiple self-storage facilities and that another would do nothing to enhance quality of life or address residents’ needs.
According to Springowski, the town hall reflected strong community opposition to the zoning change, with residents expressing a clear preference for a grocery store, pharmacy, or other neighborhood-serving business at the site.
Springowski acknowledged that potential tenants typically rely on market studies and traffic counts before locating in an area, but said the city needs to focus on redirecting traffic and investing in aggressive economic development strategies to make central Lorain more attractive to essential retailers.
She added that the city should strengthen partnerships with the Lorain Port Authority to address long-term economic and demographic decline that has made it more difficult to attract grocery stores to older neighborhoods.
Residents attending the meeting cited transportation challenges and rising costs as barriers to accessing groceries at stores located farther west or outside the city.
The property owner has said it attempted to recruit a replacement grocery store or other retail tenants but has been unsuccessful. The zoning change would allow an existing self-storage business at the plaza to relocate within the shopping center.
The Lorain Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals are scheduled to review the rezoning request during a public meeting at 9 a.m. Feb. 4 in City Council chambers. City Council will have final authority over any zoning change at a later date.