The Toledo plan commission’s staff review of the proposed new Kroger Marketplace at Monroe Street and Secor Road again disapproves rezoning 18 acres to allow the controversial project to go forward.

However, the commission’s staff report suggests zoning could be changed and the store could be built if the proposal was scaled back to use 10 acres of the property on the current Sisters of Notre Dame Provincial Center campus. Kroger also would need to keep eight acres zoned for parks and open space.

The staff recommendation was prepared for applications submitted by Kroger in November for a zoning change from single-family residential to regional commercial on the sisters’ West Toledo property.

The five-member city plan commission will hold public hearings beginning at 2 p.m. Jan. 12 at Government Center before voting whether to accept its staff’s recommendation. The panel will take up the zoning change request and the review of the site plans for the project in two hearings that day.

A neighborhood meeting hosted by Kroger to provide information about the proposal will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Jan. 11 at Christ Presbyterian Church, 4225 W. Sylvania Ave.

The proposed 123,000-square-foot store would replace the current 62,000-square-foot store across Secor Road that opened in 1984. Kroger said it plans to market the building for reuse if it gets approval to use the Notre Dame campus property.

The staff report said the 18-acres eyed by the Cincinnati-based grocer is not appropriate for the intense retail activity being proposed and that the commercial development would conflict with the Toledo 20/​20 Comprehensive Plan, which suggests campus institutional use, such as hospitals, schools, and colleges, for the sisters’ land.

The staff also warned that commercial development dramatically could increase traffic in the heavily traveled Secor-Monroe-Sylvania Avenue area.

Kroger’s proposal differs slightly from plans to build a 123,000-square-foot store that were submitted in May, 2015, and rejected by Toledo council in November, 2015.

Jennifer Jarrell, a Kroger spokesman, said plans for the new Kroger were revised substantially from what was given to the plan commission in 2015.

“We were surprised by the recommendation. We are reviewing the details and will address with the plan commission,” Ms. Jarrell said.

Sister Mary Delores Gatliff, the provincial superior for the community, said she hoped the new plan with the redesigned outlots will win approval for the new Kroger.

“When anyone drives by this corner it’s very obvious it is not a residential area. Everything surrounding us is commercial,” she said. “We felt it would be the best proposal for this area.”

Under the new plans, the store would be located in the area along I-475 with entrances off Monroe and Secor. 

However, the number of commercial outlots would be reduced from four to two and about 2½acres of green space, or conversion easement of existing trees, would be left in place between the outlots.

In offering a potential compromise, the planning staff said a smaller Kroger Marketplace and less parking would be consistent with other Marketplaces that have been built in the area.

The staff said the new store could be built closer to Secor Road and the elimination of the outlots would preserve the existing parklike setting and create a “unique element.”

Tom Waniewski, the councilman for the district in which the property is located and a supporter of last year’s zoning change, said Kroger wants to build on the sisters’ property because it would allow for a larger store and additional parking, which has been a problem for the grocer at its current location.

Mr. Waniewski said he also has concerns about the staff’s suggestion for park and open space and whether the city would own and take care of the property or whether another entity would do so.

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.

First Published January 5, 2017, 5:00 a.m.