Toledo City Council shot down a controversial request Tuesday from a North Toledo truck-sales company that wanted a bigger facility.

Council voted 10-2 against approving a revised site plan for General Truck Sales at 5022-5825 Suder Ave., which had sought permission to expand and to be released from conditions imposed by an earlier deal with council, including that it install a sidewalk.

Councilmen Mike Craig and Rob Ludeman were the only two in favor of allowing the bigger facility and forgoing previously imposed conditions.

Councilman Lindsay Webb, who did not support a zone change in January that allowed General Truck Sales to build a new facility on what had been residential land in the Shoreland neighborhood, said the company tried to engage in a “bait and switch.”

By a 10-1 vote in January, council granted the zoning change on 25 acres between Suder Avenue and I-75 to allow for limited industrial use. The change was made over the objection of scores of residents and even the five-member plan commission, which had urged denial of the zoning.

“Once they got approval from council they came back with such a substantial revision to their site plan that they needed to come back before council for that approval,” Ms. Webb said. “It included massively expanding the parking that was permitted on the site, substantially expanding the footprint of the building, and change the direction of the building.”

Ms. Webb said the company also agreed to install sidewalks and a guardrail and expand a turn lane but wanted to be relieved of those conditions with its most recent request.

“They came back and said none of those things are possible and they wanted to get rid of those conditions,” she said. “That felt very much like a bait and switch to me … The existing site plan is still in effect, which means they need to comply with those conditions.”

In January, before council's approval, Ms. Webb successfully added conditions for the plan’s approval, including requirements that the company install guardrails or other traffic barriers along nearby Shoreland Elementary School on Suder Avenue.

A representative of the company could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Karen Mayfield, of 2244 Terramar Rd., said the condition that the company add a sidewalk on the east side of Suder Avenue was a critical concession.

“That was to address the safety of children,” Ms. Mayfield said. “If they had won today, it would literally be a disaster waiting to happen.”

The company had asked for a 30-day extension before council voted on its revision. A majority of council denied that request Tuesday. 

Mr. Craig said rejecting the request to allow General Truck to expand would send a negative message to other companies about locating in Toledo.

“In my view, the message is don't come to Toledo and play games,” Ms. Webb said.

Council Tuesday also voted 12-0 without discussion to roll back the city's smoke-detector trust fund regulations back to the previous parameters.

Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson last week said she would review why money from the fund, which is earmarked to buy Toledoans smoke detectors, was used to pay for hotel rooms, conference costs, and dinners for fire department officials.

Documents obtained by The Blade showed that fire Chief Luis Santiago and at least one other fire official used money from the trust fund to pay for things other than smoke detectors before city council made that permissible on Aug. 12, 2014, when it altered the rules to allow the fire department to use that money for “accreditation expenditures” and “officer and professional management education.”

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.

First Published November 25, 2015, 5:00 a.m.