Elyria Council to vote on rezoning for new Good Knights facility

ELYRIA — The donation of land from the city to Good Knights for a new headquarters is nearing fruition, as the rezoning of the property is set to go before City Council next month. On Monday, Council's Community Development Committee voted to approve a rezoning measure to make the building possible, sending it to Council as a whole for the final say. Good Knights is a Lorain County-based nonprofit that builds beds for those in need in Lorain County and beyond with the help of individual and corporate volunteers. The organization has bounced around locations for several years, but since early this year Good Knights and Elyria have discussed the city donating a piece of land on which the nonprofit will build a permanent headquarters. Good Knights Executive Director Roger Dorsey told the Chronicle after the vote that the new building would boost the organization's construction capacity from about 1,400 beds per year to over 2,000. "We still need final approval, but everybody on Council seems on board," Dorsey said. "We look forward to getting this done and being able to have an even bigger impact in Lorain County." The land is made up of five vacant parcels owned by the city between Leona Street and Griswold Road. Four parcels are owned directly by the city, while one is owned through the Elyria Improvement Corporation (EIC). Before the land, valued at over $200,000, is handed off, the city is going through the process of rezoning the parcels so they fit the intended use of Good Knights. The Community Development Committee voted to approve the rezoning of the parcels from general business and automotive business districts to general business districts with a light industrial overlay district. Elyria's planning Commission approved the rezoning on July 2, and the proposal will have to undergo a public hearing before Council can vote on final approval, likely next month. Community Development approved the proposal to be passed on emergency, meaning that if Council approves it the change will go into effect more quickly. Dorsey was excited about the emergency approval, saying it would hopefully enable Good Knights to break ground on the new facility sooner. "This is a big step in the process, and I'm so happy they passed it on emergency," he said. "We've got a lot of people really chomping at the bit to get started on this thing and to get in there and start working on beds." The city also plans to consolidate and split the lots, giving the southern portion of the lot to Good Knights for a proposed 8,000-square-foot building and keeping the northern part empty for future development. Though there will be a full public hearing on the topic of the rezoning, the Committee heard from Charles Holtzman of Grafton, who owns several properties on Griswold Road near the proposed facility. "I just want to make sure that the area stays commercial for future development in a crucial area," Holtzman said. "That was my concern coming up here tonight, but it looks like that's the direction you're going, and that's fine by me." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.