Cat cafe or residence — only one can prevail

Alternate visions for a building in the 100 block of East Crawford Street — one a cat café, the other a three-bedroom residence — were approved Thursday by Findlay City Planning Commission. Neither of the parties obtaining a conditional use permit for the building own it yet. So whichever one is successful in buying it will be the one whose vision prevails. The building carries the address of 125 E. Crawford on its east side and the address of 123 E. Crawford on its west side. The proposed cat café would be at 125 E. Crawford; the proposed three-bedroom residential unit would be at 123 E. Crawford. Both proposed uses required granting of a conditional use permit because the area is zoned for commercial use. The request for a permit to convert the west side of the building to a residential unit was made by David Brennan. The request for a permit to convert the east side of the building to a cat café was made by Kade and Lindsay Harris. They would use half of the space for a café and the other half for people to mingle with adoptable cats. The two halves would be kept separate, Lindsay Harris said. The Harrises seemed to be in a more exploratory phase than Brennan and his representatives. Lindsay Harris has said a cat café might not open for two or three years. She told the commission she would be open to having it in another location. She told the commission Thursday that she was more focused on seeing whether it would be open to the cat café concept. Sheetz store approved Separately, the commission approved a site plan for a Sheetz gas station and car wash at the northeast corner of North Main Street and County Road 99. The gas station would have 12 pumps and the convenience store/restaurant would be 6,139 square feet. The convenience store would have a made-to-order section and a drive-thru. A 1,649-square-foot car wash would be located on the east side of the property. The store could be open for business in two years, a Sheetz representative said.