Mayfield Heights City Council voted to allow an upcoming Panera Bread restaurant to have 18 additional parking spaces and outdoor seating at a special council meeting on Monday.

Panera Bread will be located at 6036 Mayfield Rd. and replace the former Ottino’s Restaurant and an old office building there, both of which will be torn down to make room for the new restaurant.

Developer Larry Ottino, landlord of that property, said the next step is to go before the city’s planning commission regarding the construction of the site.

Ottino, the owner Mayfield Heights Town Center, said the decision to make these moves came about six months ago as the old site had buildings that simply needed to be replaced.

“It’s good,” Ottino said. “We’ve had a lot of success with the city.”

Not everybody met with success in council chambers.

Cedar Brook Financial got approval for a sign on its building but couldn’t get the size they desired.

The company wanted an 80-square-foot sign that faced I-271 to help visitors distinguish their offices from other tenants at the Monarch Center. But they will have to settle for a 20-square foot sign for the time being.

The board of zoning appeals members who voted against the sign took into account the view from I-271 and felt the sign wouldn’t be of much use because of the distance, according to Councilman Joe Mercurio who also sits on the BZA. The BZA voted 2-2, and council backed up its vote.

During the meeting, Council president Anthony DiCicco and representatives of Cedar Brook suggested a compromise that would have allowed the company to have a sign equal to next door neighbor Indiana Wesleyan’s sign of about 64-square feet, but the amendment to the motion failed.

“We’ll just come back again,” Jennifer Falb, chief experience officer for Cedar Brook, said. “We hope to meet their specifications.”

In other news …

• The Marshall Ford’s request to replace 105 feet of the 6-foot masonry wall with a 5-foot chain link fence and privet hedges was denied by council in a 4-2 vote that upheld the BZA's prior decision to not grant the variance. Council member Diane Snider was absent for the meeting.
• Council also agreed to advertise for bids to sell five police vehicles and one each from the service and the fire departments.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated a development at 6036 Mayfield Rd. would bring the Panera Bread franchise to Mayfield Heights, but a Panera Bread restaurant exists at 1633 Golden Gate Plaza.