Now, VonStein is fighting to make the haunted house, dubbed Area 13, happen, but for the county it’s an open and shut case.
“[The property] was sold to me under the pretense of a commercial piece of property,” VonStein said. “Somebody fouled up, but it is what it is.”
The property, located on Todd Road, was built in the 1960s as part of a Nike missile base during the Cold War. It has four structures already on the property, which VonStein argues he should be able to use. The Building Department changed the zoning code categorization of haunted houses to special amusement, though, and asked for architectural drawings, plumbing and more. VonStein says his work running an inspections company means he has to be familiar with the code, and he said these requirements went overboard.
“It was just absolutely off the hook, what they’re requiring,” VonStein said. “They want me to do all their drawings for them on the structures, which should never happen.”
Zoning and building regulations aside, Butler County Director of Development David Fehr said there’s a simpler reason why the township won’t allow the haunted house: Oxford Township’s Land Use Plan.
In 2015, Oxford Twp. adopted an official land use plan which lays out its ideal future development through several land use categories. The former Nike base is within an agriculture and conservation area, meaning it’s restricted to mostly farming and natural areas.
“Every community kind of has a long range plan of how they want to see development,” Fehr said. “The folks of Oxford Township back in 2015 updated their long range plan, and they just did not envision this area being used for commercial purposes.”
Even if the township hadn’t adopted a land use plan, VonStein would be facing an uphill battle. The Butler County Building and Zoning department denied his request for a variance at an Aug. 15 meeting, and while a Butler County Commissioner spoke in favor of the haunted house at an Aug. 21 meeting, that body doesn’t have any power in the decision.
VonStein said he already had around 25 employees lined up to work, and most of the decoration was done. The venture would have operated for 18 to 20 days and draw an average of 200 people a night, which he says wouldn’t have caused as much traffic as officials were saying. He had also already partnered with the Talawanda School District to manage the parking and get the funds from it.
VonStein says he’s not done fighting and plans to make the haunted house happen this year. He has a legal avenue he’s pursuing, he said, but he wouldn’t share what it entailed.
For Fehr and the local government, though, the decision has been made. Regardless of what VonStein thought he was buying when he got the property last November, the government isn’t required to grant zoning changes, and their answer is no.
“I understand he bought the property maybe not understanding what the zoning rules are,” Fehr said, “but we can’t go back and fix somebody that may have bought property without full knowledge of what was allowed there.”
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