The zoning map amendment received approval from the county rural zoning commission and planning commission, as did the commissioners’ development staff, and the township trustees had no objections. No one but the county commissioners spoke against the idea during a public hearing last week.
Commissioner Don Dixon acknowledged at their level they aren’t as familiar with the desires of the township residents but “I don’t know anybody who would turn this loose from a previous PUD to straight B-2 zoning in today’s world.”
“All the intentions in the world are fine and I don’t have any doubt that this gentleman will do what he said, but that does not protect the property owners in Ross Twp. from something going in,” Dixon said. “Because once it is rezoned to B-2 it can be sold, matter of fact it could have a contract to purchase right now and they could go in there and put a bar or a nightclub, whatever.”
The commissioners unanimously rejected the zone change on Monday, with a lengthy resolution that outlined the rejection reasons. It says in part that the allowable uses in B-2 zoning “may have a negative effect on nearby residential properties and the cohesive and integrated development of the remaining property.”
If they had approved it, Waldroff could have just built his new business with no further formal approvals, according to Development Director David Fehr. Now he has to submit a preliminary PUD plan for development of the entire site, “he would have to give us at least a preliminary idea what might happen on the rest of the property.” He has three years to come up with a final plan.
Waldroff told the Journal-News “as a small town guy I can’t afford to develop the whole 12-acres that I bought.”
“I agree where they’re coming from as far as different people may have different intentions for development there, but we don’t intend to blow it up with some sort of big deal,” he said. “We literally just bought the property to build an automotive shop.”
He said he’ll proceed with the PUD process.
Trustee Keith Ballauer said the decision “kind of pissed me off” because no one from the township objected to the project and it fits with the township land use plan.
“I love how they sit up there in Hamilton and the local government is not contesting it yet they feel they know better what’s for Ross Twp. than the board does,” Ballauer said.
Commissioner T.C. Rogers said they usually do give the locals deference, but there was nothing on paper that gave them an inkling what Waldroff might do with the majority of the property and they couldn’t just give blanket approval.
“There was a verbal statement about what he was going to do, but there was no plot plan or proposed layout and that’s what we normally see,” Rogers said.
Township voters last November defeated a measure for local zoning control by 74% to 26%. The failure was largely due to the fact it would cost taxpayers a lot of money — as much as $116,000 for salary and benefits for a zoning administrator.
Trustee Russ McGurrin told the Journal-News he agrees with the commissioners’ decision on the Waldroff zoning matter and doesn’t believe the township is ready to assume control of those decisions.
“It’s my personal opinion that there is a lot that goes into zoning, a lot more than just being able to control your own destiny,” McGurrin said. “The team in Butler County does a lot of good work to ensure that things are zoned properly and controlled properly. I think it would be well beyond the job of one single person to control all of the zoning that will be facing Ross Twp. in the near future.”
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