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HOWLAND -- The Howland Township Zoning Commission on Wednesday heard from more than 30 residents of a neighborhood who fear the possibility of living near a multifamily unit.
Commission Vice Chairman Mike Perry took questions and comments from residents living near Squires Road and state Route 46. By meeting's end the board members voted to strike out a piece of the township's comprehensive plan that would allow such parcels to be reconstructed, though township trustees will have the final say.
Charles Morrow, a Trumbull County prosecutor who lives in the neighborhood, spoke for most of his neighbors about their petition.
"The packet has 117 signatures," Morrow said. "The plan talks about 'we want to have the areas to be consistent with the housing in the area.' And if you look up at the border of state Route 46, in particular, where our neighborhood is, there are predominantly single family units. There are no multi-family units that are placed there."
Morrow explained that the three parcels at issue comprise about seven acres. He noted the area near Squires Lane and Route 46, where the neighborhood exits, faces intense traffic on a daily basis. Morrow said there is a "huge" traffic problem, and that the Ohio Department of Transportation has repeatedly refused to place a traffic light by the houses.
"There are multiple concerns," Morrow continued. "But when you add multi-family units to that area, you are going to exacerbate the traffic problem that is there now."
He explained that many of the neighbors have "surmised" that those who use the properties would exit from Westwind Drive instead of Route 46, so the traffic would be added to the general area.
Those in attendance assumed that the properties would be retirement homes. Morrow wondered how many would want to retire in a place so close to state Route 46.
POPULATION
The comprehensive plan also states that the township would like to rezone parts of North River Road. Morrow made his own calculations and said, "If you take that 100 acres that you are now going to rezone, adjacent to Spring Run, and adjacent to River Glen Road, you have an additional 600 or 700 units that can fit in that area, which would be much more appropriate than adding another 36 potential units at the top of Squires Lane and Westwind Drive."
Morrow continued: "Also, interestingly enough, the report notes that there is a declining population in Howland Township. If the population is decreasing, why do we need to build more condos? Why do we need to increase the availability of apartments within the township? It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Why should we be doing these things?"
The zoning commission did not disclose the name of the property owner.
"This was a third-party, independent company who did these recommendations," Perry said of the comprehensive plan.
Morrow and Perry concluded the company that recommended the zoning change must have assumed it would be appropriate. Morrow suggested that he would rather see a business take the spot.
NO SECRET
Commission member Michael Smylie said if the residents had shown up at previous meetings, there might have been a better understanding.
"We would assume that you didn't want commercial enterprises there," Smylie said.
"If you look at the history of Route 46, there didn't used to be businesses there, but there are now. We ended up going more toward residential than commercial. That was the decision that is in the plan," Smylie said. "And once again, regardless of what this says, if we want more residential or more commercial character … any time anybody is going to develop, where it changes the existing zoning, we are all going to have this meeting again."
Darryl Gross, of 108 Westwind Drive, asked: "Where do we get the survey and when are we included in that?"
Zoning Director Kim Mascarella said the plan is a large overarching document that affects every square inch of the township. "We're not mailing or sending mailers to every citizen," Mascarella said. "We try to send press releases out to the press to let people know the township has launched this comprehensive process once every decade or so. … That was done in January and December, so that was in the newspaper, we were on TV and talked about it, and that's just to gather general comments about the state of the township and your vision for the township in the future."
She continued, "And then we held public forums that were also put in the newspaper, interviews were done, inviting people to attend two public forums. And that's how this committee gathered the information, led by our consultants. And that's how this plan kind of came about. Once a modification of this is adopted, and somebody wants to do a zone change, property owners within 150 feet of the property are notified with a letter and public notice notification, and that's put in the newspaper.
"This is a plan that affects the whole entire township, so we didn't send letters to every single house in the township. We tried to get the word out in several ways to gather as much feedback as we could."
Commission member William Beinecke said: "Personally, I can easily live with the comprehensive as submitted, with one change."
The other members of the board agreed, a vote was taken, and the parcels in consideration are up for striking out of the comprehensive plan. The township trustees have the final decision.
dnewman@tribtoday.com