CHAMPION — The township zoning commission last week voted 5-0 against a zone change request by trustees to change part of the zoning on the former Champion Central Elementary property off state Route 45.

Zoning board member John Streitferdt said trustees wanted to change part of the property from residential to commercial. He said the first 40 feet of the property closest to Route 45 is already zoned commercial, while the 200 feet at the rear of the property is zoned residential.

Streitferdt said the rear of the property is next to a residential neighborhood and the board felt that the back of the former school property should remain residential. He said there are many homes on the nearby Emerson Avenue NW whose back yards abut the back of the former school property.

He said two residents at the public hearing on Wednesday did not speak for or against the zone change request.

Trustee Chairman Doug Emerine said trustees wanted to get input from residents who live near the property and form zoning board officials about changing the land to commercial for possible development.

He said trustees will stand by the zoning commission’s decision and not have the property changed.

Emerine said residents who live nearby have also informed trustees that they do not want the property changed to commercial. He said the zoning commission is sending their recommendation to the trustees.

Earlier this month, trustees told about 20 residents they were not selling the former school property.

“Right now, we are not selling the Central School property. I am not saying we are never going to sell it, but we are not selling it today,” Emerine said at the April trustees meeting.

The township obtained ownership of the former property from the Champion Local School District when a new elementary school was constructed north of that location.

Trustee Rick York said previously that if the trustees decide to sell the property in the future, soccer programs that use the land would be a top priority.

The school district closed the 100-year-old school in spring 2018 with the opening of the new PK-8 school complex on state Route 45.

The township previously sold 22 acres of land north of the cemetery to the school district for $106,000 for the new school complex. In exchange, the district transferred the Central School property to the township. The district did retain a nearby bus garage property.

The former school property was discussed by different trustee boards in recent years as a possible location for a park or a new fire station.

Emerine has said if the property were to be offered for sale, it would be done through a Realtor or public auction.

“The property will never be given away,” he said.