At the Monday, Feb. 7, Village Council meeting, held virtually via Zoom, a request from Oberer Development Company to rezone 52.6 acres on the south end of the village as a planned unit development, or PUD, did not receive enough votes to move forward.
With the PUD option off the table, Oberer is expected to develop the land under the current R-A zoning, which features only single-family dwelling units.
The ordinance to rezone the land failed to pass after a 2–2 vote, with Council President Brian Housh and member Marianne MacQueen voting for the measure and Council members Lisa Kreeger and Carmen (Lee) Brown voting against it.
Council Vice President Kevin Stokes, who lives adjacent to the land in question, recused himself from the vote and any discussion of the project during Council’s session.
Monday’s vote was the culmination of several years of work and discussions between Village Council and administration, a small group of villagers and Oberer representatives and developers.
Had Council approved the ordinance, a PUD would have allowed for a variety of dwelling units, including townhomes, duplexes and single family homes. Also, under a PUD designation, Oberer would have created a public park and several water detention and retention ponds. Additionally, land would have been donated to the Village to develop its own affordable housing.
A similar piece of legislation was brought to Council on Dec. 6, but the measure was tabled before Council took a vote. At the time, Council had concerns about the application and asked for a more detailed traffic study and a copy of the environmental analysis, among other information requests. Council proceeded to schedule two meetings with Oberer representatives: the first, a meeting between Council and Oberer; the second, a town hall style meeting where villagers could directly address Village Manager Josué Salmerón and Oberer representatives.
Council heard a first reading of the final measure on Tuesday, Jan. 18, but decided not to vote formally until the second reading of the ordinance, citing a need for additional information.
After hearing 10 letters in opposition to and three letters in support of the PUD at Monday’s meeting, Council opened the public hearing.
About 50 villagers in opposition to the PUD proposal gathered at Mills Park Hotel to watch the meeting and voice concerns with the proposal, a gathering organized by a newly formed political action committee, Resident Activism Yellow Springs, or RAYS. Thus far, the group’s primary mission has been to oppose the move to redesignate Oberer’s land as a PUD.
Vocal opponents to the land’s rezoning were in attendance, including local resident Dave Chappelle, who said that he would divest from the community should Council pass the legislation.
A number of the PUD’s opponents said that the environmental review was not sufficient, alleging that there was a dump on the property. Village native and architect Max Crome, who grew up near the property, remembers a dump having once been on the property. He and others expressed frustration over several environmental concerns, which they felt had been ignored by Council and Oberer.
“It’s extremely offensive to me when you try to sweep my environmental concerns under the rug,” Crome said to Council.
Continue reading over at YellowSpringNews.com
By Jessica Thomas.
