MOUNT VERNON – The Mount Vernon Municipal Planning Commission voted to recommend that the city council reject a request to rezone approximately 40 acres of property along Vernonview Drive to the R-3 multiple-family district.
The parcel splits Woodside Drive and Upland Terrace along Vernonview Drive. Brookes Group of Crestline, Ohio, the developer, wanted to build a 226-unit townhome rental community on the property.
Planning Commissioner Rick Dzik, who also serves as the city’s public safety director, said very early in the public comment portion of the special meeting on May 4 that it was mentioned that once the zoning was approved, the planning commission and the city council would have no say over the product that was delivered.
“I would probably be more amenable to a rezoning of a PND (Planned Neighborhood Development) classification, which requires the submittal of preliminary plans to this commission (for the) submittal of comprehensive or complete plans where there will be ongoing oversight of it,” he said.
“Anytime that I feel that Municipal Planning Commission is asked to rezone something in my opinion, for lack of a better phrase, the burden of proof should be on the one asking for the change,” Planning Commissioner Todd Hawkins said.
He said although a number of studies have shown housing is a definite need, and the commission has recommended approval for many different locations, this rezoning request to R-3 was too dramatic from its current R-1 single-family zoning district.
“I would agree with Mr. Dzik that perhaps a different classification might work out,” Planning Commissioner Austin Swallow said. “There is not enough control or oversight. And I can't vote for something that I don’t know about.”
Before motions were made about the rezoning, law director Rob Broeren told the commission that he took a look at case law specifically on spot rezoning.
“Spot rezoning generally deals with a small parcel within a larger area,” Broeren said. “(It) at least does not appear that something of this size would be considered spot zoning by the courts should it come to litigation.”
The city held the special Municipal Planning Commission at the Station Break because council chambers in city hall are not big enough for the crowd anticipated to attend. The public filled the room and offered hours of comments against the rezoning, along with hearing the developer’s representative present the case for rezoning.
Vickie Sant of Vernonview Drive said the commission needs to consider that no matter how it’s shaped, what has been proposed is apartments, which are transient in nature. She and her husband own a 3.6-acre property across the road from this site. Changing the zoning to R3 would put “a triple whammy on those of us that are in this area, our property values” because she said it would be an apartment complex with its thoroughfares emptying right in front of their homes.
“It's also just the neighborhood quality and quality of living that is going to change so drastically for us,” she said.
Andrew Engell said he and his wife were pleased to move to what they learned was “America’s Hometown” as seen on its welcome signs. He hoped to see the city thrive and grow, which requires development. When they bought their home, they were enchanted by the 40 acres of meadow and forest and wildlife behind their house, but they knew one day it would be developed. With the R-1 zoning they didn’t think anything other than single-family homes would be built.
“The notion of the plot being rezoned for high density built-to-rent seems preposterous,” he said. “Or it would if I knew what build-to-rent meant, not the least of which because it was a plot that sits between two cul-de-sacs in the context of a larger community of owner-occupied houses on both sides of Vernonview.”
Traffic, a loss of quality of life and a fear of the project becoming a public housing development were some of the other concerns of other residents.
