Trustees made right decision on Austintown business park

Change is often unwelcome and sometimes resisted, but some change is inevitable.
That describes pretty well the situation in Austintown, where a developer has submitted plans for a business and light industrial park southwest of the intersection of Interstate 80 and state Route 11.
Despite vocal opposition from some township residents, the Austintown Township Board of Trustees did what it virtually had to do last week, it approved a zone change from primarily agricultural to light industrial for the 190-acre plot.
Even in the face of opposition, it was the right decision, for a number of reasons.
Chief among those is this: It defies logic to expect 190 acres of land that has quick access to major highway systems to lie fallow indefinitely. That would happen only if the land were bought by, say, a conservation club intent on preserving the land.
Legally speaking, it would be difficult, if not impossible, for the township to prevent the owner of the land from making reasonable use of it. Especially in recent years, the Supreme Court of the United States has refined the concept of taking, the idea that that when government goes too far in restricting how land can be used, it must be willing to reimburse the owner for his losses.
Not your father's township
In this case, while the land was zoned agricultural, it was not being farmed and isn't going to be farmed. The county's comprehensive plan recognizes it as industrial. The lay of adjacent land has changed significantly with the construction of highways and a sprawling truck stop to the north. Binding the owner to an outdated zoning classification would be a lawsuit waiting to happen, a lawsuit that would be expensive for both sides, but almost certainly lost by the township in the end.
The developers of the business park, which will be known as Centerpointe, have offered what in most cases would be extraordinary buffer zones, up to 250-feet wide, between the park and adjacent residential land. The neighbors are entitled to such buffers, but they are not entitled -- legally or morally -- to bar another person from reasonable use of the land he has bought and paid for.
Centerpointe intends to attract new companies to the area, companies that would not be interested in locating in a brownfield site or a site that had less convenient access to highway systems.
It is the type of development that the community at large should welcome, after recognizing -- as difficult as it may -- that some change is inevitable.