MINERAL RIDGE Panel denies 2 requests for zone changes

MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield Township Zoning Commission denied two zone change requests Wednesday.
By a 4-0 vote the proposed re-zonings were denied for Precious Pals Day Care on West Liberty Street, and for six acres of agricultural land on Rosalyn Circle to Residential-C.
The request to re-zone the old Girard Summit School, which had been used by the Ohio Conference Association of the Seventh-day Adventist Church at 2722 W. Liberty St., was made by the church because members said they felt it would help improve resale value.
The building had been used as a school, but was closed for lack of funding,
The change would have been from agricultural to Commercial-A, which allows offices, banks, funeral homes, small retail stores, barbershops or similar service-oriented businesses.
Residents of West Liberty Street were strongly opposed to the zone change.
Sherri Craver, zoning inspector, said none of the representatives of the church were from the township, but live in surrounding communities.
Charlie E. Smith sought a zone change on six acres now zoned agricultural at the end of Rosalyn Circle with a proposal to build a total of eight duplexes, four oneach side of the property, over the next five years. The units would be 800 square feet per duplex.
The commission, however, denied the request. Residents from the street said they were concerned about the duplexes' bringing down the value of their single-family residential properties, the creation of added traffic, and the possibility that construction of the duplexes would cause problems with water pressure.