TRUMBULL COUNTY Cortland zoning panel sides with residents

Homeowners said they seek to protect their investments.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CORTLAND -- Owners of new single-family homes in the Shepherds Hill neighborhood in the city's southeast corner have achieved two victories from the city planning, zoning and building commission.
In a standing-room-only meeting Thursday, the commission unanimously endorsed a request by 27 homeowners on Laura Lane and Anthony Circle to have their streets rezoned from service district to single-family residential. The proposed change now goes before city council for its approval.
Although the area has been developed as a residential community, with most of the homes having been built in the last several years, the service designation would have allowed gasoline stations and stores.
Also in Thursday's meeting, the commission voted 4-1 against a request by developer Anthony Petrocco, president of WAE Corp., to rezone adjacent land along state Route 305 from the service classification to multifamily residential to allow condominium construction. Petrocco may now appeal to the city's zoning board of appeals.
"We have plans to put some nice condominiums in there, and the way that it is now, we can't build the condominiums on the service district property," Petrocco told the commission.
Residents make their case
"My investment, at this time, is appreciating, and I like where I am," Carol Hoffman of Anthony Circle said of her residence. "I do not want to sit on my deck and look behind me and have anything other than single residential family dwellings," she told the commission.
"We chose to move to Cortland because we knew it was a higher-class community where we have great schools, great neighbors and great neighborhoods," said Tammy Gearhart of Laura Lane. If apartments or condominiums are introduced, "our expectations as homeowners are shattered," she told the commission.
"The people put up a good fight. The people put up a fight that made sense to me," said William Sasse, a commission member who voted with the majority against Petrocco's proposal.
"I don't think it should remain service district," Scott Daffron, commission chairman, said of Petrocco's land. The service classification "leaves it open to a lot of other things that can go in there" said Daffron, who was the only commission member voting in favor of Petrocco's proposal.
"Let's keep it all single-family. We live in a democracy. There is an overwhelming majority of support here," for maintaining the neighborhood's single-family status, Ray Salyard of Laura Lane told the commission just before it voted against Petrocco's proposal.
Happy with vote
"Very pleased," was his reaction after the votes. "We want to maintain the continuity in the neighborhood of single-family homes. That's what is already existing, and there's no reason to build multifamilies. It just causes problems," he said.
"I'm ecstatic that they have supported our petition. Our voices have been heard," Hoffman concluded.