Zoning to change to a PUD

Homeowners from the Country Meadows development objected to the plan.
By MARY R. SMITH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
MINERAL RIDGE -- The Weathersfield Township Zoning Commission has approved by a 3-2 vote a zone change for a gated condominium community on 14 acres on County Line Road just east of Four Mile Run Road.
The zoning was changed from residential to a Planned Unit Development.
The request, from James Carsone Jr. and James Carsone Sr., under the company name of Mark IV Builders, sought the zone change to build an initial estimate 92 condominium units in ranch and townhouse styles.
The zoning commission, however, reminded the applicants, who were planning to build both fourplexes and sixplexes, that the township's PUD regulations do not allow sixplexes.
The developers must provide more information to the township zoning office on how their unit plans will be changed before the township trustees vote on the zone-change request.
What's included
The gated community will include a clubhouse and a swimming pool, and the condos will be either 1,267 square feet or 1,375 square feet for ranch styles and townhouses will be 1,200 square feet with the bedrooms on the second story.
The rezoning request is to change the acreage on the front portion of what is known as Country Meadows Development. The zoning was Residential A, single-family dwellings, a small portion of the property, and Residential-B for duplex-style condos. Developers wanted the Planned Unit Development zoning, marking the first request to come before the commission for a Planned Unit Development.
The designation was revised in December 2004 by the Zoning Commission from a brief mention in zoning law to an expanded version with a more detailed set of regulations for condo development, township zoning inspector Sherri Craver said.
There will be a 50-foot buffer all around the planned buildings and a private entrance. Craver noted that the Trumbull County Planning Commission has already approved the new development, noting that it also falls within the recommended residential use for the property under the Trumbull County and Weathersfield Township Comprehensive Plan, updated in March.
Objecting
Eight residents from Country Meadows voiced objections to the planned new development, listing as concerns potential traffic problems, buffering between the two developments, the comparative size of existing single-family homes, which are around 2,000 square feet, and the condominiums. They also wanted to know if there would be sufficient sewage capability to handle the new development and if a retention pond at the first street left of the entry road, Fox Chase Court, which runs to Beaver Trail, will be able to handle the extra runoff from the new building.
Fox Chase Court, which runs off Country Meadows Trail to the right but is not yet developed, may no longer exist if the new development is built. Mark IV developers are looking at a spring 2006 start date.
The Country Meadows Development, which runs off County Line Road on Country Meadows Trail, consists of about 40 single-family homes and duplexes.
All of Phase I of the single-family homes has been completed and construction by the original developers is in Phase II, which involves duplexes and condominiums.