Vote allows PUD zone change

The developer and residents have been at odds since December.
By JEANNE STARMACK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- Residents who don't want a 45-acre planned unit development in the middle of their single-family homes in the Westbury Park subdivision now plan to ask voters to stop the development.
A vote by township trustees at a hearing Tuesday allows a zone change from agricultural to PUD for the development in the subdivision off Gibson Road.
Trustees voted 2-1 to deny the zone change, but needed a unanimous decision to overturn a recommendation by the township zoning commission, which had voted 3-2 May 4 to let the zone change pass. Trustees Randy Brashen and Bill Reese voted to deny. Trustee Paul Moracco was the voter on the board who allowed the zone change to go forward. He said he voted that way because the PUD plan meets the township's zoning requirements.
Neighbors in Westbury Park have been fighting developer TC Quality Homes' plan since December. They have said that the developer's original plan for the subdivision included single-family homes with 11 acres set aside for a PUD in the northeast corner of the subdivision.
When residents realized the developer was changing its plan to include narrower lots and narrower homes in the middle of the subdivision, they protested to trustees.
Resubmitted plan
At a zoning panel meeting in December, the panel voted unanimously to recommend rejection of the zone change to the trustees, who have the final say. Before the trustees could vote on the change at their December meeting, Chris Abraham of TC Quality Homes withdrew the plan.
He resubmitted it in February with some changes, but zoning inspector Dave Morrison said at that time it was basically the same. Neighbors were still unhappy with it, and they met several times with Abraham to try to work out a compromise.
At a meeting in March, the zoning panel said it would postpone a decision to give both sides time to work out a deal. A meeting was set for May 4 so the panel could make a decision if an agreement wasn't reached.
There was no agreement, and on May 4, several members of the panel believed that Abraham had done all he could to compromise and that his plan met the township's PUD zoning requirements.
Abraham told trustees Tuesday before their vote that he made changes in the plan that improved the design, and that he is offering homes rich in architectural style, seven parks, a pavilion, access to a bike trail and a 2 1/2 acre lake.
Resident Carol Potter of Barrington Drive said the rules changed for people who were told before they bought their homes that the subdivision would have a certain character it would no longer have.
The PUD adds 42 homes to the original plan, said Grayson Drive resident Ed Lisowski.
Potter said after the hearing that residents are prepared to gather petitions to put the issue on a referendum for the November election.
Proposed detention pond
At their regular meeting after the hearing, trustees said they received a prosecutor's opinion concerning building a detention pond on three acres of township property behind Fairway Drive. The prosecutor said there is no reason they can't build a pond there. The pond will be for flood control along Indian Run Creek.
Trustees sought the opinion because neighborhood residents opposed the pond. They don't want the land disturbed by development.