Thursday, June 21, 2007
CANFIELD — Township trustees have extended a yearlong moratorium on planned unit developments for another year.
Trustees unanimously voted Monday to extend it to June 1, 2008, said Trustee Bill Reese.
Trustees passed the moratorium last year after residents complained about several plans for PUDs in their neighborhoods. One of those plans, near a neighborhood on South Turner Road, became the subject of a voter referendum in November. Voters stopped that PUD.
PUD zoning allows more homes to be built on less land than traditional residential zoning. The township has had PUD zoning regulations since 2004.
Since the referendum has been in place, the township zoning commission has made revisions to the PUD regulations. Changes that were eventually passed include more and better distributed green space in the developments, deeper setbacks from other properties and a size cap to 15 acres.
Reese said the vote had nothing to do with the revisions, which satisfied trustees.
He said the township has an overabundance of PUD lots available now — 223, with five sold so far this year. “There’s so many sitting,” he said — a reflection of the housing market slowdown.