Despite difficulties, development goes on

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CANFIELD — The golf cart glided along a concrete pathway as its driver, developer Chuck Whitman, pointed out some features of his 400-acre vision.

It was quiet on the 227-acre golf course, which is pretty much the heart of that vision — the Westford Lifestyle Community, which includes eight separate housing developments and a retail/office complex along U.S. Route 224.

He’s obviously proud of the golf course. Soon, Jonah Karzmer, the golf pro who oversees it, arrived at the office to explain why.

Karzmer talked about the comments he hears: People say they can’t believe how much land the course has, and how many elevation changes there are.

Elevation changes are good, Whitman explained — golfers love a challenging course.

Then, Whitman admitted he doesn’t golf. No matter. He’s put himself on quite a challenging course anyway in taking on the development of Westford.

One big trap he struggled in for years was running afoul of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency with stormwater management violations during construction.

At some point about two years ago, the EPA turned the violations over to the state attorney general’s office for enforcement, said EPA spokesman Mike Settles. Then in a new twist, the EPA discovered that CTW had installed sanitary sewers at Wakehurst Village, a plan of villas, without a permit.

That was in March. Because the EPA then refused to issue permits to install sanitary sewers at Wakehurst and two as-yet undeveloped gated communities, construction in those developments came to a halt.

The EPA never ordered the work stoppage, Settles said. But its refusal to issue permits caused a domino effect. CTW was unable to get sewer connection permits from Mahoning County, and then it couldn’t get its building permits.

Not all building at Westford stopped. Whitman said it continued at developments in the community not affected by the permit refusal.

For complete story, see Monday’s Vindicator or www.vindy.com.