Official: Let both sides be heard

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

CANFIELD — A Canfield Township Zoning Commission member says it’s only fair that any Canfield area residents who support bringing a Wal-Mart supercenter to the north side of U.S. Route 224 at Raccoon Road should be allowed to have their voice heard.

Last week, commission member and township resident Chuck Coleman learned that a petition opposing the store had been placed on the counter at the township hall.

So, Coleman drew up another petition asking for signatures of those who wish for Mahoning County and township officials to approve any zone change necessary to allow the store to be built.

“It seemed to me that the township could be accused of partisanship [before all of the facts were in] if we only allowed an ‘anti-Wal-Mart’ petition to be openly displayed in the town hall,” Coleman wrote when township officials asked whether he cared to identify himself as author of the petition.

“Isn’t it a better gauge of sentiment if we give residents a clear choice, i.e., two petitions: one for and one against?”

Dan Bienko, an architect who lives in Canfield Township, had received permission from trustees to have his anti-Wal-Mart petition placed in the township hall. He left a stack of the petitions there and invited people to take blank petitions forms and return them with signatures.

When Coleman’s petition arrived, township officials placed it alongside the other. A note says the petitions are for Canfield and Canfield Township residents only.

At the top, the petition states: “The benefits of a Wal-Mart in our township are manifold and will more than make up for any real or perceived difficulties arising from this development. Commercial development is the engine of progress. It will drive infrastructure improvements and contribute significant monies to the township without the concomitant burden associated with residential development.”

Asked about his petition, Coleman said it is too soon for zoning commission members to decide yes or no on whether to recommend a zoning change for Wal-Mart, because too many questions remain unanswered.

At the public hearing Coleman attended in January, a lot of people gave out information about the amount of traffic and crime that was likely to follow the creation of an 187,000-square-foot Wal-Mart with groceries. The public comments at the two hearings were resoundingly against the Wal-Mart.

But Coleman said he would need to see audited statistics on such matters before he would be ready to cast his vote. “Until all the facts are in, I have no opinion one way or the other,” he said.

The zoning commission is one of two recommending bodies that will examine any proposal from Wal-Mart for rezoning. The other body is the county planning commission. The final decision on the zoning rests with the Canfield Township trustees.

In the company’s first proposal, submitted to the planning commission but later withdrawn, Wal-Mart sought to have 14 acres between Raccoon Road and the Ohio Turnpike rezoned from residential to business. The store would sit on 27 acres in all, 13 of which are 500 feet from the centerline of Route 224 and already zoned commercial.

Coleman said the township has designated the Route 224 corridor in that area as commercial, meaning that businesses such as Wal-Mart were planned for that area. But the commercial zoning only extends 500 feet away from the center line of Route 224, and Wal-Mart originally proposed a development using land that is further off the road than that.

One alternative for Wal-Mart, Coleman said, would be to buy additional land along Route 224 that is already zoned commercial, he said. With that land in hand, Wal-Mart would not need a zone change and could build a store without the need for township approval, he noted.

Bienko, meanwhile, said he believes the petitions will be of value if Wal-Mart makes another attempt to get the rezoning it wants. He said the petitions would have no legal standing but would show opposition to the rezoning to government bodies looking at the proposal.

Wal-Mart spokesman Ron Mosby has said he would take feedback from the community back to Wal-Mart headquarters and discuss a return to the county for another attempt at the rezoning. He did not return phone calls seeking information on what Wal-Mart’s plans are for Canfield Township.

runyan@vindy.com