Some Poland residents oppose apartments, cite congestion

By Denise Dick

The developer is seeking a zone change to allow the apartments.

POLAND — Some residents oppose a developer’s plan to build four six-plex apartment buildings between East McKinley Way and Marion Drive.

The village’s planning committee will entertain a request at a 7 p.m. Tuesday meeting in village hall to change the zoning on the 2.5-acre parcel at 126 E. McKinley Way to allow apartments.

“I don’t think that it’s a good idea for them to put 24 apartments back in one two-acre plot,” said Sue Hatala, who has lived on Marion, abutting the lot, for 30 years.

It’s difficult enough trying to get out of Marion onto McKinley. If that many more people move in, it will make it even more so, she said.

The plan was proposed by Singer Homes and Tim Clayton, a township resident, who is called a member of the company in paperwork filed with the village. Clayton couldn’t be reached.

Plans submitted to the village show four six-plex apartment buildings and six carriage houses, or garages. Evergreen trees rim the perimeter and sidewalks connect the buildings.

A public hearing for a variance to increase the square footage limit for the building’s ground floor area from 3,000 to 4,000 was scheduled for later this week but was canceled.

Richard Ames, village zoning administrator, said the developer plans 1,000-square-foot apartments.

Hatala also worries about the possibility of water problems for the apartment residents. There’s a natural slope to the land, she said.

Another Marion resident, Norma Hazelbaker, doesn’t like the idea either.

She says the backyard is one of the reasons she bought her house. The lot where the apartments would be abuts the rear of her property.

Her neighbor, Howard Hallas, agrees.

“I think I can speak for just about all of the neighbors,” he said. “We’re not for it.”

There’s not much wooded land left in the village and he thinks what’s left should remain.

“We enjoy seeing the deer and the other wildlife that come on to our property,” Hallas said.