Madeira City Council votes to halt new apartment complex project

MADEIRA, Ohio - Several hundred Madeira residents attended a city council meeting Monday night to voice their opposition to a proposed apartment complex.

The complex was to be located at the site of the former Kutol Factory near the corner of Camargo Road and Miami Avenue.

Two groups of residents formed to represent the two sides of the issue. Scott Gehring, spokesman for Madeira Proud, said the project would ruin the character of the community.

"Madeira has a long standing tradition of being owner-occupied, single-family homes," said Gehring. "To increase that number of households in Madeira by 5-6 percent on one project is fairly extreme and a drastic change from the character we're used to."

Jay DeWitt with the group Madeira Forward disagreed. He said the city could benefit greatly from the project and it would create a community where residents would walk to nearby destinations.

"This is a walk around project," DeWitt said. "People will be able to walk to the barber, walk to restaurants and walk to the drug store."

"They can shop in downtown without ever leaving the community," DeWitt added.

But, after more than an hour of public comment on the zoning change, Madeira's city council voted 6-1 against the zoning change, which stops the project from going forward.

Developer Rick Greiwe said he was disappointed. He said the opponents of the project created fear in residents about the kind of renters the apartments would attract. He also said the city officials initially indicated his project was the kind of project they wanted in Madeira.

"I don't know what happens next," said Greiwe.

"When a town does a plan and then doesn't follow it, it makes it very difficult for developers to do business in a community," he said.