UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Eighteen new homes could soon inhabit a 4.7-acre piece of land along Shephard Road in Union Township.
Currently, the site holds an empty home and a patch of trees.
Now, a Clermont County development company wants to transform it. But first, the company asked Union Township to change how the area is zoned.
Union Township's zoning commission held a meeting July 29 to address the proposed change.
Residents Richard Crocker and Tonya Butts-Hamilton were two of the neighbors who spoke during public comment.
Watch to hear why residents opposed a zoning change along their street:
“It’s too many houses for such a small piece of land," Crocker said to the commissioners.
Commissioners heard from Tyler Gibbs, president of Maddox Development Co., as well as one of the property owners.
Maddox requested a zoning change from the current R-2 or "Single Family Detached Structure Residential" to an R-4, "Single Family Variable Structure Residential".
The site would already allow homes to be developed without any additional approval. But a change from an R-2 to an R-4 would allow for "creativity" of the development space, according to Union Township Administrator Cory Wright.
The development design includes homes on smaller lots, with green space and retention ponds.
The zoning commission recommended approval contingent on modifications.
Crocker and Butts-Hamilton reached out to me following that zoning commission meeting to share why they are not in favor of the proposed zoning change.
“It’s not keeping with the same feel of this neighborhood," Butts-Hamilton said.
“I’m not against developing; I’m against overdeveloping, and this is a perfect case of overdeveloping," Crocker said.
The two residents said they'd be fine with a development that included fewer new homes. I brought that concern to the president of the developing company.
“All the local builders are building on 50, 55, 60-foot-wide lots now. That’s what’s selling; that’s what people want," Gibbs said.
Gibbs explained why his company put in the request for the zoning change.
“The reason we would go R-4 is because R-4 is the only one that allows for a planned community that has green space, HOA, things like that," Gibbs said.
Gibbs said that this development would improve the neighborhood.
“The township wants to see this lot cleaned up and we’re going to help them out," Gibbs said.
Township trustees will hold a public hearing on Aug. 11 at 6 p.m. This would not be the final step before construction; the project would be reviewed at the county level, according to Wright.
