Saturday, January 23, 1999
Developers pull out of land fight
Florence-Union battle continues
BY KRISTINA GOETZ
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BURLINGTON — Developers who wanted to build 990 houses off Longbranch Road have withdrawn their rezoning request.
“Until the applicant decides to submit another application or a city decides to sponsor one, as far as we're concerned, the project is gone at this time,” said Kevin Costello, executive director of the Boone County Planning Commission.
The unincorporated land in Boone County has been at the center of controversy since leaders of both Florence and Union decided they wanted to annex it.
In a letter to the commis sion, Larry Sprague, land development manager for the Fischer Development Co., said Florence's application request to annex the land makes their rezoning application moot.
State law requires a public hearing after the adoption of an intent-to-annex ordinance, the letter said.
“Why have ourselves or others contemplating what was said at the last hearing, when we have to have a new hearing anyway?” Mr. Sprague said Thursday.
Fischer Development Co., Miller Developers and Boone County developer Tom Schreiber had planned to build the houses over a 10- to 15-year period.
In a move to acquire the land, Florence approved an or dinance that says it intends to annex more than 350 acres proposed for the development along Longbranch and Fowler Creek roads.
Union also passed ordinances to annex the land as part of a larger parcel. Union officials said they do not intend to develop the parcel, but moved to annex it after requests from residents opposed to development.
Florence sued Union in Boone Circuit Court asking that annexation rights be given to Florence. Union claims first right of annexation because its vote was taken an hour before the Florence meeting. Florence officials claim Union did not give proper notice of its meeting and are asking the court to decide.
“Obviously, the city of Florence and the city of Union are taking this very seriously,” Mr. Sprague said. “As for us at this time, we're waiting.
“We've had negotiations in the past with Florence, and they wanted us in the city. We're just waiting to see what they're going to do.”
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