Saturday, January 08, 2000
Subdivision wants trees around proposed store
Water detention plan causes concern
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
GREEN TOWNSHIP — In an ongoing zoning dispute, residents of the Chateau Lakes subdivision say they don't want to see an 80,000-square-foot store instead of trees.
They don't object to the proposed development, roughly the size of a large supermarket, as long as developers agree to leave a 100-foot buffer zone of trees standing between the store and their backyards. A tenant for the space has not yet been named.
It would be built on 7.3 acres on the north side of Harrison Avenue, between Blue Lake Drive and Valley Ridge Road just off of Interstate 74. Just north of the property lies Chateau Lakes, a quiet, wooded community of 60 homes built around two man-made lakes in the 1970s.
“I'm not trying to stop them, because I don't think I can. If I could, I would,” said Bob Gardner, president of the Chateau Lakes Homeowners Association. “I'm just trying to protect the ambiance of our little community here.”
Developers for the Geiler Family Trust, represented by attorney Chuck Mitchell, have told county and township officials that they don't object to a 100-foot buffer zone of green space.
But they want to cut down trees at one end of it to make room for a grassy water detention area — which would prevent runoff from the paved parking lot and store from flooding Chateau Lakes.
Therein lies the dispute.
“What people have to get out of their head is that (the developers) are going to build Hoover Dam back there. That's not what they're talking about doing,” said township Trustee Bill Seitz, who has been trying to broker a deal between the sides.
He is committed to making sure there is some green space between the store and the homes. Otherwise, Mr. Seitz said, he won't vote in favor of recommending the zoning change needed to make the development possible.
“When I said there was going to be a green belt, I was not saying the area would be totally undisturbed. I said it was going to be undeveloped,” he said.
Homeowners commissioned a study that found their subdivision to be a wetland, hoping that would provide them with additional regulatory protection.
But no government agency has yet taken on issues of runoff pollution, such as the oil and grime that would mix with rainwater pouring from the 400-space parking lot into Chateau Lakes. So long as flooding is not an issue, the development can proceed, said Todd Kinskey, county zoning process manager.
Township trustees will hold a public hearing and, likely, vote on their recommendation at 4:15 p.m. Jan. 24.
Then the matter will go to the county Rural Zoning Commission for another advisory vote before county commissioners give it a final thumbs-up or thumbs-down.
Mr. Gardner said he hopes they can reach an agreement. He will consult with an engineer on how the development can be reconfigured to move the water detention area out of the buffer zone.
The most obvious solution — moving it closer to Harrison Avenue and further from Chateau Lakes — would cut short two outlots that could also be developed. And it would push the stores closer to the road, rather than allowing a more attractive setback.
Homeowners say they realize they can't fight the rapid development sweeping western Hamilton County. But they want to protect their lifestyles.
“We're in boom times. I guess the money (for development) is there now,” Mr. Gardner said. “For us, it's the best of times and the worst of times.”
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