WEST CHESTER TWP. — The mall race field in this Butler County suburb has been narrowed by one.

        After a marathon meeting that ended early Thursday, a vote to reject a conditional-use permit for a movie theater inside a 325,000-square-foot commercial complex has apparently killed West Chester Market Square.

        The proposed entertainment, retail and housing complex from Steiner & Associates would have been at the northwest corner of Cincinnati-Dayton Road and Interstate 75.

        Yaromir Steiner, the company's founder and president, told the Board of Zoning Appeals just before itturned down the request that if the movie theater wasn't permitted, he would not be able to develop the project.

        After the 5-0 vote, a Steiner attorney said he would look into appealing the decision. But a disappointed Mr. Steiner said he planned to develop outside the township and perhaps even outside Butler County.

        “We put our hearts into this,” Mr. Steiner said. “Maybe it was not meant to be.”

        The board said Steiner's request didn't meet the criteria for the permit, and that the plans conflicted with the township's land-use plan, which shows Union Centre Boulevard as the town center.

        “I think this is the right project in the wrong place,” board member Larry Whited said.

        The board was troubled by the traffic, lights, noise and other potential problems the theater could bring.

        Steiner had announced that National Amusements would put a 16-screen Showcase Cinemas and 80,000-square-foot Gaylan's sporting goods store there.

        A senior vice president with National Amusements told the board the company might still put a theater in this fast-growing area if Steiner's project fell through.

        However, Cincinnati restaurateur Jeff Ruby, who plans a steakhouse at the site, has said he will not open here unless it is in a Steiner project.

        The decision came after the longest zoning board meeting in at least eight years: It ran nearly four hours and drew more than 100 neighbors, business and property owners, and developers.

        Showing how high the stakes are in the race to lure retailers and restaurateurs to West Chester, Steiner — which also built Newport on the Levee — brought in its attorney; experts on traffic, retail and other related areas; and even the Newport city manager to testify.

        Steiner's case was countered by similar experts from one of its competitors, Continental Retail Development, also of Columbus, and from some Union Centre business leaders.

        Continental waged a tough public relations campaign against Steiner, spreading suggestions that the movie theater could lead to traffic gridlock and adult businesses.

        While some homeowners and business leaders also opposed the project because they fear it will bring too much traffic, noise and bright lights, dozens of others spoke in favor of it.

        They noted Steiner's proposal was a marked improvement over other businesses that could emerge at the interchange, such as truck stops, lumberyards and fast-food restaurants.

        That prospect infuriated some longtime West Chester residents and business owners.

        “It didn't matter who said what last night,” said Nyla Kramer, owner of Nyla's Flowers on Cincinnati-Dayton Road for 20 years. “They had already made up their minds. Everything around here is Union Centre Boulevard and I'm sick of it. I'm thinking of moving out.”

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