By Erica Solvig
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DEERFIELD TWP. - Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy's plans for an athletic center, including a 600-seat soccer field and several practice fields, are on hold pending appeals to the township's zoning board.

The site, about 20 acres on Snider Road,would include the main soccer field, three practice fields, concessions, restrooms, a maintenance facility and roughly 250 parking spaces.

But the school and a nearby resident filed separate lawsuits in Warren County Common Pleas Court earlier this month challenging the township's approval of a conditional use permit.

The school contends the restrictions are too tough. A neighbor contends they aren't tough enough.

The Board of Zoning Appeals approved the athletic complex in December with several conditions. It required the school to build a 6-foot privacy fence, turn lights off by 10 p.m., and allow only the school's reserve and varsity teams to use the fields.

The Sycamore Township-based academy says the conditions are too restrictive.

"We're not talking about some huge stadium - we're talking about playing fields," said Greg Amend, Cincinnati Hills' project coordinator and father of five. "If we were Kings or Mason, we wouldn't have gone through this grief. They would have rubber-stamped it."

The school also has concerns about lighting and road requirements, as well as the restrictions on who can use the stadium, he added.

The conditions ensure the athletic fields aren't being played on "24-7" by everybody, said Tim Hershner, the township's community development director.

Isabel and David Davis of Deerfield Township, who filed the other lawsuit, say the fields would bring traffic and noise too close to their subdivision.

"Just wait, it's going to be horrendous," Mrs. Davis said. "This is going to become a blighted area." Mr. Amend disagrees: "This is absolutely one of the best things you could have there. What better thing to look at than grass?"

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com