By Erica Solvig, The Cincinnati Enquirer
and Perry Schaible, Enquirer Contributor

LEBANON - Developers and Warren County leaders waged a tug of war Thursday on residential growth, and county planners pulled harder.

The battleground was the Warren County Regional Planning Commission, which, in a marathon meeting, denied two of three proposals for housing developments of another 860 homes in Hamilton Township.

Commission members said they denied the plans for the two developments, known as the Stotler properties, because the design did not fit the area's rural character. Developers also failed to submit a study showing how the traffic would affect the fastest-growing of Warren's 11 townships.

"You just can't keep making the wrong decision for fear of making the right one," County Commissioner Mike Kilburn told commission members who expressed concern that the case could end up in court.

"We can't just continue being an approval body ... and this might go to court. But we won't be any worse off then than we are now."

About 60 developers, residents and representatives from schools and townships were ready for commissioners to continue the showdown on growth Thursday. But as the planning commission's meeting hit the 51/2-hour mark and showed no sign of ending, commissioners postponed their session with a growth management consultant until June 10.

County commissioners are considering a moratorium on development, although they've been advised by legal counsel that the county has no explicit authority to impose one. A few township officials have questioned whether a moratorium would force developers to annex property in townships into cities.

Thursday, several planning commission members argued for more-stringent countywide development planning. But attorney Joe Trauth, representing PBM Development, said plans for the Stotler properties should not be made the test case: "I would recommend that you start this day forward with that strenuous planning and not affect the people already in the pipeline."

Members disagreed and denied the developers' plans for two subdivisions totaling 570 homes.

"We have got a school system that is in serious trouble, and we've got to find a way to help them," Kilburn said of Little Miami Schools, which gets students from Hamilton Township as well of parts of surrounding Warren County communities. "If there is a way that we can limit this population explosion in this township, this county, then we need to do it."

Hamilton Township residents who have been pushing for managed growth applauded the denial. But Trauth warned that there were plenty of grounds to fight the issue in court.

The planning commission did approve the preliminary plat and site plan for The Villages of Hopewell Valley, a Hamilton Township subdivision of 290 homes.

Thursday was far from the last of the county's attempts to control the residential growth that has defined the area for the past decade. County planning staff is going to evaluate proposed lot-size increases in Hamilton Township, where the growth management efforts are being focused, as well as changes to the county's subdivision regulations.

"It's an emotional issue. It's our quality of life," Hamilton Township resident Beverley Massey said. "I've grown up in a house where you could hear the people next door gargle in the morning. I'd hate to see that (growth) happen (here)."

E-mail esolvig@enquirer.com and pschaible@hotmail.com