May 12, 2005

By Lauren Heaton

The Village Planning Commission agreed on Monday to postpone a decision on the final plat application for the Birch III development.

Saying that they needed more time to discuss the proposal, plan board members scheduled a special meeting for Thursday, May 26, at 7 p.m., at which time the commission is likely to decide whether to approve the development.

Though board members did not anticipate any major problems preventing them from making a decision later this month, four of the five members hesitated to vote without what they considered sufficient time to review documents relevant to the development.

Bruce Rickenbach, who serves as Council’s representative on the Planning Commission, indicated that he did not see any reason to postpone a vote on the plat application. But the board chairman, John Struewing, and members Dawn Johnson, Steve Deal and Bill Bebko said they needed more time to review engineering recommendations from the Greene County Regional Planning and Coordinating Commission. Acting Village Manager Phil Hawkey and Assistant Village Planner Ed Amrhein received the county recommendations at 4 p.m. on Monday.

The Village Planning Commission went ahead with the public hearing on Monday night. The discussion included an engineering review from John Eastman, whom the Village contracts for engineering work.

Many of the concerns raised by Yellow Springers were answered at a community meeting held on Saturday, where Mark Bertke, co-owner of the Birch III property, said that he would not alter the five-acre parcel sold with Birch III and considered to be part of Glen Helen.

Doug Eastham, who, with Bertke, co-owns the development company Purple Sage, also said during Monday’s meeting that they do not intend to use the five acres.

The developers’ preliminary plans recommended placing the plat’s stormwater detention basin on the five acres, which has a conservation easement on it prohibiting the building of structures.

The developers split the plat application into two phases and placed the basin within the Birch III property after a group of community members known as the Friends of Glen Helen/Hyde opposed the intended use of the five-acre parcel.

John Eastman’s engineering review focused mainly on minor drainage issues for the development’s first phase, which includes 35 of the 40 lots on the western portion of the plat.

The second phase of the development includes five lots plus the retention basin on the eastern edge of the plat. It is expected to be submitted to Planning Commission within 11 months of the passage of phase 1.

If Planning Commission approves the plat design on May 26, the plans will be forwarded to Village Council for final approval. The plan would likely be on the agenda for Council’s meeting on June 6. Council would hold a public hearing at its next meeting, Monday, June 20.

A complete report of the Planning Commission meeting will be included in next week’s News.