June 2, 2005

By Robert Mihalek

The development of Birch III passed a major hurdle last week when the Village Planning Commission agreed to send to Council plans for a new subdivision on the 21-acre property.

During a special meeting on Thursday, May 26, the Planning Commission voted 4-0 to recommend that Council grant final approval for the first phase, or section, of the subdivision, which would consist of 35 homes and a detention basin. Commission member Dawn Johnson was absent.

The plan board made its recommendation contingent on the following conditions: the developers must address questions raised in letters from both the Greene County Regional Planning and Coordinating Commission and John Eastman, the chief environmental engineer with LJB Inc. of Dayton, which has an engineering contract with the Village; the development’s protective covenants and restrictions must be reviewed by the Village solicitor, John Chambers; and the developers must incorporate Village landscaping requirements into the development plans. Village staff members must approve the conditions.

The substance of the questions raised by the Greene County planning commission and Eastman were mostly technical. For instance, Eastman said that the location of sanitary and water service for each lot in the development must be acceptable to Village staff. The Village plan board chairman, John Struewing, said Village staff could address those questions without addressing their conclusions at another Planning Commission meeting.

Planning Commission’s decision last week concluded its role in the process to grant approval of the new subdivision, Glenwood Springs. The process began in March and included two public hearings.

The project now goes on the agenda of Council, which must approve the subdivision before the developers can break ground. Council is expected to hold a first reading on the subdivision’s development plans at its meeting Monday, June 6. Council must pass two votes on the plans before the development’s first phase is approved. The second vote by Council will include a public hearing.

Glenwood Springs will be located on Birch III, a 21-acre parcel on the south end of town. Purple Sage, a limited liability company owned by Dayton developers Doug Eastham and Mark Bertke, purchased the property, along with an additional 5.11 acres, from Antioch University in April for $530,000, according to information available on the Greene County auditor’s Web site.

Purple Sage’s development plans are divided into two sections, the first of which Planning Commission recommended that Council approve. The first section consists of 35 homes and a half-acre stormwater retention basin, and the second section includes five homes, according to engineering documents prepared for Purple Sage by Brumbaugh Engineering & Surveying, LLC, of West Milton.

The development’s “protective covenants and restrictions” state that Glenwood Springs would include single-family houses no taller than two and a half stories. One-story houses must have an area of at least 1,800 square feet while houses taller than one story would be at least 2,200 square feet, according to the covenants and restrictions.

All lot owners would be required to install sidewalks, the covenants and restrictions state.

Property owners would be prohibited from subdividing their lots “for additional residential purposes,” the document states.

The development plans include the establishment of the H. T Birch III Homeowners Association, which would consist of property owners in Glenwood Springs. The homeowners association would be responsible for maintaining the development’s stormwater detention basin, the development plans state.

John Eastman, the engineer, told the Planning Commission that the detention basin’s calculations show that the structure will retain a 100-year storm.

During the meeting, Eastham reiterated a commitment Purple Sage made earlier this month not to use the additional five-acre property the company purchased with Birch III. “We’re leaving it alone,” he said of the parcel.

Bertke said that the property is “not part of this development.”

Villagers formed a group called the Friends of Glen Helen/Hyde in response to the sale of the five acres, arguing that the land is part of the Glen. Antioch purchased the disputed five-acre parcel in 1964 with money donated by the Vernay Foundation, which said that the land should be part of the Glen.

Don Tecklenburg, the vice chancellor of Antioch University, told the News earlier this month that the Antioch Board of Trustees agreed to sell the five-acre parcel last year, based on a recommendation by Bob Whyte, the executive director of the Glen. Tecklenburg noted that the land is not contiguous with Glen Helen and that, given Antioch’s limited resources, it “makes no sense to continue managing it as part of the Glen.”

During last week’s meeting, Jerry Sutton, who lives on Glen View Road, criticized the development plans for providing two exits and entrances, off Glen View, north of Birch Street, and on Stewart Drive. He said two exists are “inadequate.” Sutton urged the Village to require Purple Sage to add a third access road into Glenwood Springs, by extending Birch Street and connecting it to Stewart. Currently, Purple Sage’s engineering plans show Stewart Street ending in a cul-de-sac.

Eastham said that Purple Sage would review the flow of traffic through the development during the construction of the first phase of the project. Several Planning Commission members also made the same suggestion.

Addressing a question from Village Planner Phil Hawkey, Chambers, the Village solicitor, said in a memo that the approval of a subdivision cannot be challenged through a referendum because such approval “constitutes an administrative act. Only legislative acts are subject to referendum.”