July 21, 2005

By Robert Mihalek

Village Council on Monday gave final approval to the first phase of the Glenwood Springs housing development, slated to be built on Birch III, which Antioch once owned.

The first phase of the project incorporates the bulk of the development, including the construction of 35 homes and a half-acre stormwater detention basin. The project is being coordinated by Purple Sage, LLC, which is operated by Dayton developers Mark Bertke and Doug Eastham.

Purple Sage purchased Birch III, along with an additional 5.11-acre parcel that many have argued is part of Glen Helen, from Antioch University in April for $530,000.

The ordinance Council approved, by a 4–0 vote, makes official the final plat plan for the new subdivision, Glenwood Springs, located on the south end of Yellow Springs, between Stewart Drive, Birch Street, Glen View Drive and East Hyde Road. The legislation ratifies Purple Sage’s construction plans and the company will use the land and lay out the houses within the first section of the Birch III development, as well as where it will locate roads, a stormwater system and water and sewer lines.

Council’s approval follows a recommendation from the Village Planning Commission, which was responsible for reviewing the project.

After the meeting, Village Planner Phil Hawkey said that the Village’s process to approve the first phase of Glenwood Springs was a good one. He noted that the Village received “a lot of community input, a lot of honest, open dialogue.”

Council president Tony Arnett abstained from the vote during Council’s meeting Monday and did not participate in the discussion on the ordinance. Arnett is also the president of the Glen Helen Association, which has been negotiating with Purple Sage to acquire the additional five-acre parcel. Jennifer Hardin, the chief advisory attorney with the Ohio Ethics Commission, told the News last month that a public official should not participate in matters that directly affect the activities of a nonprofit organization of which the official is a member if the nonprofit had business before the public body.

In June, Bertke announced that his company wanted to donate the five-acre parcel to the GHA. Initially, Purple Sage had planned to place a stormwater detention basin on the property.

Antioch purchased the five-acre property in 1964 using funds donated by the Vernay Foundation. A letter from the foundation says that the property “upon acquisition by the College shall become a part of Glen Helen and shall be administered by the director of the Glen Helen Department of the College in conformity with and as part of” the Glen. A conservation easement was also placed on the property.

The status of the five-acre parcel was the dominant subject of the public hearing Council held on the ordinance, although Council members noted several times during the discussion that, based on advice from Village Solicitor John C. Chambers, they had no jurisdiction over that property.

In a memo to Council, Village Solicitor John C. Chambers said that Council “may not condition or delay its final approval” of the Birch III subdivision based on Purple Sage’s stated intention to donate the five-acre parcel to the GHA. Chambers said that the property transaction is not a part of the Glenwood Springs subdivision, is not needed “to fulfill any infrastructure or other needs of the Subdivision,” and is located outside the village boundaries.

Council member Mary J. Alexander said that the number of people who have attended Planning Commission and Council meetings on the Birch III development should show Purple Sage how the community feels about Glen Helen. Alexander and other Council members urged Yellow Springers to trust that Purple Sage would donate the property to the GHA.

“I take them at their word,” Alexander said of Purple Sage.

Despite Council members’ explanation of Chambers’ opinion on the five-acre parcel, a number of audience members raised questions about the land transaction. Perry Stewart suggested that Council approve a nonbinding resolution encouraging Purple Sage to follow through with the land donation and the GHA to accept the property.

Luisa Owen noted that a citizens group, Friends of Glen Helen/Hyde, submitted to Council a petition containing about 250 signatures asking Council to delay its decision on Glenwood Springs until the status of the five acres is resolved. “I wish that it was more politely addressed,” she said of the petitions.

Sitting in the front row of the audience, Bertke and Eastham were noticeably quiet about their efforts to donate the parcel, and they did not make any comments about the development during the public hearing.

Arnett would only say that the “paperwork has been prepared, and I expect the transaction to proceed shortly.”

Referring to Purple Sage, local resident Harry Lipsitt said that “it’s a shame how the village has treated these men.”

Purple Sage’s development plans are divided into two phases, the first of which Council approved on Monday. The first phase will be built on 17.5 acres of Birch III. The second section, which the Planning Commission and Council will have to approve later, includes five homes on three acres.

Council member Denise Swinger and Hawkey said that “any major changes” to the development’s first phase will have to be referred back to the Planning Commission, and Purple Sage will have to start at the beginning of the approval process.

Chambers also told Council in another memo that Purple Sage must go through the same process for the second section of the development as they did for the first. That process took five months, though Hawkey said that the process should be simpler the second time around. Hawkey said that there’s no time limit for when Purple Sage must apply for approval of the second phase.

After the meeting, Hawkey said the Village will have a full inspection process throughout the construction of Glenwood Springs in an effort to “ensure the community of a quality subdivision.”

Birch III is zoned Residence A, which allows for medium-density, single-family dwellings on lots that are at least 75 feet wide and are a total of 10,000 square feet. The development’s “protective covenants and restrictions” state that Glenwood Springs will include houses no taller than two and a half stories. Houses that are one story tall must be at least 1,800 square feet in size, and houses with more than one story will be at least 2,200 square feet, documents submitted to the Village by Purple Sage state. Property owners could build garages that hold two to four vehicles.

All owners of lots in Glenwood Springs will be responsible for installing sidewalks, the development documents state. Property owners will be prohibited from subdividing their lots “for additional residential purposes,” the covenants and restrictions say.

Residents of Glenwood Springs will form the H. T. Birch III Homeowners Association, which, among other things, will be responsible for maintaining the development’s stormwater detention basin. John Eastman, the chief environmental engineer with LJB Inc. of Dayton, which has an engineering contract with the Village, has said that the detention basin’s calculations show that the pond will retain a 100-year storm.