December 22, 2005

By Lauren Heaton

Village Planning Commission approved by a narrow 3–2 margin Antioch University’s application to rezone 10 acres at the northwest corner of the Center for Business and Education from an agricultural to an educational district during its meeting and public hearing on the matter on Monday, Dec. 12. Plan board chairman Bruce Rickenbach and board members John Struewing and Bill Bebko voted yes, and board members Dawn Johnson and Burhan Bayraktaroglu voted no.

Johnson objected to approving the application and recommending it to Village Council because neither the survey map of the area nor the property description met the standards of a legal document required by plan board to approve the plans and recommend them to Council, she said. Bayraktaroglu agreed that approving incomplete plans would force Council to complete the job plan board is charged with and would set a poor precedent for future evaluations.

But Antioch University has a finance plan in place that requires the construction of Antioch McGregor’s new facility to begin this spring, and construction cannot begin before the rezoning of the property is complete, Antioch’s attorney Dave Weaver said during plan board’s meeting. The remaining plan board members agreed that approving the plans contingent on Antioch’s procurement of the legal surveys in time for Council’s review of the application in January would expedite the process for Antioch without unduly compromising plan board’s charge of a thorough review. Interim Village manager Phil Hawkey also recommended the plans be approved and forwarded to Council.

During the meeting, Johnson further argued that rezoning just a portion of the 46-acre commerce park on the corner of East Enon and Dayton-Yellow Springs Roads was “piecemeal’ and “inefficient.” She also said that plan board has not completed a cost-benefit analysis of rezoning the property to an educational district, whose uses would not generate property tax revenue for the Village.

Rickenbach agreed that McGregor will not generate property tax revenue at any location, but that the Village and Miami Township will still have to create an income tax sharing formula for future business occupants of the commerce park since the park is located on land covered by the cooperative economic development agreement (CEDA) between the Village and the Township. The planning members in favor of the application agreed to request that Hawkey submit a cost-benefit analysis of the rezoning to include in Council’s review of the application.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com