Changes at State Level Could Alter Township and Rural Zoning Across Ohio
Preliminary Steps Taken - Bill in Development
Brown Township is calling on its residents to reach out to Ohio lawmakers to voice opposition to a proposed Senate bill that if made into law would establish statewide zoning and building standards in unincorporated areas of Ohio such as Brown and Norwich townships.
Section 1 of Senate Bill 243 states, “The 135th General Assembly hereby declares its intention to enact legislation addressing local zoning regulations that impede the development of housing in this state.”
Its primary sponsors are Ohio Sen. Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester), representing the 3rd Senate District, and Ohio Sen. Hearcel Craig (D-Columbus), representing the 15th Senate District.
Senate Bill 243 was referred to the Select Committee on Housing, on April 24, according to Ohiosenate.gov.
There is no further status on the bill and no language in the proposed bill other than Section 1 stating its purpose and scope, according to Ohiosenate.gov as of May 14.
Calls to the legislative aids of Craig and Reynolds seeking further comment were not returned.
According to Tracy Hatmaker, a planning and development specialist for Brown Township, an Ohio senate task force is making recommendations to solve Ohio’s perceived housing crises, and the zoning policies of townships are a target of outside interest groups.
Suggestions include the elimination of zoning regulations in statutory townships in lieu of statewide zoning and building standards in those same areas; that townships are mandated to allow high-density single and multi-family housing, and allow for the re-purposing of commercial buildings for housing; and that the referendum procedure is eliminated in township zoning, according to Hatmaker.
The latter suggestion, Trustee Pam Sayre said, would, if enacted, prevent the action Brown Township residents took earlier this year when an opposition group filed a referendum petition with the Franklin County Board of Elections.
The Franklin County Board of Elections has certified the petition and the next step is for the Franklin County Commissioners to take the required action of passing a resolution for its placement on the general-election ballot for Brown Township residents to consider on Nov. 5.
The ballot issue will ask whether the decision by Franklin County Commissioners on March 12 to rezone a 24-acre parcel on Davis Road, should be overturned.
Commissioners approved the rezoning of 24 acres on the south side of Davis Road, west of Alton Darby Creek Road and adjacent to Heritage Preserve, from rural residential to PR-6.
“We had no other option,” except a referendum, Sayre said, after Brown Township’s opposition to the rezoning application, voiced to the Franklin County Commissioners and the Big Darby Accord Advisory Panel was not taken into consideration.
The rezoning, if it stands, “will set a precedent for ignoring the recommendations of the Big Darby Accord (Advisory Panel) and Brown Township,” Brown Township resident Melissa Brinkerhoff said on behalf of the volunteers who carried out collecting 280 signatures and submitting the petition to the Franklin County Commissioners.
Only one residence currently sits on the 24-acre parcel but seven new residences would be built on the 24-acre parcel, according to Mark Denney, an architect representing the developer, Horse House LLC.
The LLC proposing to build the seven new residences is comprised of four individuals who intend to build their own residences but sell the remaining lots, Denney said.
There is no water and sewer service to the site and the seven new residences would use a septic tank and receive well water, the same as the existing residence there, according to Denney.
Although Denney has shared the developer’s plan for the parcel, Brinkerhoff said the PR-6 zoning allows for higher density development should another applicant seek it, and therefore initiated the referendum petition.