No new buildings can be developed along a busy corridor in West Chester Township for almost a year.
That's the result of a newly revised development moratorium, which trustees just approved for its main business district, the “Cincinnati-Dayton 747 Corridor.”
"The biggest takeaway is that if it's a blank piece of land, then it would not be permitted to construct a new building, whether it's on just a parcel by itself or basically an ancillary structure to a principal structure," Township Administrator Lisa Brown said. "So no new buildings."
Currently, West Chester is home to about 3,600 businesses.
The affected corridor is about 3,200 acres along Union Centre Boulevard.
During the moratorium, the township wants a comprehensive impact study to evaluate traffic, land use patterns, environmental impacts, infrastructure capacity, and future development.
Trustee Lee Wong says temporarily stopping development in this area will allow the township to develop a sustainability strategy.
"We have limited land left in this area, Union Center, and we have to be very careful of future development, what next fifty years gonna bring us. So I think this is necessary," Wong said.
Trustee Ann Becker thanked the business community for their input and patience.
"I know it's a little bit frustrating to have a pause in any kind of normalcy in a community, but this economic development look that we're gonna do in this corridor is very important to the future of that last part of development along Union Center Boulevard," Becker said.
Chairman Trustee Mark Welch emphasized the trustees have limited influence over the type of businesses that move into West Chester.
"One of the things that people have to understand is that if it's in the zoning code, the trustees don't hear about it. We don't vote on it," Welch said. "What causes it to come before the Board of Trustees is a change in zoning. And if there's no change in zoning, then it goes right through community development and we get what we get."
Tuesday night during the trustees meeting, the three member board unanimously approved and passed this measure. It overrides the original development moratorium approved in October.
During the Nov. 18 public meeting, a number of business owners complained that first measure was too broad. They say it halted projects they’d already spent money on.
However, Brown said this revised moratorium allows them to complete most projects.
"Most of the normal operational changes that would be made to existing buildings would be permitted. Tenant fit outs and we added the expansions this evening and then other general alterations that don't increase a building's footprint. So you know, like painting, fencing, stuff like that, exterior signage and some other general things," Brown said.
According to Brown, it also enables them to expand a principle building no more than 60% of the size of the main structure.
"The Union Center Boulevard Corridor is really the entrance — the prime entrance — to our community, and we want to make sure to keep it looking very nice and welcoming to visitors and businesses that come into West Chester."
The addition must be connected directly to the principle building.
During the meeting, no business owners objected to the newly revised development moratorium. It’s slated to stay in effect until October.
However, Chris Wunnenberg urged trustees to move swiftly with the comprehensive impact study. He’s the development director for Schumacher Dugan Construction, a major local enterprise.
"A lot of properties and a lot of people are going to be without the ability to use their properties if they're building new and or expand their properties if they want to, if they need to expand more than 60%," Wunnenberg said. "I can't imagine it would take 10 months or 11 months to decide what needs to be done here. We got the interchange approved in less time."
Township Administrator Lisa Brown estimates West Chester currently has 12% to13% of commercial land available for development.
Since only smaller parcels are left, she said it's more difficult to bring in high quality businesses.
"So we want to make sure that any future development is going to meet with the organizational objectives and the community needs to ensure that it really we have these high quality developments that'll add to the community and that the uses that come in really fit with our vision for this corridor," Brown said. "The Union Center Boulevard Corridor is really the entrance — the prime entrance — to our community, and we want to make sure to keep it looking very nice and welcoming to visitors and businesses that come into West Chester."
