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Another challenge to green space expected
(by Joan Demirjian - July 22, 2009)
Another challenge to green space expected
By JOAN DEMIRJIAN
A new owner of a small parcel in front of Tanglewood Square shopping center in Bainbridge may challenge its green-space designation.
Township Administrator Michael Joyce told Township Trustees Monday the property has been sold and is now owned by a Columbus developer.
Several attempts have been made in the past to develop the property, which was owned by Florida resident Robert Miller, of G&M Tanglewood.
The township has maintained that the property is required by the shopping center's conditional-use permit to remain as green space.
The 1.47-acre property fronts on Chillicothe Road (Route 306) and is adjacent to Tanglewood Trail.
It has been proposed for a number of uses in the past, including fast-food restaurants and offices.
The Bainbridge board of zoning appeals has so far successfully rejected those uses.
Mr. Joyce said the new owner, under the company of JAD04 LLC, wants to develop it for a commercial use. The property was purchased for $75,900 from G&M Tanglewood.
"I told him it is restricted, and he said his attorney feels they can beat the zoning in court," Mr. Joyce said. "He believes he is not restricted. Our prosecutor disagrees with that."
The most recent owner, G&M Tanglewood, which has attempted to develop it in the past, sold it in April.
The township has declared the property a nuisance for the past several years because of uncut weeds. The township hires someone to mow the field and then places those costs on the property taxes.
The township never required the shopping center owners to merge the property with the shopping center, Mr. Joyce said. It was sold back to the original shopping center owner when he sold the center.
"That's a problem when you don't merge properties," Mr. Joyce said. "We're going to end up in a court battle over use of green space. They feel they will win the right to use it."
The developer has indicated that a plan probably will be submitted, which Mr. Joyce said he would have to turn down. "He may file a lawsuit or try to work out a deal with the township," he said.
Trustee Linda White said, when the shopping center was developed, the piece was set aside as required open space. She said she agrees with Mr. Joyce "that we need to look at combining these properties."
Trustee Matthew Lynch, who lives in Tanglewood Lake and as a resident has fought to keep the property open, said it was green space when Tanglewood Square was built.
He said he believes there is some plan afoot to get it developed. It is unlikely someone would buy it knowing it isn't buildable, he said.
Mr. Lynch said, since the shopping center operates under a conditional use, the board of zoning appeals might require its owners to buy the land as a condition of that permit. However, the current owners of the center, Tanglewood Partners, have never bought it because they can't develop it, he said.
Recalling past attempts to develop it, Mr. Lynch said, "I remember when Robert Miller made a deal with a restaurant, and we fought it."
Mr. Miller also had asked that the township buy it, saying the township denied him the ability to develop it to a beneficial use. The green-space designation denied him use, he said.
When a restriction is placed on a property and then it is allowed to be sold off multiple times, then there are bound to be challenges, Mr. Lynch said.
The parcel is an asset to the community as green space, being an area of ground-water recharge and for the overall community in that area, he said.
The parcel has a piece that cuts over to Tanglewood Trail, and residents always have been concerned that it could be a future access to commercial development off the residential road, Mr. Lynch said.
"I would hate to see it developed," he said. "But it is all about what people are willing to fight for."
Trustee Jeffrey Markley said the open space is part of the original Tanglewood Mall application and it requires green space as I understand it.
"If someone wants to present it again," he said of a request to develop it, "We know the answers. Nothing has changed."
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