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Building owners win exception to zoning
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - December 02, 2009)
Building owners win exception to zoning
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Burton Township Trustees continued to tweak planned zoning amendments Monday, including the rezoning of two parcels, after listening to business owners' concerns.
Trustees held the second of the planned three public hearings on the amendments.
Trustee Lou Mucci said they will provide better protection for the township against proposals such as the asphalt treatment plant that was planned two years ago.
The township, which had combined industrial and commercial areas in the past, is looking to separate the two to gain greater control over developments, he said. "We need to separate them if we want to avoid situations like the asphalt plant," he said.
Trustees are planning to adopt the amendments at the third hearing, scheduled for 7 p.m. Dec. 15.
Trustee Dan Whiting said officials are awaiting a map showing new zoning districts from the Geauga County planning commission.
The focus of the latest discussion was concern raised by Jeff and Susie Kochy, who operate Shade Tree Power Sports at 15141 Kinsman Road (Route 87).
Mrs. Kochy said their property, which is near the border with Middlefield Township, is divided by the new zoning district classifications, with the front portion classified as commercial and the rear as industrial. The existing building on the property is a custom design intended to accommodate what is primarily a mail-order business, she said. The building has a small office space in the front and a large warehouse space in the rear, she said.
Although the couple is not considering the sale or lease of that building, Mrs. Kochy said, the new classification could hamper their ability to market it in the future. She said the building is more compatible with light industrial use than as a retail store. "I don't want you to limit our ability to market that building," she said.
She said interested buyers could just go a couple hundred feet east on Kinsman Road to Middlefield Township, where no zoning code exists, to build what they want. "Another retail business is not going to move into our building," she said.
Mr. Mucci said the only way Burton Township could compete with Middlefield Township would be to throw out all its zoning. But zoning often is considered an advantage by business owners, who see it as protection against undesirable operations moving next door to them, he said. "It offers certain protections, so you don't have to worry what comes next to you," he said.
"Our intent was never to create a hardship for people but just to plug some holes," Mr. Mucci said.
Mrs. Kochy said the township appeared to make an exception for another existing business, which was allowed to be classified as industrial, surrounded by commercial.
Ron Weese, a member of the zoning commission, which drew up the proposed amendments, said there is a difference, because that property already is operating as an industrial use. He said there is a danger with accommodating the Kochys' request. He said creating various areas of certain types of zoning classifications without a specific order to them could be viewed as spot zoning, which could be challenged in the courts.
But Burton Trustees unanimously sided with the Kochys and agreed to classify the township's two most easterly parcels on the south side of Kinsman Road as industrial, which includes the Kochys' property.
Mr. Whiting said the township has attempted to take into consideration the concerns of all business owners during the two-year process of developing the zoning amendments. He said the township would continue to do so until the Dec. 15 hearing and asked the Kochys to inform other area businesses to make their wishes known before then.
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