Mayor says: No plans to seek zoning change on Dischinger parcel

By: 
Larry Limpf

A 52-acre parcel along Dischinger Road that is owned by the Village of Elmore will retain its R-2 zoning classification after village council unanimously voted to keep the zoning unchanged during a special council meeting held Sept. 20.
Mayor Rick Claar last week said he was disappointed by the vote but the process grants village council the authority to reject the planning commission’s recommendations which they did. He said he doesn’t foresee the planning commission or council revisiting the R-3 rezoning again for that property.
The village planning commission on July 14 voted 3-2 to forward a proposal to rezone the property from an R-2 medium density zone to R-3, a high density zone.
Under the R-2 classification, only single-family housing is permitted and a conditional use permit would be required for condominiums. A rezoning of the property to R-3 would allow the construction of multi-family units.
Mayor Claar said the rezoning would make the property more attractive to residential development and bolster the village’s income tax base.
Currently, there are no buildings on the property and the village has no immediate plans for it other than to continue leasing it as farmland at this time, the mayor said.
In other business, village council has had its first reading of an ordinance that would allow the administration to enter into an agreement with the Ottawa County commissioners for extending the county regional water supply to the village.
A resolution authorizing the preparation of preliminary engineering plans, cost estimates and specifications for the extension has already been approved by the county commissioners.
At present, the county’s regional water distribution system extends west as far as the Materion Corp. facility on W. Portage River South Road, outside the village limits in Harris Township.
Extending the waterline to the village has been considered for years but the availability of federal and state funding for infrastructure has renewed interest in the project, Dave Hower, village administrator, said.
A bill passed by the Ohio legislature in June allocates $250 million statewide for infrastructure and related projects, said Kelly Frey, Ottawa County sanitary engineer.
Mayor Claar said he and council intend to hear three readings of the ordinance but may pass it as an emergency measure if they need to meet a grant deadline.

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