Along the frontage on Main Street (Ohio 741), the developer proposed a handful of small restaurants or stores and a “village green.”
The anchor stores and strip center would have come next, then land for multi-family or independent assisted living. Along the back, land left for the property owners would have been flanked by areas designated “residential/conference center/retreat,” according to the drawing presented to the city commission.
“We sent them back to the drawing board,” said Commission Chairperson Marie Belpulsi, also an at-large city council member.
Since 1859, the property has been a working farm. During the meeting, Belpulsi called it the “last jewel we have in the city.”
However the tall corn along Main Street (Ohio 741) seems out of place along a strip now including a string of small businesses and newer developments around the Settler’s Walk mixed-use development. Signs along Main Street advertise the family’s plans to sell about 85 acres of their land.
The city is expected to update its long-range land use plan to allow for a store of as big as 100,000 square feet on the property. However the developer said this maximum size would prevent them from attracting quality companies to the development.
“Come on back with a different plan,” Belpulsi told the developers at the conclusion of the discussion.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2261 or lbudd@coxohio.com.
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