ThisWeek CW 07/19/2012
Canal Winchester Planning and Zoning Administrator Andrew Dutton hopes a review of a Cooperative Economic Development Agreement (CEDA) between the city and Violet Township will loosen what he called “overly regulatory” requirements and open the area for further development.
He asked the Canal Winchester Planning and Zoning Commission at its July 9 meeting to review the current CEDA standards and be prepared to provide their feedback about changes at the Aug. 13 meeting.
The CEDA, created in 2004 and adopted by both entities in 2005, sets development standards for the zoning district east and west of Diley Road, generally within the boundaries of Bowen Road, U.S. Rt. 33, Busey Road and Amanda Northern Road.
Some of the major developments in the CEDA area include the Meijer properties, Diley Ridge Medical Center and the Canal Pointe Industrial Center.
“Because of our joint responsibilities for some of our shared services with Violet Township, like road plowing and that sort of thing, we have a land-use plan and a tax-share agreement with them,” Dutton said. “As a part of the land-use plan, we have a joint land-use committee responsible for reviewing development in the CEDA area.”
The committee includes Dutton, Development Director Lucas Haire and school district Treasurer Joyce Boyer from Canal Winchester; Violet Township Economic Development Director Joy Davis, Violet Township Zoning Administrator Kelly Sarko, resident Steve Palsgrove and Fairfield County Regional Planning Commission member Holly Mattei.
“We generally only meet when there is a development issue we need to review, but we haven’t had any recently,” Dutton said.
The idea behind the CEDA standards is that they create uniform development regulations for the designated area, Dutton said.
He said the current CEDA standards are applied as an overlay district in the Canal Winchester zoning code. However, the joint land-use committee believes they are too strict for the developers that the municipalities hope to attract.
“Over the last six months, the group has talked about the standards,” Dutton said.
He said the current architectural, landscape and structural requirements “are overly regulatory and they conflict with some of our code, so we’re applying different standards every time an application comes forward.”
He said changing some of these regulations “will make it easier for us to review and work with developers in the future.”
The joint land-use committee reviews development plans initially and then provides Canal Winchester and Violet Township’s zoning authorities with recommendations. Those are then fully reviewed, based on the municipality’s zoning process, Dutton said.
The Canal Winchester Planning and Zoning Commission has the authority to recommend approval of any CEDA changes by city council, which would then be required to follow its procedures for public comment and voting.
The Aug. 13 Planning and Zoning Commission meeting will start at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 10 N. High St.