ThisWeek CW 09/11/2014

http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/09/08/argument-over-apartment-complex-city-rockford-homes-headed-back-to-court.html

Canal Winchester will be back in court again in another attempt to keep Rockford Homes from building a 112-unit apartment complex.

City Law Director Jennifer Croghan said last week the case was returned to the Environmental Division of Franklin County Municipal Court on Aug. 21, but she had no trial date yet for the latest installment of a long-running dispute between the city and the developer.

Environmental Division Judge Daniel R. Hawkins ruled earlier this year that Rockford should be allowed to proceed with construction, based on the idea that the company’s plans had at one point been approved.

The city appealed and Croghan said the appeals court ruled in August that Hawkins should have set the standards of review to include consideration of the fact that a previously approved Rockford plan had expired. She said that’s why the case is now back before Hawkins for a retrial, with the assumption that Rockford cannot argue that it has active approval of a previous proposal.

The city’s planning commission had originally approved Rockford’s plans to build apartments as part of the Villages at Westchester development in 2003, but the units were never constructed.

In 2005, Rockford asked the city for permission to build 48 condos instead, but those also were never built.

In 2008, Rockford unsuccessfully sought planning commission approval to return to its original plan for 112 apartments and Canal Winchester City Council rejected Rockford’s appeal after nearby residents raised concerns that more rentals in the area could lower property values and burden the school district.

In 2010, the Franklin County Court of Appeals upheld a decision by the Environmental Division of Franklin County Municipal Court, which had ruled in favor of Rockford Homes, but stipulated that construction had to start within two years. That didn’t happen, because, according to the company, funding had dried up due to the country’s economic slump

In March 2013, council unanimously upheld a decision by the planning and zoning commission to reject a site development plan application for the apartment complex that had originally been proposed in 2003.

The planning commission had asked Rockford for several modifications so its plans would meet current zoning standards. City Development Director Lucas Haire said last year that even after Rockford changed its proposal, there were still issues that conflicted with city code, including having a private drive crossing a stream corridor protection zone, the number of accessory structures planned and the type of vinyl siding the developer wanted to use.

“Basically, the appellate court agreed with the city council decision and found that since Rockford Homes allowed their 2008 application to expire without building anything, they had to start the process anew,” Croghan said last week. “So this means that Rockford Homes would have had to start the application process over again.”

She said the appeals court has instructed Hawkins to go back and “reset its standard” of reviewing the case based on the expiration of Rockford Homes’ previously approved development plans.

“The court will then relisten to our arguments … and determine if city council was justified in their decision,” Croghan said.