(Posted March 29, 2019)
By Michael Williamson, Staff Writer
Development is on the table in Plain City.
Members of the village’s Planning and Zoning Commission discussed two residential housing projects at their March 20 meeting. Neither development has been formally proposed, but interested companies are starting conversations with village officials to gather feedback from them and the community.
The larger of the two projects is Madison Meadows, a mixed residential development that would be located at the corner of Perry Pike and Lafayette-Plain City Road, at the west/southwest edge of village. Preliminary designs show 104 acres of land featuring 505 housing units of varying types.
“We’ve actually spent a lot of time over the last couple of months talking to Nathan (Cahall, village administrator), kind of trying to find out what the village is looking for, what the village needs,” said Gary Smith of G2 Planning and Design, a planning and landscaping architectural firm in central Ohio. “This gives us the opportunity from the standpoint of making sure we’re headed in the right direction.”
An early design shows 150 single-family units, 91 single-family condo units and 264 multi-family units, but developers and village officials stress the early nature of the designs.
“Really what we’re trying to do and what we’ve talked about with Nathan is come back to the village with more of a high quality, walkable, mixed residential community,” Smith said. “We feel from a professional planning standpoint this is a lot better than the typical suburban sprawl solution.”
Smith said the idea would be to create more opportunities in the village for living choices and to give people–from working professionals and young professionals to retired residents looking to downsize–a place to go.
Darren Lee, Planning and Zoning chair and council member, offered feedback to the developers, saying the village would like to see more balance between single-family and multi-family residential options, housing that is no more than two stories in height, and more green space.
“Definitely like to see pedestrian connectivity into the development and along the main routes,” Lee added. “We’d also need some contributions to traffic improvements.”
Prices for single family units could be near the $300,000 mark but many of those details haven’t been sorted out, according to the developers. Smith said he hopes to use feedback from the village to improve the plans and submit something more formal in the next month or so.
Chris Bradley of the Camber Co. also attended the meeting, offering preliminary information on a development that would go on 7.5 acres of land on U.S. Rte. 42 South. The property would be located just south of the former Lovejoy’s Market property.
“A smaller piece is not in the city currently so that would require annexation,” Bradley said. “We’re really in the conceptual planning stage.”
The development would have 15 duplexes or 30 units in total.
Bradley also mentioned this was simply an informal meeting to gather feedback. No finished plans have been made.
Plain City’s Planning and Zoning Commission meets at 6:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at 213 S. Chillicothe St.
