This site on the southeast corner of Beavercreek was zoned for commercial use. The Mall at Fairfield Commons was going to go there before it ended up in its current spot.
Planning and Development Director Randy Burkett said if the site was turned into a residential area, there would be about 1,400 additional cars a day on Shakertown Road. If it were to be developed for a commercial use, it would add about 16,000 cars a day to the road.
At public hearings on April 26, M/I asked that the site be rezoned for residential use and that it’s specific site plan be approved. Several residents spoke at that meeting on their concerns about the development.
Residents were concerned about the density of the subdivision, the hours of construction and the line of trees separating the new development from an existing subdivision, Tara Falls.
The Sky Crossing neighborhood will have more than a dozen different floor plans with square footage ranging from about 1,500-square-feet to about 3,200-square-feet. The lot sizes will range from about 7,600-square-feet to 38,000-square-feet, according to city documents. The average lot size in this plan is about a quarter of an acre. The density of the development is 1.8 houses per acre, according to the city.
The Sky Crossing development would be built in three phases over four or six years. The city did not ask the developer to shorten its construction hours because M/I Homes said that would make the construction stretch another six months to a year.
Burkett said the city tried to address resident’s concerns about the tree line between the two subdivisions by adding a condition for there to be a conservation buffer easement. The condition states that no trees over three inches can be cut down in the 25-feet area between the two subdivisions.
Mary Lou Hopun, who is the president of the board of trustees for the Tara Falls homeowners association, wrote a letter to council stating her opposition to the development and asking them to more carefully consider the concerns of its residents. Hopun also spoke at the April 26 hearing. Hopun said she felt that her concerns were dismissed at the April 26 meeting and that she felt her input was irrelevant to the city’s current development agenda. She said she had talked to several people who live in Tara Falls who plan to potentially move to avoid the years-long construction nearby.
Burkett said the city tried to address all the concerns heard at the public hearing as best they could.
M/I Homes also has a nearby development called Cedarbrook Farms in Beavercreek. Cedarbrook Farms is also on Shakertown Road.
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