The village and Oberer had worked together to produce a plan that would include duplexes and affordable housing along with single-family homes in a 53-acre area along Spillan Road at the south edge of town.
The village initially asked for the development to advance affordable housing in the village, including an area that the village would later be able to develop into affordable housing, as well as more duplexes and townhomes.
But Monday night, after complaints from numerous residents, including comedian Dave Chappelle, village council voted 2-2 with one member recusing himself on the revised “planned unit development” zoning.
That means the zoning reverts to what was previously approved, with 143 single-family homes on the lot, with the homes starting at about $300,000, according to village documents. The village annexed about 34 acres of the land into the village last summer.
The development that council voted on Monday night would have included 64 single-family homes, 52 duplexes and 24 townhomes with an additional 1.75 acres to be donated to the community for affordable housing to be built later.
The Yellow Springs village council president wrote a memo describing the housing plans.
Multiple Yellow Springs villagers, including entertainer Dave Chappelle, lobbied against the project. Chappelle even threatened to pull his business interests from the village, which include a plan for a restaurant called “Firehouse Eatery” and comedy club called “Live from YS.”
Chappelle’s company, Iron Table Holdings LLC, bought the former Miami Twp. fire station at 225 Corry St. in December.
Chappelle repeated his threat again on Monday night in the village council meeting.
“I am not bluffing,” he said. “I will take it all off the table.”
>> DIGGING DEEPER: 5 things to know about Yellow Springs housing controversy
Other villagers cited concerns with traffic flow, problems with a proposed homeowner’s association and issues with water management, but several villagers said they also felt that council had not included them in the process with Oberer.
One resident, Matthew Kirk, a member of the citizen’s board who worked on the project, said he was initially excited but his view later “soured.” He argued that the plan was really two projects rather than one: a single-family home development next to a condo development.
“I think it’s important to kind of understand the framing and also understand how those products attract different homebuyers,” Kirk said.
Two council members, Brian Housh and Marianne McQueen, voted for the revised project mixing homes, duplexes and townhomes. Council members Carmen Brown and Lisa Kreeger voted against the project. Kevin Stokes, who lives near the project and previously expressed concerns about traffic, recused himself because he felt he had a personal interest in the vote.
About the Author