Residents on Colony Lane in Burton Village and Burton Township aren’t sure when Burton Village Council will vote on rezoning the north side of their residential road to industrial use, but they plan to be ready.
Residents on Colony Lane in Burton Village and Burton Township aren’t sure when Burton Village Council will vote on rezoning the north side of their residential road to industrial use, but they plan to be ready.
The first public hearing on the proposal is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 27, said village Mayor Ruth Spanos during council’s April 28 regular meeting.
More than one meeting may be necessary, added village solicitor Todd Hicks.
On April 10, the village planning commission voted unanimously against recommending the acreage be rezoned to industrial use after a lengthy public hearing.
Walden Properties, LLC, a.k.a. Ronyak Bros. Paving, said at the hearing they would like to access Colony Lane from their blacktop yard on North Cheshire Street.
Residents argued strongly against it, primarily for safety reasons.
Colony Lane in the village is asphalt. The asphalt ends at the village-township line and the majority of the road is gravel until it meets Kinsman Road on the west end.
Monday, after the meeting, Colony Lane resident Joe Walkos said he and other Colony Lane residents attended the April 21 Burton Township Trustees meeting.
“It was packed,” he said, adding township trustees and the road maintenance supervisor told them Colony Lane is too narrow and not sturdy enough to support heavy truck traffic.
Burton Township Trustee Ken Burnett verified that evaluation.
“We are concerned with the upkeep of that road. We can’t stop them from going across there,” he said in a phone interview April 29.
If the zoning change is approved, Walkos said the resident group is ready to hire a lawyer and take action to have Colony Lane in Burton Township barricaded at the village line.
Trucks coming out of the yard would have to go right instead of left, making a tight turn onto Garden Street, also a residential, asphalt road.
Walkos said trucks making that turn might have to go left of center and he believes the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency should be asked to investigate the possibility of contaminated surface water flowing down the proposed driveway into the ditches and across Colony Lane.
“We are pulling every string we can. We expect a lot of support,” he said.
In other business, Burton Fire Inspector Brian Spangenberg asked council if the village can alert him when a new business is planning to move into a building in the village so he can perform the required safety inspections.
“I don’t know if a new occupant has moved in until after the fact,” he said.
Work began on the former Ohio Department of Transportation property before he was aware, but he is now working with the maintenance team, Spangenberg said.
“It would greatly help me out if I were informed ahead of time,” he said.
Spanos said council doesn’t always know, either, when a business moves into a building in the village.
“The one time we know for sure is when they sign up to have water and sewer turned back on,” she said. “That might be the time to inform the fire department.”
After the meeting, the inspector said he only inspects commercial or industrial buildings for safety, not residences.
Council also passed an ordinance amending the sewer tap-in fees from $13,557 to $13,087 as calculated by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, Spanos said.
“We have to pay back our loan for the (wastewater treatment) plant,” she said.
