We attended the Concord Township Trustee meeting last night (2/3) to hear the arguments for and against the proposal for high density housing in the township.

The land developer, Mr. Ralph Victor, a Mentor resident, purchased a former horse farm on Prouty Road on December 11, 2017.  The parcel of land is  25.56 acres, and he paid $1,109,000 ($43.388 per acre) for the property.  It is currently zoned as R-1 permitting single family homes.  He wanted the property rezoned to R-3, which allows for construction of up to 8 units per acre.  If the zoning change was allowed it would have permitted him to build approximately 200 units on the property.

The Concord Zoning Board denied Mr. Victor’s initial request to change the zoning.  Last night, Mr. Victor exercised his rights by appealing his case to the Trustees.  Mr. Victor stated that the current zoning would permit only 42 homes, and he is now planning , if it is rezoned to R-3, to build only 60 homes. (~2.5 homes per acre)

There were many residents that spoke up against the change in zoning, and their complaints centered on two problems:  (1) sewers, and (2) traffic issues.

Mr. Victor addressed the sewer issue by stating that a tie-in to the public sewer system can be achieved.  However, the traffic problems created by the additional 60 homes seemed to be the insurmountable problem for the developer to convince the Trustees and the homeowners that a zoning change is warranted.

All three Trustees voted to deny the zoning change.

Categories: Concord, Lake County Cities & Townships, Uncategorized