Rezoning effort for proposed senior facility, housing development upsets Wooster neighbors – Wooster Daily Record
WOOSTER – When Marc Husmann and his late wife moved uptown to Skylark Avenue, they thought the neighborhood was perfect because it never changed.
Years later this past March, Wooster City Schools Board of Education swapped land with the Noble Foundation for a transaction fee of $10,000. The land in question sits directly behind Husmann’s house.
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In return for the 29 acres adjacent to Kean Elementary, the school district gained 32 acres directly north of the Wooster High School stadium.
Now a proposed housing development and senior care facility totaling nearly 400 units could go up behind Husmann’s single-family residential property and across from Wooster High School, in an area also zoned for single family homes.
The plan would require a zone change for the 29 acres to community facilities and planned development. City Council will meet Monday to hear from residents.
In opposition to the proposed development are at least 24 residents on Skylark Avenue, Husmann said. Many of his neighbors have signs in their front yards that read, “Against WCS land swap” or “Not in my backyard.”
“I don’t feel like the administration is listening to us because the Planning Commission passed the development plan and what’s to stop City Council from passing it,” he said. “We were blindsided by this.”
Three new developments in one
The planned housing expansion is part of the city’s goal to increase its housing stock and make the community more appealing for businesses, said Jonathan Millea, Wooster’s development coordinator.
The city grew to a population of 27,232 in the last decade without any significant housing increase, Millea said. This proposed development is part of that housing solution.
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“Much of this gain has occurred as Wooster households became larger with many apartment dwellers seeking roommates and young adults staying with their families longer,” he said.
If approved in its current state, the 29 acres would include a senior living campus with 36 single-family homes, 16 villas, and an 85-unit independent living facility. For daily medical care, a resident would need to seek out a nursing facility, Millea said.
Built by Lemmon Development, Millea said this would free up homes occupied by the city’s aging population.
To the east of that development would go a 236-unit complex built by Vision Apartments, according to the development plans.
“This project will serve to create new housing opportunities for newer and future workers who would otherwise need to commute,” Millea said.
More nearby housing developments are also in the works.
City Council approved two developments earlier this year. Melrose Drive will have 141 units of townhomes and single-family housing while a site on Oak Hill Road, just north of Oak Hill Park, will hold 91-single family homes.
“With the 54 apartments recently opened on Akron Road, it will help Wooster to largely catch up on its missed housing growth,” Millea said.
Residential concerns
During each public hearing for these developments, nearby residents have voiced concerns ranging from storm flooding to crime and increased traffic.
For Husmann and his neighbors, these concerns largely remain the same.
“My backyard has water retention problems and there is a ravine going through the property behind my house,” he said. “What are they going to do about that?”
All excess water will drain from the southern parts of the property to the north where a proposed water retention site would go, according to the planning document.
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He is also worried about an increase in foot and car traffic. Residents aren’t sure that nearby roads can handle an influx of motor traffic.
Millea said an independent traffic study was conducted for the surrounding roads.
It concluded that roundabouts at Oak Hill Road and Oldman Road and at Oak Hill Road and Milltown Road would increase the safety of those intersections and would help with traffic flow.
“Even at peak hours, when people are coming home from work, leaving school and going to the park, the study found that the roads with roundabouts will be able to handle such traffic,” he said.
With so many units planned for construction, Husmann worries crime might also increase.
“My biggest concern though is that this is such a high concentration of housing in one area,” Husmann said. “The dynamic would all be changed and we don’t get any input at all.”
The city reassured him that he should have received a notice about the development plans, but Husmann said he never got it.
“I don’t feel heard,” he said. “It’s unfair to put business interests in front of the interests of your residents.”
A public hearing on the proposed rezoning is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Nov 1, at the City Council meeting held in Wooster City Hall.
Reach Bryce by email at bbuyakie@gannett.com
On Twitter: @Bryce_Buyakie