January 16, 2003

Miami Township business— Pitsticks request rezoning for part of Enon Road farm Local residents Roger and Peggy Pitstick have requested that 7.81 acres of their 39-acre property on East Enon Road be rezoned from industrial to agricultural land. Miami Township Zoning Inspector Richard Zopf presented the request at the Miami Township trustees’ meeting Jan. 6, saying this was the first time a citizen in the township had asked for a zoning change. The Pitsticks’ daughter, Kathy Sanders, plans to build another family home on the northerly area of their property, east of East Enon Road, north of The Antioch Company and adjacent to Elaine Brown’s property, Zopf said. The land is currently zoned industrial, and it is surrounded by industrial and agricultural zones. Rezoning it residential would be spot zoning, which is frowned upon, Zopf said. But zoning it agricultural would simply extend the agricultural land on its northern border, he said. The land to be rezoned is one of two areas targeted for potential business development in the cooperative economic development agreement, or CEDA, between the trustees and Village Council. Under the CEDA, the Township and Village will work together to promote business growth in town. The family intends to continue to farm the land as before, Sanders and Zopf said. “[The Pitsticks] aren’t intending to develop it, though the family has looked at the possibility of developing the farm as residential,” Zopf said. In a phone interview after the meeting, Sanders commented on plans for the property. “We just want to build a house on it right now, a family home,” she said. The Township Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing today (Thursday) to consider the request. The commission then has 30 days to recommend to the trustees to honor the request, deny it or draft an amended version of the request. A map of the Pitstick property will be available at the hearing. The Zoning Commission will likely wait for input from the Greene County Regional Planning Commission, which meets at the end of January. The Zoning Commission will make a recommendation to the trustees sometime in February, Zopf said. * * * In other Township business: • The trustees agreed 2–1 to table a resolution to re-establish the farmland preservation fund with $103,345 used to buy conservation easements in the area. Trustees Lamar Spracklen and Mark Crockett voted yes; Chris Mucher voted no. Spracklen said that the trustees had not adequately discussed the size of the fund, adding that he supports “nondevelopment.” Mucher said he would invite representatives from the Tecumseh Land Trust to the trustee’s next meeting to discuss how the easement funds might be used. • Fire Chief Colin Altman reported that the Miami Township Fire-Rescue will become a smoke-free employer through the Ohio Bureau of Worker’s Compensation. The program not only prohibits smoking in the building or in the trucks, but it also prohibits all employees and volunteers from smoking. The BWC allows this prohibition because of the difficulty distinguishing between lung damage from tobacco smoke and fire smoke workers compensation claims. The change will affect two smoking members of the fire squad, Altman said. The fire department now has its drug-free workplace program in place, and drug testing is subject to begin after March 31. • According to Altman’s annual report, the fire department responded to 931 calls last year. The department received 332 fire calls and 599 EMS calls and treated 553 patients, around the same figures as previous years, Altman said. The Fire Association received $1,050 from a fundraiser brunch held by local resident Bambi Williams honoring the anniversary of Sept. 11. The money will go toward the purchase of a new thermal imaging camera. The Fire Association donated $1,290 to Children’s Medical Center to fund pediatric burn prevention. • According to his annual report, Zopf said that he issued 14 zoning permits last year for a total building value of $1,386,040 and permit fees of $763. The permits granted were for five new homes, one cabin and one lodge for the Boy Scouts, six remodeling or additions and one accessory structure. All construction occurred east of Yellow Springs, except for an addition on Golden Willow Court and a new home on East Hyde Road. • Trustees unanimously elected Mucher as president of the Board of Trustees. Crockett was unanimously named the board’s vice-president. Trustees unanimously voted to re-appoint Altman as fire chief, Hope Robbins and Denny Powell as assistant fire chiefs, an additional full-time or multiple part-time firefighter/EMT/paramedics and all current volunteers on the roster. They also unanimously reappointed John Finn as road superintendent and Dan Gochenauer as a full-time road department employee. Jon Whitmore was also reappointed to a five-year term on the Board of Zoning Appeals, and Lehr Dircks was appointed to the Zoning Commission. —Lauren Heaton