DEVELOPERS PULL EASTON FARM PLAN IN SPRINGBORO

Potential rezone denial of Springboro property may have been issue.

Developers have SPRINGBORO — withdrawn their plans for development of the Easton Farm in Springboro.

It was unclear if the developers, Hills Properties, would resubmit a new plan.

“It’s out of our hands,” Ted Hall, an owner of the 101-acre property off Ohio 741, Main Street in Springboro, said Thursday. “We’re waiting to see what happens.”

The city tweeted at 3:13 p.m. Wednesday that the application for the development, originally submitted in January, had been withdrawn. Hills could not be reached Thursday.

“The city expects the property to develop in some fashion but as for when, how and by whom that is to be determined by the owners of the property,” Dan Boron, planning consultant for Springboro, said in an email Thursday.

The withdrawal, delivered via letter received Wednesday, came after the city released materials for a Springboro Planning Commission meeting to be held at 6 p.m. indicating that staff recommended denial of the rezoning and the plan needed for the development of 86.7 acres of the 101-acre farm at 605 N. Main St.

The staff recommendation noted “the proposed residential development densities exceed those identified in the city’s land use plan and the proposed development is not consistent with development patterns of this portion of the community, specifically the relationship of proposed higher density multi-family residential to existing lower density residential neighborhoods.”

The Blue Ash-based developers have an option to buy the land for the development, Hall said. They have proposed a mix of commercial, single-family and multi-family residential development.

The planning commission sent them back to the draw- ing board on Jan. 11, March 8 and May 10.

The latest plan reduced the number of residences from 467 to 463, and the number that would be for multiple families from 360 to 356, but still failed to satisfy staff and planning commissioners after several meet- ings to iron out issues.

Ted and Becky Hall were to continue to live on 16.1 acres on the west side of the property, south of Settlers Walk and Austin Landing and north of Springboro’s central crossroads.

In 2008, the local plan- ning commission rejected a plan by Towne Proper- ties for development of the property.