Trustees explain plan, table action until May 27
Friday, May 16, 2008
Oxford Twp. trustees tabled action on a draft comprehensive plan Monday, May 12, but will hold a special meeting May 27 to get action completed in time for presentation at a June 10 county meeting.
That special township meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the township office at 925 Collins Run Road.
Extras
The plan was presented Monday by study committee chairman Jim Rubenstein, who explained the main components of the plan and answered questions.
Citizen comments at Monday's trustees meeting resulted in a consensus of several changes. Trustees agreed with the proposed changes and tabled the decision to allow Rubenstein time to notify the committee of those changes and get the wording changes completed.
Efforts to create a plan for the township began a year ago with a committee of 15 members. When the final draft is complete, trustee approval will be a recommendation to Butler County, which oversees township planning.
Rubenstein said that the township lost 1,000 acres of agricultural land in the past eight years, mostly in large five-acre lots, despite only modest population growth.
"The core or central value of the plan is what we do to maintain the rural, agricultural nature of the land," Rubenstein said. "We want to at least make it not hostile to agricultural use of land."
Rubenstein said the plan seeks to allow development while encouraging continued use of farmland. Using an aerial view of a 56-acre farm property, he showed how it could be broken up into more, but smaller, lots leaving much of the farm available for continued agricultural use.
Currently, a rural residential lot requires five acres in order to provide sufficient leach field space for sewage disposal. That 56-acre farm could have nine such "bowling alley" lots, leaving little for farming. He showed another overlay of the same property with a small subdivision of 11 lots, each two-thirds of an acre. With adequate land for a shared leach field for them, it still leaves land for farming.
Next week: A closer look at the discussion.
Contact this reporter at (513) 523-4139 or bratterman@coxohio.com.
