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COLUMBIANA -- City Council heard from one concerned resident during a public hearing for a rezone of annexed property last week.
The hearing was held for the rezone of the 6.279 acres of property the city is annexing from Unity Township on behalf of Lakefront Preserve LLC, a local real estate holding and property development company.
The property is a small piece of a two-phase housing development that encompasses homes across the back nine of the Links at Firestone Farms.
There are two phases total with many of the lots in phase one already under contract, City Manager Lance Willard said after the meeting.
Specifically, phase one consists of 28 Single Family homesites that are primarily along the 16th and 18th fairways. Phase two adds approximately another 30 homesites and custom homes on the ridge that sits at the top of Firestone, with all situated on the back nine overlooking Town Center and Firestone, he explained.
As part of the process, the city is seeking to zone the property R-3 which is high density.
The rezone was recommended by the city's planning commission.
Resident Joyce Allcorn said she is worried the city is bringing in more property and people than it can handle.
"We are bringing in six more acres to the city and it's going to be R-3, heavy residential. At what point do we start worrying about our utilities -- our electric, water and sewer? At some point we can't keep growing like this. We can't keep bringing all this new stuff in here. At some point we are going to start having failures and I am really concerned about it," she said.
She went on to say that she worries the additional people coming into town will place even more of a strain of public safety services.
"I see different ambulances in town all the time because we can't handle what we have," she said.
She then said she assumes that anyone coming into the new development will receive the 15-year property tax abatement offered through the Community Reinvestment Area, also known as a CRA.
City officials replied they would have that opportunity.
"I am just concerned. I guess I want to voice that...That is all I have to say," Allcorn said.
There were no other public comments during the hearing.
Aside from answering her question about the CRA, city officials did not comment on the matter.
Council approved giving first reading to the legislation allowing for the rezone of the property during the meeting.
A second reading is required.
Council did pass second reading of the annexation legislation, meaning that is officially approved.