Todd Pultz, the owner of the property and a Riverside resident, said the plan is to build about 18 buildings that will house 116 townhomes on about 14 acres. The townhomes would be between 1,400 and 1,600 square feet, he said, and are estimated to cost between $250,000 to $300,000 each.
Pultz said that while the housing market is cooling slightly, the kind of product he is proposing is still selling “pretty darn good.”
He said Riverside also has a housing shortage, so people moving to the area to work at the base are forced to choose to live in Fairborn, Huber Heights or Beavercreek, which have seen more new developments built recently.
This is the second property development Pultz has proposed in Riverside this year. The other development, on Valley Street, is aimed at empty nesters.
One of the most recent housing developments in the area, the Brantwood subdivision, features units of more than 2,000 square feet. Part of the development, a house at 214 Reading Road, was completed in 2015 and is currently pending sale as of Tuesday for $290,000, according to Irongate Realtors.
While the rezoning has been recommended to go forward, several neighbors spoke out against the development at Monday’s meeting.
Most of the homes around the area are single-family homes, but the Yorktown Colony Apartments are also nearby. Some residents cited the apartments as a problem for their neighborhood and said they didn’t want another similar housing development.
Dawne Williams, who lives on Glendean Avenue, said her property butts right up to the property proposed to be built on. She said she did not want to open her picture windows and look at a development like this every morning.
Williams said her family has already had problems from the apartments at Yorktown, saying she and her family members had pulled guns on drug addicts until the cops arrived.
“I don’t care if you pay...$300,000 for a home, it’s more people that Riverside can’t handle,” she said.
Residents also cited issues with parking on the streets that they said would be worsened by adding more people to the area.
Diana Wood, a resident on Glendean Avenue, said the Yorktown residents have already been parking where they aren’t supposed to.
“Some Yorktown residents are parking in non-parking areas, making Glendean almost impossible for two-way traffic,” she said.
Other residents also said they objected to the development being built on a former landfill. Pultz submitted a Phase I Environmental Assessment as part of the plan.
Pultz said as a person who grew up in Riverside and who still lives there, he is committed to developing in the city.
“While I understand the new development in your backyard is maybe not what you want, maybe not what you want to see, there is a ton of positive things that will come from this type of development in this neighborhood and we do think that it fits,” Pultz said.
The rezoning question will now go before city council, and final plans must be submitted to the planning commission before the project can begin.
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