The 0.85-acre site at 4225 and 4235 Wilmington has three types of zoning, but Kettering City Council is set to consider a change next month to allow apartments on the entire property, records show.
The land is the subject of a redfin.com listing that states it could accommodate a two-story, 18-unit rental property and would be “a great walkable location for potential tenants.”
Attempts Friday to gain comments from both an agent and a broker it listed were unsuccessful, as were efforts to reach the applicant for the zoning change. No plans have yet been submitted to Kettering, City Planner Ryan Homsi said.
Three other attempts to rezone the land failed in the past 10 years after two buildings were demolished, city records show. None were approved because they didn’t comply with Kettering’s code, Homsi told planning commissioners last month.
“Of all of proposals regarding this property, I think this one makes the most sense,” Commissioner Don Rethman last month. “So hopefully something will come of this.”
The property sits between an El Rancho Grande restaurant and a single residence. Just to the north on Wilmington is a commercial corridor that — aside from Meijer and a Grismer Tire store — includes a long row of fast-food restaurants with another one in the works. Taco John’s plans to join Burger King, Popeye’s, Wendy’s, McDonald’s and Dunkin.
But Kettering’s comprehensive plan depicts the vacant site “as being a higher-density residential area,” Homsi said.
With the Wilmington corridor, “commercial uses should be concentrated at the two specific intersections,” East Dorothy Lane and East Stroop Road, he said.
The Kettering document “directs the city to locate higher-density residential developments south” of Wilmington and Woodman, Homsi said.
Two other multi-story apartment buildings have been built around the Meijer store in the past few years.
“There has been an increase in demand for land” designated for multifamily use, Homsi said. “And as a result, the supply of land within the city” with that zoning “is inadequate to meet the demands for such development.”
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