Oberer Development and Ryan Homes have announced plans to build 197 homes in a rural area south of the Mound Business Park and west of Pipestone Golf Club. The plan received preliminary approval from Miamisburg last week when Miamisburg City Council unanimously voted to rezone 86.6 acres from agricultural to planned residential. Final development plans still need to be approved before homes can be built.
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Preliminary passage came despite opposition from about 12 residents who spoke during a public hearing on the proposal and said the homes would attract safety and traffic issues, as well as increase noise and light.
“I’m completely against it,” said Justin Criswell, who lives on Benner.
“The volume of traffic on Benner already is bad,” he said. He said a four-way stop at Miamisburg Springboro Road near the Miami Twp. border “is backed up during rush hour” as much as 10 minutes.
Slow traffic is not the only issue with Benner, said Sandy Miller.
“It’s a disaster now,” she said. “It’s also a race track.”
Deer Valley, which would have two access points from Benner, is one of two proposals for new homes in Miamisburg that could bring more than 300 new units to the city. The other, Courseview at Pipestone, calls for rezoning 42 acres off Miamisburg Springboro Road to build 127 new homes.
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City council has yet to vote on the rezoning for that proposal.
The plan for Deer Valley involves 191 homes on about 68 acres with each having a minimum lot size of 7,289 square feet, City Planner Ryan Homsi said. The remaining six units would be “estates” with minimum lots of 1.1 acres, he said.
Council’s vote followed a recommendation from the city’s planning commission, which included 12 conditions, Homsi said.
Those conditions cover a variety of areas relating to: Road improvements to Benner; a traffic study; right of way from Benner; storm water management; and landscaping, lighting, construction dust, and buffering.
Developers would add a left turn lane on Benner and other necessary upgrades the city requires, said Greg Smith, project manager for the Oberer Companies.
They would surround the subdivision with buffers of at least 50 feet, and in some cases three times that length, officials said.
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“It sounds like it’s going to be a nice, big buffer,” said Julio Gonzalez, a representative of nearby wedding venue Magnolia Estate. “But we want to make sure that it is tall enough and thick enough that it doesn’t impeded on our scenic country views.”
Should Deer Valley get approved, Gonzalez also asked Smith not to impede access to Magnolia or another area celebration venue, Canopy Creek.
Residents raised some “legitimate concerns that the staff will take very seriously and look into,” Miamisburg Vice Mayor Sarah Clark said. “Although we did vote…the process is not over.”
The final development plan cannot be considered by the city until about July 18, or 30 days after last week’s vote, Homsi said.
The plan will be reviewed by both the planning commission and city council. It not include any public hearings, but it is required to meet all of the conditions stipulated by the city, he said.
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