By Danielle Coots

For the News-Current

BEAVERCREEK — The Beavercreek City Council approved the rezoning of 67.91 acres of land from an Agricultural District to a One Family Residential District at the intersection of Grange Hall Road and Shakertown Road for a new housing development by Oberer Land Developers called Creekstone.

During the early phases of the application and discussions with city council, residents surrounding the area were concerned about one of the conditions set forth in the request. In the original submission to city council, a condition stated that “there shall be a street connection with River Hills Road to the north.”

Beavercreek resident David Dunn said, “The road is really deteriorated and has flooding issues.”

Dunn was not alone in his concerns. Charles Curran, resident on Largo Lane agreed with Dunn that the road in the old plat is in a deteriorated state and suggested that if a connector had to be developed between the two subdivisions, it would be best to have a non-motorized connector, such as a bike path.

The idea of the connection was for it to stand as an emergency connection for the police and fire department. Lt. Randy Grogean attended and spoke during the Sept. 12 City Council meeting. He indicated that of the 40 emergency access paths in Beavercreek, only 13 are well maintained.

Even though they are working on the issue, the idea of having a permanent road that met the standards of Beavercreek, including being free of obstructions, well maintained and being able to support 72,000 pounds required for the fire department equipment, would be their choice. However, he said connectivity for Creekstone is not much of an issue because they have access from Grange Hall and Indian Ripple.

“I’m normally in favor of connectivity between plats, but if the residents to the north are not in favor, I’m fine with it as long as there is a non-motorized connection,” Beavercreek Mayor Bob Stone said.

In the end, city council approved the rezoning without the condition concerning a connection with River Hills Road.

This residential development will include three types of single family homes. They will include patio homes and two style of custom homes. The average size will be between 1,800-3,000 square feet. Oberer Land Developers plan to construct 145 homes for development.

Oberer intends to start construction of the first phase of the subdivision in the spring of 2017. They anticipate the development to take 7-9 years for the entire community to be completed.

Danielle Coots is a freelance writer for Greene County News.