Subscribe nowCustomer Service

Register Now

• Sign In
• E-mail preferences

Journal-News.com

Brown Farm set for resale

Chris Dumond

JournalNews

ROSS TOWNSHIP — With the owners getting up in years and the costs of health care and long-term care mounting, the Brown Farm will be sold for development regardless of the outcome of a May 2 rezoning referendum.

"The need is not going to go away," 84-year-old Hazel Brown said. "That's not going to change because of a vote.?

A clamor rose almost immediately last summer as the family sought to rezone the 116-acre farm for the development of a 230 home subdivision. Residents complained about the impact building could have on Dry Run Creek, which runs through the center of the farm. Others complained about the prospect of overcrowded schools, more taxes and clogged two-lane roads running through the township.

When the Butler County Board of Commissioners approved the zoning change in November, those residents wasted no time gathering nearly 500 signatures to put the issue up for a vote.

With housing subdivisions running up against the farm from the south and west — including at least one subdivision street dead-ending at the Browns' property line — and the county's land use plan calling for as many as four homes per acre here, the family is left wondering why they've been singled out for so much opposition.

"We expected some problems, but nothing like this," Brown said.

The farm has been in her family for more than 100 years. The decision to sell, she said, was a difficult one.

Her son-in-law, Russell Beckner, who has represented the family throughout the rezoning process, said the family held out against a slew of offers from developers over the last decade.

"This is not a 'want' for us," Beckner said. "This is a need."

He said the family chose Andy Temmel of Red Pine Properties because his development plan included more than 30 acres of open green space, kept homes away from the creek and because it included some condos oriented toward the local senior population.

"We need something like this around here for people who are older and don't want to have to mow their lawns," Beckner said. "As it is now, people have to move out of this community to find that."

In the run up to the May election, the family has launched a public relations campaign because they believe the community has been misled by those leading the referendum effort.

They produced a sheet outlining concessions made in the subdivision design showing the gross density of the project actually is less than neighboring subdivisions.

In an effort to address complaints, Red Pine cut about 60 homes and designed runoff controls to help with the creek problems.

The original plan called for a 30-acre buffer around Dry Run Creek and some of the feeder streams. Temmel said he was even willing to put up a $1 million bond for creek maintenance and donate money to the school district.

If the family's campaign fails and the referendum passes, overturning the commissioners' approval of the rezoning, the family says it likely will file another plan immediately, with the outcome this time to be decided in court.

"People shouldn't think that they're saving the family farm here because it's really not an option," Beckner said.

Ross Township voters May 2 will have a chance to decide whether to overturn the county commissioners' decision to rezone the 116-acre farm from mostly agricultural zoning to residential planned-unit zoning.

Contact Chris Dumond at (513) 820-2025, or e-mail him at cdumond@coxohio.com.