Carlisle changes date for vote on controversial project

A Carlisle Planning Commission meeting originally scheduled for today, April 19, to decide if an Iowa-based company should be permitted to move forward with their project has been moved to May 3.

Planning Commission Chairman Robert Hurt told this news outlet earlier this month that a special meeting would be called for tonight, April 19, to vote on the conditional use request for a proposed $4.5 million Casey’s gas station and convenience store at the intersection of Central Avenue (Ohio 123) and West Lomar Drive.

The change will coincide with the planning commission’s regular meeting date on the first Thursday of the month. The meeting, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. May 3 at Carlisle Town Hall, said Village Manager Julie Duffy.

Duffy said the Planning Commission, which currently has six members with one vacant seat, will have three choices on the Casey’s issue:

  • They can vote to approve it which will require four affirmative votes;
  • They can opt not to vote on the matter which will result in an automatic denial as the 60-day time limit to approve the request expires on May 3 and Casey's could reapply for the conditional use permit;
  • The Planning Commission and Casey's could mutually agree to extend the 60-day window for further discussion and consideration.

The request to build the proposed 10-pump gas station/convenience store where the former Pizza Hotline was located has become a source of controversy in the small Warren County village over the past few months. Earlier this month, more than 60 people crammed the small village council chamber during the Planning Commission’s April 5 meeting.

However, after the public forum on the matter in which more than a dozen people spoke for and against the proposed project, some planning commission members had questions and voted to table the matter until its May 3 meeting. After that meeting is when Hurt said he would call a special meeting to take the vote.

Residents in that neighborhood claim that the proposed project did not meet the 13 criteria for the conditional use permit as well as raised concerns about safety, increased traffic, noise and light pollution, not being harmonious with the neighborhood, and health risks due to the proximity of private water wells to underground fuel tanks.

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