Each unit would be two stories tall, 1,816 square feet in size with a two-car garage.
Prices would start in the $170,000 range, according to Patrick Merten, an agent with Hearthstone.
Each building in the as-yet-to-be-named project would contain four, five or six units. Three buildings will contain six units, nine will contain five units and one building will contain four units.
“With a landominium, there is a deed that transfers, versus a fractional share of ownership with traditional condominiums,” Merten said. “When a person buys a landominium, they own the ground that it sits on.”
A homeowners association maintains the open space, private drives, drainage easements and any other common areas.
The zoning commission on Monday voted 5-0 to approve a major change to the final development plan for the site, signaling the proposed concept was appropriate for the location.
Residents of neighboring subdivisions turned out to voice their concerns about the project
Joe Beyke, an attorney representing neighboring Lake Princeton Condominium Homeowners Association, said the proposed development is planned for a “very densely populated area” that already includes several housing options.
In addition, six of the 16 buildings on the plans run within about 200 feet of 98 Lake Princeton units, Beyke said.
“I think 38 of the rear patios on Lake Princeton would be … right on top of this new development,” he said. “Certainly those 38 unit owner are extremely concerned that they’re going to lose all sense of privacy that they have right now.”
Beyke said there also concerns about how each landominium will be constructed, how long construction will be carried out, the feasibility of installing a privacy fence and how much more noise a new residential project would generate.
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The land use plan and zoning for West Chester shows the property as residential planned unit multi-family. When White House Inn opened on the site as a restaurant in 1989, it received permission to do so.
In 2012, Joe Schwarz of Hearthstone Holdings purchased White House Inn, changing its name to Casa Bianca.
While Schwarz has “extensive real estate experience” and already owns an existing restaurant — Symmes Tavern on the Green in Fairfield — owning Casa Bianca is “not feasible,” Merten said.
“There’s fierce competition from Union Centre, from Cincinnati-Dayton,” he said. “They have been open on a limited basis; However, it just has reached the point where it is not feasible and competitive to exist as a restaurant.
“There was a conscious effort to transition and proceed to develop the real estate.”
Changes to the final development plan must next be approved by trustees. Hearthstone Holdings would then resubmit to the township’s zoning commission for the final PUD plan, where the developer will address material issues, landscaping and other aesthetic and site design issues, Merten said.
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