The lawsuit claims Butler County deprived Oakley of his state and federal due process and equal protection rights concerning the zoning change to a Business Planned Unit Development zone he was seeking.
He said the Butler County planning staff suggested he seek the B-PUD zone rather than piecemealing the zoning across eight different parcels. Oakley said he worked with Butler County planning staff to develop the zoning change application.
Initially, the county planning staff recommended approval for the zone change, as did the Butler County Planning Commission. However, Oakley said something changed as the county staff and the planning commission reversed their recommendations. This was followed by the Butler County Rural Zoning Commission and the Butler County commissioners votingagainst the zoning change, according to the court document.
The lawsuit said the county planning staff had not “clearly articulated” its reasons for the change and said they “sheepishly” suggested the application submitted by Oakley lacked detailed and specified plans for traffic, necessary road improvements, sanitary wastewater treatment and storm water drainage, which he said were not required at that stage. The county planning and rural zoning commissions provided no reasons for denying the request, he said.
The two county commissioners who voted against the zone change request indicated that its nonconformance with Madison Twp.’s outdated land use plan caused them to deny the application. The township last updated its land use plan in 2001. The lawsuit claims the “actual zoning classifications and map for Madison Twp. and its 2001 Land Use Plan are incongruent. The Madison Twp. Land Use Plan does not reflect the current land uses within the township.”
Ohio law requires land use plans to be updated periodically.
The lawsuit claims the actions by county and township officials were “arbitrary and capricious” which resulted in “unnecessarily delayed expansion” of the park. It also claimed township officials caused damages because of their “failure to update the land use plan to bring it current with the actual land uses within the township, specifically with regards to the property, is unlawful.”
Oakley is seeking a declaratory judgment and approval of the zone change and acknowledgment that they were treated unequally, that the township land use plan is outdated and invalid and that county was arbitrary and capricious in its denial of the zone change. They are also seeking compensatory and punitive damages, costs and attorney fees.
John Pruett, owner of Triangle Fishing Lake that is adjacent to Land of Illusion, said “I’m not surprised he filed a lawsuit.”
Pruett and other neighbors vocally opposed Oakley’s efforts and continue to voice concerns about safety, traffic, infrastructure issues.
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