In a close 3-2 vote at Thurday’s meeting, the College Township Council decided to put rezoning of the former Hilltop Mobile Home Park up for a public hearing. The council wants to move forward with scenario four, which would not increase housing density on the site. That public hearing will be held Nov. 7.
The College Township Planning Commission voted in August to support the rezoning of the former Hilltop Mobile Home Park. The Planning Commission recommended that the Council rezone approve plan 4, which would include a combination of R1 and R2 residences, with the two-family R2 near East College Avenue and R1, single-family residences, near Mallard Avenue.
Council Chair David Fryer said that he doesn’t know what is going in at the old Hilltop property, but that it will be rezoned.
“We have no concrete plan in front of us,” Fryer said. “But the general consensus though is that it should be rezoned and should not sit vacant in state it is now. Scenario 4 is one I would vote for and that’s lowest increase in density.”
The recommendation allows for 165 to 251 residences to be in the area.
Two other plans allow for more development.
Plan 3a would allow for a maximum number of 300 dwellings.Under that plan there could be 33 to 49 additional housing units.
Under Plan 3b, 296 dwellings could be built, an increase of 31 to 45 additional units.
Some area residents are concerned about the possibility that rezoning will generate a lot of new traffic.
Resident Russ Graham said, “As far as the probability of accidents, that takes a different type of study” Graham said. “If safety isn’t a fundamental concern, I don’t know what is.”
Another resident, Matt Parkinson, said he took issue with some of the assumptions made in a traffic study, including the assumption that 15 percent of all traffic will take Oak Ridge Avenue going through the area.
“Safety is completely excluded from the recommendations,” Parkinson said.
Township manager Adam Brumbaugh, however, said the initial traffic study was a preliminary study to help the council and planning commission make some informed decisions about the project, and that it is in no way an official traffic study. Brumbaugh said that once an official land development plan is submitted, an official study will be done at the cost of the developer.
The site of the former mobile home park was closed in February, with residents forced to leave their homes. Kenneth and Sharon Mayes, who owned Hilltop, sold the land to Trinitas Ventures and ordered tenants to move out, sparking controversy that continues.
The council already voted down a proposal by Trinitas Ventures to change zoning of the area to allow for higher density buildings. Trinitas, a student housing developer based in Lafayette, Ind., amended its pla to also include single-family and two family residences.
