By William Tellmoor
The upscale but troubled Renaissance subdivision, located east of Union Road and south of State Route 122, received another boost recently when the Middletown Planning Commission approved minor amendments for twenty-two lots pertaining to roof overhangs. (“Minor amendments” affect less than 20% of the lots in the development.)
Renaissance went through foreclosure procedures before Phase I of the development was complete, but since then purchases of the land by Fischer Homes and Cristo Homes are bringing new life to the subdivision. These two developers, called “production oriented builders” by Planning Director Marty Kohler at the January 9, 2012 planning commission meeting, have requested variances on the roof overhang requirements and other standards to accommodate their computer designed lines of homes while still maintaining quality comparable to the existing homes in the subdivision.
Most earlier homes in the development were built by Clayton Homes and Dixon Homes.
The variances requested at this meeting were the same as requested by Fischer and approved by the planning commission in 2011. In recommending approval of the variances, Kohler stated that he “wasn’t particularly happy” that similar variances were granted in 2011, but that these variances were in line with the 2011 variances.
The variance was granted by a vote of 5 to 1 with Tom Brickey being the lone dissenting vote.
At this meeting, the commission also voted unanimously to approve a conditional use for a church-related guest house or rooming house for more than four lodgers at 1108 Parkview Avenue.
In other business at this first planning meeting of 2013, Tom Brickey was re-elected chairman and Joanne Mejias-Yancey was elected vice-chairman.
Join the forum discussion!