Developers who want to build a subdivision with plans for nearly 400 homes will face questions about
density and lot sizes before the Wood County Planning Commission Tuesday.
Oravecz and Associates and McCarthy Builders are seeking preliminary approval for The Village At River
Bend Lakes, which contains 13 individual plats on about 122 acres of land in Middleton Township.
The development as listed on the agenda would consist of 191 single-family lots and another 184
two-family lots being added to River Bend, in the area of River Road and Roachton Road.
While Middleton Township’s R-3 Residential zoning regulations permit both single- and two-family lots,
the current developers have sought to use a variance on lot frontages granted in the 2000s to the
original builder, which is no longer involved in the subdivision.
The proposed new lots do not meet the township’s square-footage requirements and also come up well short
of the required frontage, with only 48 of the require 85 feet.
"This is a major issue in that many of the proposed lots come nowhere close to meeting the minimum
size and frontage requirements for an R-3 zoning classification," the Planning Commission agenda
states, which is available at http://www.co.wood.oh.us/planning
The report concludes that it may be wise for the commission to hold preliminary approval until a solid
legal opinion can be obtained regarding the applicability of the original variance.
Staff have also flagged for planning commission members to review aspects of cul-de-sac design, as well
as the construction timeline for the development. Preliminary approval is good for one year, at which
point a final plan is due. One extension can be granted for 180 days.
The 4 p.m. meeting on Election Day is an early start for the commission, which usually meets at 5:30 p.m.