The Berlin Township Board of Zoning Appeals had two meetings in February that were relevant.
• The Feb. 6 meeting had six applications, all from the same applicant. One was appeals; the other was variances such as the number of parking spaces and loading docks. The requests were for Berlin Industrial, LLC, from T&R Properties Inc. in Dublin. The property is at 4210 State Route 37 East, Delaware, and was purchased in 2023 after the Berlin Industrial Overlay was approved in November 2020. For the first case, “the applicant asserts that the (Berlin) trustees improperly imposed unpromulgated conditions upon the development plan and improperly considered the application pursuant to Article 19 of the Berlin Township Zoning Resolution.”
The BZA was asked to permit warehousing and storage in the Berlin Business Park, otherwise “the project is not viable,” the minutes said. “No business, no tenants can function in any industrial space without the ability to warehouse and store their goods.”
The BZA was asked to consider whether this was an unnecessary hardship on the applicant and why the warehousing and storage had been left out by the trustees and zoning commission originally; and they said this wasn’t in the zoning code. There was also questions as to whether the applicant was already approved for 126 parking spaces for each building, and 12 loading dock spaces per building, and whether the variances were significant. There were questions as to whether the business park would end up like the Kroger Distribution Center.
After a recess, the BZA voted to deny “the requested use variance from TZR Article 19.03 to permit the use of property for industrial complex NAICS 493 Industrial Warehousing… The applicant has not shown unnecessary hardship because many other economic viable uses do exist for the property.” In separate votes, the BZA also denied the parking spaces variances, the area variance and the loading dock variance.
The final two applications were for Berlin Apartments, LLC by T&R Properties Inc. to permit conditions for multi-family for-rent development, and an area variance. The applicant said they couldn’t proceed with the development without the variance. This property is zoned as Farm Residential-1, and they wanted it rezoned to Planned Residential Development, a mixed use.
One of the witnesses for the applicant said, “density is not a bad thing,” pointing to property values in German Village, Dublin and Marysville Flats. Berkshire Township and its mix of residential, retail, warehouse and distribution were also mentioned, as well as the housing shortage in central Ohio. They also said that because Johnstown has said it doesn’t want development, the land around it could be annexed into New Albany.
Four hours into the meeting, a resident said he was tired of hearing comparisons. “Our community decided what we want right here. And it doesn’t matter what’s two miles east or west, we decided that’s what we wanted to do. … I don’t want him to be able to change what our community said was a good idea for our residents.” Another resident noted that the applicant keeps “coming back with the same plan. It doesn’t fit the zoning that the community agreed on. It still doesn’t. And so, I think they just need to get rejected one more time.”
The hearing was continued to Feb. 20.
• During the continuation, the BZA voted to rescind two of its prior votes “reopening those two applications for further testimony and hearing.” After further questions from the BZA, the use variances and number of loading dock spaces were again denied, but the number parking spaces was granted.
As for the apartments, it was said the BZA can’t change the use of the property like the Zoning Commission can. They voted to deny both of those applications, the variance as well as the parking and the density. Another application from Berlin Industrial, twice to appeal “the decision of the Berlin Township Board of Trustees,” was also “dismissed for the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.”
The BZA consists of Chairman Don Sutton, Vice Chair Jason Acevedo, Brad Cook, Michelle Cook, Larry Harmon and alternates Jessica Kenzli and Quinn Machan. Also present are Zoning Secretary Cathy Rippel and Zoning Clerk Lisa Knapp. They typically meet at 7 p.m. Tuesdays in the Berlin Township Hall, 3271 Cheshire Road, Delaware.
Assistant Editor Gary Budzak photographs and reports on stories in eastern Delaware County and surrounding areas.
