A plan to build 96 new apartments in Yellow Springs has caused controversy and debate amongst some residents.
The Windsor development company bought the old Antioch College Student Union building. Their current plan is to tear it down and build new apartments with the future plan to renovate the Kettering building into senior housing.
Yellow Springs Village Council is letting the plan move forward, after a three hour hearing and a few changes to the preliminary plan.
Many community members have expressed support for more affordable housing in the village, such as Callie Cary-Devine.
Cary-Devine is the director of TRIO Student Support Services at Clark State College. She has lived in Yellow Springs for 35 years and attended Antioch College in the 1980s.
With the understanding of how affordable housing could benefit low-income families and students, Cary-Devine said she supports the apartment plan.
"One of the things that struck me about this entire debate is who's not in the room. And who's in the not in room, in my opinion, are the people who are looking for a place in Yellow Springs," she said. "I think I've just reached a point where I feel as though, particularly with what's going on in our country right now, we need to be humanitarian and embracing of opportunities for folks who cannot afford to buy a home in this town."
However, other residents have raised concerns about the size and scale of the project.
One such resident is Wendy DeLong. She has lived in and renovated her home a block away from the former student union building, for just over a year.
Now, she is concerned about the housing developments impact on her quality of life.
"I'm questioning the lack of forward thinking about green space and walkability and where the parking lot should go and onto which streets; questioning how much we're thinking ahead about those topics," she said.
The village's planning and zoning administrator, Meg Leatherman, said one of the biggest selling points of the project is the 15 units that will be designated as affordable housing.
"It just allows for a broader range of demographic to reside inside the village or at those apartment units," Leatherman said.
Public hearing
People interested in voicing their thoughts on the plan came together at the most recent Village Council meeting held July 7.
The meeting started at 6 p.m. and lasted more than three hours. During the public hearing, more than 20 people spoke both in support and in opposition of Windsor's preliminary plan ahead of the council vote.
The council passed two amendments to the preliminary plan.
The first change was to the wording of the traffic study so it will include traffic caused by parking, bicycles, pedestrians, and future developments including the senior center. The other amendment was to change the affordable housing units from 15% of all units to 15 units.
Both the preliminary plan and rezoning ordinances on the agenda were approved by the council.