Editor’s Note:
1-16-20 at 1:11 PM
Sabo Design Associates wants readers to be aware that even though they applied for SPD designation for “Oak Apartments” that they are not the “Developer/Owner” of the property. They said in an Email to Loveland Magazine, “Sabo Design Associates is not the Builder, nor are we the Owner for this project. We simply designed the building for clients.”
Sabo Design Associates declined to name their client however Loveland Magazine has since learned that the Client is Hunt and Whitacre, 550 Wards Corner Road and the current owner of 102 Oak Street is Wilma Conley.
Loveland, Ohio – Sabo Design Associates with offices on Wards Corner Road has applied to build four 16 unit apartment buildings on Oak Street in the Clermont County side of the City. “Oak Apartments” will be four levels each with parking garages below each building. The proposal is for 106 total parking spaces with 1.6 parking spaces per unit. There will be 0′ set-back to the side and rear of existing properties.
Sixty-four apartments are proposed in four-story buildings. The most recent apartment complex constructed and nearby is Loveland Station with 94 units on approximately 3 acres. Loveland Station was also made possible by SPD zoning.
The parcel for Oak Apartments is approximately 1.033 acres.
Sabo Design will need for the City to create a Special Planning District (SPD) which if approved will erase the existing zoning restrictions and protections for the immediate neighborhood and create a separate zoning district with distinct restrictions, permissions, and guidelines.
The current zoning of the immediate neighborhood is Residential-Medium Density (R-MD). The existing R-MD zone does not permit high-density multiple-family uses.
According to a memo written by Assistant City Manager Tom Smith to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) the applicant must first make a written finding that one or more of the following conditions exist, or will exist, within the proposed SPD:
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- (a) A concentration of retail and service oriented commercial establishments serving as a principal business activity center for the community.
- (b) Land that is occupied by substantial natural characteristics worthy of preservation or which are historic aids to the identification of residential communities which help residents relate to their communities and to relate the social organization of communities to their physical environments.
- (c) Lands which permit for ingenuity, imagination, and design efforts on the part of builders, architects, site planners, and developers that can produce residential developments which are in keeping with overall land use intensity and open space objectives of the Comprehensive Plan while departing from the strict application of use, setback, height, and minimum lot size requirements contained in the Zoning Code.
Smith said that if the P&Z determine the application meets the requirements for an SPD they should set a public hearing of the Planning and Zoning Commission for February 4. P&Z has voted to set that date for a public hearing.
The property currently has one single-family home on 1.1496 acres. The property is on Oak Street and wraps around the bend to Second Street. The Northwest side of the property has significant to extreme slopes according to the application.
In the application, Sabo Design said, “As proposed, the development would provide 64 new apartment residences with remarkable views and walkable to Downtown Loveland. Additionally, with the self-contained parking provided, there would be no additional burden to the Business District.”
The application will be first reviewed by P&Z. If the Commission feels that the SPD, as proposed in the Preliminary Review, does not fall within the SPD purpose and scope the Planning and Zoning Commission may deny the application or suggest an alternative action.
The Planning and Zoning Commission meets next on Jan 27 at 6 PM.
“Right Clicking” on the below documents will open them to a larger size.
Honestly, this seems like a good idea. We need to take on a growth mindset. Cultures that do not grow and develop die. As the population grows so does the need for housing.
This a petition to stop the building http://chng.it/TZJjHcnsmp
Through change.org
Big NO! Is the house for sale? Let someone buy it and renovate it. This idea is crazy, Loveland. I see no benefit to the city or to the school district’s bottom line.
This is at the very early stage of review by first the Loveland Planning and Zoning Commission and then City Council; nothing has been approved. There will be at least two public hearings, the first of which is scheduled for February 4, 2020 before the Planning and Zoning Commission. The public is invited and encouraged to attend.
Loveland city schools is already having enough problems with finances! If we add this complex it will allow more families with more children attending the schools and not paying property taxes! There are so many homes being built in miami township that dont pay loveland taxes but the children attend loveland! We need to stop expanding and allow time for our finances to be fixed! Not to mention where it is located and it’s already impossible to get through downtown loveland! We cannot support this extra traffic it will bring!
The property owners pay the property taxes. So tax is absolutely being paid.
Miami township (and Goshen township) homes in the Loveland school district may not pay City of Loveland income tax, but they most certainly pay school taxes to the county, and lots of it.
Please no!!!! Tear down a historic single family home for these monstrosities??? From one house to 64 boxy apartments. Traffic is already horrific through that corridor. This is a terrible idea, Loveland!
As developers add high density residential housing, it will add more stress on the residential streets. Also, all the multiunit apartments will put more demands on the Loveland schools, but the tax base per new child will be less than from our single family homes. This would the third large apartment complex in the last few years.
We need more office space in Loveland. An apartment complex was just completed on Loveland-Maderia Road. This real estate could have been a multistory office complex convenient to I-275 and to downtown Loveland. Loveland and Symmes Township need a mature zoning plan that includes light business properties in the plan.
The Loveland schools have great plans similar to Mason and Sycamore schools but we do not have anywhere near the same commercial real estate base as those other school districts.
How much more aesthetically unpleasing do we want downtown Loveland to be? Isn’t the monstrosity called Loveland Station enough? If housing is the endgame why not mid to higher end two story townhomes with some styling cues from some of the old buildings in the heart of downtown – ie. Bishops Quarter, Tanos, etc. Bring in folks investing in the community as owners of a home as opposed to renters with no stake in anything. Just my two cents but I’ll bet it’s a pretty popular sentiment.
I don’t support this. Loveland is crowded enough as it is. This will take away from Loveland’s quaintness which is what people enjoy about the area generally.