INDEPENDENCE, Ohio — A controversial housing development in Independence is still in the planning phase, but the developers leading the project are trying to lock down a timeline.
We first brought you the concerns and frustrations of Stone Road residents in early February.
RELATED: Potential new development in Independence worries residents about the future of their homes
Within the same week, the Independence City Council held its monthly meeting where the topic of the development was on the agenda.
In a 5-2 vote, City Council passed the preliminary plan for the development.
In 2022, the church that formally owned the property sold it to the City of Independence despite receiving higher offers from private developers, according to the City of Independence Economic Director, Jessica Hyser.
Replacing that forestry would be at least 57 single-family homes maintained by a Home Owner’s Association.
The development would be combined with approximately 2.58 acres of land behind the historic Independence Fire Station on Brecksville Road.
In total, the housing development is slated to bulldoze 18.2 acres of greenery, which equates to 778 trees getting wiped out.
Petros Development Group LLC is leading the project.
At that meeting, we asked the President of Land Development for Petros Development Group LLC, Greg Modic, how long it would likely take for his team to finalize plans. He estimated one to two months.
We checked back in with him on Tuesday to see where those plans stand.
"I'm anticipating it could take even a little bit closer to May first before we have full blown plans," Modic explained. "We've done all the detailed topographic surveys. Now we truly understand the watershed as it exists today, and we're just working through the engineering to capture all the things that we committed to and that the city requires us to do."
He said the results of the topographic surveys had not changed plans, but they did reaffirm the flooding concerns expressed by residents.
"The science will tell when we finish the plans. The watershed coming at them now on Stone Road, there's about 10.5 acres that comes through us. Once we've put in the development, we're going to take that 10.5-acre watershed, reduce the drainage area that's coming specifically to those residents down to one acre, and then way over retain the other amount in a more regional pond," Modic shared.
While some sort of solution to combat flooding is better than none, longtime Independence resident Matthew Benkner said the retention basin will not make a difference.
"People mistakenly think that a retaining basin will hold the water. It just slowly releases it. That water's still coming downhill. What it doesn't do is absorb water like trees do. Trees absorb it so it doesn't go downhill," Benkner said.
Benkner pointed us in the direction of a small sinkhole near his property line that's been growing over the last week.
"The sinkhole that's in front of my house is getting bigger by the day and the more water that gets flushed into it, the more it's going to wash the road out," he added.
The sinkhole is just off the side of Stone Road. It goes deep enough under the asphalt that what appeared to be a brick from the original road was visible. It looked to be about a foot deep.
I reached out to the City of Independence Thursday night about potential repairs to the sinkhole. A spokesperson said they'd get more information for us on Friday.
While there are petitions floating around to stop the housing development, according to Benkner, it will continue moving forward for now.
Modic said the development already has 40 to 50 people signed up on a homeowner interest list once the project is complete.
"We have two to three times the amount of people that are in opposition. Independence residents that are saying, 'I'm signed up here, ready to go,'" Modic added. "I understand their concerns, but truthfully, I believe that it's the minority of the people within Independence. It doesn't discount their concerns. I hear them and I'm trying to adapt to them."
Benkner argues this development will only serve the minority, though.
"To say we're in the minority, that couldn't be further from the truth," Benkner said. "You don't hear from the people because they don't know that a city council meeting is happening because it's happening at 4:30 in the afternoon when people are still at work. It just means you're not giving them a chance to participate because you're specifically having this meeting when they can't come. Fifty people doesn't represent a majority, not in the town of several thousand. They are literally catering to the 1%. They don't give a damn about the rest of us."
The next step in this development is to finalize a detailed engineering report that will be submitted to the city for approval.
Another concern brought up regarding the housing development is that it would change the layout of the Hemlock Trail path.
We asked Modic for an update on it on Thursday.
"It's part of our engineering [plan]. We're looking to see where is the best place for that trail. My goal is to just put our best thoughts on paper; what we think could or should happen associated with that to provide fair and equitable access to the entire community," Modic stated.
If all goes smoothly, Modic estimates construction could begin in August.
