Perrysburg council unanimously approves housing development

Perrysburg schools’ growth issues will not be solved by stopping development in the city, according to one councilman.

After a unanimous council vote at Tuesday’s meeting to allow a plan for 284 more residential units, Councilman Rick Rettig said city leaders are always mindful of what the school district is facing, but responsible development can still proceed in Perrysburg.

“It’s certainly never my thought that solving the schools’ problem means we just stop all development. That is not the case,” he said. “I really feel like the city has a duty to continue to grow responsibly, but at the same way manage how that growth happens.”

Council’s vote Tuesday was to approve a planned unit development on two parcels on the west side of Fort Meigs Road, south of Roachton Road and north of Five Point Road. The 78.8 acres are immediately north of the Coventry Pointe subdivision and are zoned R-3, single family residential.

The planned unit development designation will change the subdivision from all single family to a mix of traditional single-family homes and single-story villas. The plan is for 102 single family lots, 96 detached villas, and 86 attached villas.

At a June council meeting, Mr. Rettig and Councilman Kerry Wellstein voted against rezoning 18 acres at State Rt. 25 and Five Point Road. The rest of council approved the new development, which will be geared toward empty-nesters, divorced people, and those who want to downsize and remain in the community.

There were some contrasts between the two votes, Mr. Rettig said.

Council was initially told the Route 25 development was going to bring in $10 million to the schools over 10 years — which was later corrected to $161,000 a year.

“I had some trust issues,” Mr. Rettig said.

Also, that land could have remained zoned for business, and eventually could have been a revenue producer, Mr. Rettig said.

He was asked if being a teacher in the district influences his voting.

“Not at all,” Mr. Rettig said. “I have a dual responsibility, there’s no doubt. ... But, it’s not the city’s responsibility to solve the schools’ issues. It’s to take them into consideration. But at the same way, we have to be responsible for the growth of the city.”

After the meeting, council President Kevin Fuller said he considered the schedule of the Coventry development.

“Those houses are going to get built over a 10 to 12-year timeline,” he said. “I fully support home ownership.”

The area was already zoned for housing, said Councilman Mark Weber.

“Had we not approved the PUD, it would have gone back to R-3, single family, and it would have been a much stronger impact on the schools,” he said, also after the meeting. “We would have had all three and four-bedroom houses in there.

“And the builder had every right to do that, too, because it’s already zoned,” Mr. Weber said.

Council’s planning and zoning committee on June 25 approved the planned unit development. Mr. Weber said he attended that meeting and “was very informed.” The three councilmen that sit on that committee, Cory Kuhlman, Tim McCarthy, and Barry VanHoozen, all supported it.

Mr. McCarthy was absent at Tuesday’s council meeting.

The plan had a city council public hearing June 4.

The city’s planning commission on April 25 gave conditional approval, asking for some exterior color changes on the villas, a 10-foot wide asphalt multi-use path, glass on garage doors, uniform driveways, and a two-foot staggered variance offset on the front of the villas.

The commission also requested an updated landscaping plan with trees along the bike path, park benches, and an open space.

The applicants for Coventry Pointe North at 25270 Ft. Meigs Rd. are Steve Mitchell with Five Point Investments LLC, Toledo, and Feller Finch and Associates Inc., Maumee.

At the committee meeting, Mr. Mitchell said the subdivision has been in the works since 2022, when 68 acres were annexed into the city. The developer already owned the northern most 10 acres and had developed the Coventry Pointe subdivision to the south.

With the PUD, the number of housing units has been reduced by 30.

Following the changes suggested by the planning commission, 20 percent of property, excluding a pond, is now open space, Mr. Mitchell said. There will be a 10-foot bike path of 1.1 miles, continuing a path along Fort Meigs Road at the existing Coventry Pointe. This path could extend to a Roachton Road path and connect to Levis Commons, which is off State Rt. 25.

In May, Perrysburg school leaders laid out the challenges of city growth and the impact on schools to council’s planning and zoning committee.

Since November, voters have rejected two levies that would have built a new elementary and funded other renovations. On Thursday, the majority of the board of education members voted to put an eight-year incremental levy to bring in a fixed sum of $13.5 million annually, with $2 million additional each year, on the Nov. 5 ballot. It is for operating expenses and replaces an incremental operating levy that expires Dec. 31.