Fayette County commissioners voted 2-1 Thursday to deny Crystal Springs Investors' application to rezone 229 acres within a Keystone Opportunity Zone to expand a residential development plan.
Commissioners Vince Vicites and Angela Zimmerlink opposed the application, which requested the rezoning of four Springhill Township parcels from agricultural-rural to medium-density residential. Commissioner Joe Hardy, the founder of the 84 Lumber building supply company, voted to approve the rezoning.
Crystal Springs, of Monroeville, has been negotiating with Fay-Penn Economic Development Council to purchase the properties. The existing zoning allows for single-family housing and duplexes, but Crystal Springs' representatives were hoping to include multifamily housing in their project.
A KOZ is a 10-year designation in which a property buyer receives forgiveness on state and local taxes for an economic development project.
In this case, those purchasing the homes also would receive an abatement on state and local income taxes until the KOZ expires on Dec. 31, 2013.
Vicites reiterated yesterday that he is against using a KOZ for residential development. Zimmerlink has said she believes it would create unfair competition between developers and residential homeowners.
Albert Gallatin School District, Springhill Township and the township's municipal authority supported the rezoning, which Crystal Springs contends would have meant "considerable" more tax money for those entities.
"By their actions, (Vicites and Zimmerlink) have shown that they're not really interested in developing it to the maximum," said Elliott Edelstein, Crystal Springs' vice president.
Edelstein suggested the issue could haunt Vicites and Zimmerlink during the 2007 campaign.
With the existing zoning, Crystal Springs intends to break ground between February and April on a gated community featuring about 300 upscale homes. A second phase may be "up in the air" until after the 2007 general election, Edelstein said.
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