BROOKFIELD

Brookfield voters will have the last word on zoning.

Trustees voted unanimously Thursday evening to place a zoning resolution on the November ballot.

About 20 residents attended the second zoning hearing at the Brookfield administration building, many seemingly unhappy with the idea of zoning in the township.

Residents were allowed time to ask questions or give their opinions to commission members.

Business owner Robert Maskery of 1175 state Route 7 wanted to know why only two members of the zoning committee showed up at the hearing.

"I don't see the rest of the committee here. Where are they? They should be here to give their say so, so we can ask them questions if we want to," he said.

Nancy Straka, zoning commission member, said the other members were contacted about the meeting.

Maskery complained that he didn't think the zoning resolutions were fair to residents and asked Ms. Straka what she thought.

"I think everybody needs to be satisfied, but that doesn't mean it's going to happen," she answered.

Maskery said, "Well it's supposed to be fair to everybody and I mean everybody...I don't think (zoning) belongs in the township."

Don Strawbridge, owner of Strawbridge Commercial Pallet on state Route 7, wanted to know why his business -- near the Hubbard-Brookfield line -- wasn't on the map and other residents wanted to know why the maps were still incomplete.

"This thing that came off a color ink-jet printer is what our rights are based on?" one resident asked holding up a partial copy of a map. "You're talking about affecting people's lives here."

Committee member Ralph Carsone said he can understand why residents are upset. He said the five-member zoning commission is still in the process of putting zones on the new maps. Once that step is taken care of, he said, it's up to the planning commission to produce the maps.

"I can understand being a resident and wanting to know where my property stands. It's the people that fall between the zones that want to know, which is rightfully so," Carsone said.

The zoning resolution targets junkyards, the trailer influx in residential areas and "sexually oriented" businesses, he said. In the last 20 years Brookfield's population has dropped by 8.5 percent; the number of trailers has grown to 38 percent; and commercial junkyards have grown by 500 percent, he said.

Carsone said zoning sets up land use, but the people are afraid their rights will be taken away in the process. If zoning passed, the township would be divided into 10 different zones. Under the Ohio Revised Code laws would enforce restrictions to operating businesses in those areas.

"They fear they won't be able to do what they want to do with their property," he said, "but it's a comprehensive plan that sets out guidelines."

"What zoning does is promote the health, safety and welfare of the township citizens," Carsone added.

Zoning failed last November by 169 votes. This is the fifth time since the 1950s for zoning to appear on the township's ballot. With the exception of last November, zoning in the past has failed by a large margin.