What is the Lost Creek Overlay?
In late 2017 and early 2018 it was noted to the Trustees that the Lost Creek subdivision was facing some long term challenges that were brought to light in the conflict over a rezoning request for a new Chipotle on Harding Hwy. This was closely followed by the closing of the golf course and a possible large area annexation to Lima. The Trustees determined that development over the years along the Harding Highway corridor had been haphazard and unplanned. This had led to several problems, including gradual business creep into the legacy residential area, an increasing number of vacant lots on Harding Hwy., higher and higher concentrations of homes owned by absentee landlords, bad traffic patterns, soft or declining home values, low levels of re-investment in homes, and a decline in the condition of a significant number of existing business buildings already located in Lost Creek.
After significant research on possible solutions and numerous meetings for public input, the Trustees decided on a relative new zoning technique often called an “overlay”. In March of 2020, with the positive recommendations of the Regional Planning Commission and the Bath Zoning Board, the Trustees passed an “overlay” PUD for the Harding Highway corridor along the southern edge of Lost Creek. This overlay does the following:
- It defines the area for any future business development along the Harding Highway edge of Lost Creek, by changing the actual zoning map and by requiring an actual physical wall separating any business from the residential area. This term hopes to address “business creep” over time and thus protect the residential area.
- It defines what types of businesses can and cannot be created inside the “overlay” area. Specifically excluded are outdoor vehicle storage, campgrounds, manufactured homes for residential use or sale, car, truck or trailer sales lots, self-storage, pawn shops, tattoo parlors, adult entertainment or gaming businesses, marijuana dispensaries, “pay day” lenders, truck stops, and bars, among others. This protects the residential area from intrusive type businesses.
- The “overlay” PUD imposes strict architectural requirements that ensure high quality, professional style buildings, specific materials, lighting restrictions, noise restrictions, and landscape architectural requirements. This ensures a reversal of business building decline, increases business and residential values, and protects the residential area from light and noise pollution.
In order to enforce the restrictions in the overlay and ensure that high quality and compatible business development will result, the Trustees structured the “overlay” so that it does not change zoning by the passing of this resolution. In order for zoning to change, any new business developer must submit a development plan to the Trustees, who then must confirm the plan’s compliance with all the protections in the overlay. Only then does any zoning change, and then the change is limited to just that property. This system allows for new businesses and employers to come to this already substantially commercialized area, while still protecting the residential area from harmful intrusions.
As residents decide how to vote on the upcoming referendum, we highly recommend that they visit the Bath Trustee website @ bathtwp.com, follow the “Harding Highway Business Overlay” tab under “Township News”, and actually read the overlay proposal.
Bill Degen, Bob Sielschott, & Brad Baxter, Bath Township Trustees
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