This story has been updated with information from the May 28 Truesdale Board of Aldermen meeting. 

Clarkson Construction received approval from the Truesdale Board of Aldermen to rezone the former Good Game Sports Park property as a planned industrial district following a public hearing on May 28.

Their rezoning for an industrial planned development district previously received a positive recommendation from the Truesdale Planning and Zoning Commission on May 21. 

The recommendation was approved unanimously following a public hearing on the rezoning of the property, formerly occupied by the Good Game Sports Park. 

Clarkson, one of the contractors for the Improve I-70 project in Warren County, has been in conversation with Truesdale city officials for months to iron out issues and open a permanent office at the property. 

The property is currently zoned commercial and although an office is an acceptable use under that zoning, heavy equipment storage is not. City Consultant John Brancaglione had suggested a planned development district allowing the city and Clarkson to make concessions outside of the city’s zoning code for that specific property. 

They have also been working with the city to handle any relevant permits that they will need as they begin work to widen the interstate. 

The property backs up to the Heritage Hills subdivision and there were a number of residents present at the public hearing to ensure their concerns were being addressed. 

Clarkson Vice President Robert Fry had previously committed to removing a proposed rock crushing operation from the site plan and Cindy Borden, a resident at the public hearing, wanted to make sure that change was reflected in the rezoning. 

The recommendation stipulates that “no material grinding, pulverizing, or similar operations shall be conducted on-site,” and further, Fry said he had already planned to move that part of the operation. 

“I'm not going to put our permanent location in jeopardy over a crushing operation. That's not that big a deal. I can go to several different places and put in a crushing operation, just not at our site. So it wasn't that big a deal to me, I just took it off the table,” said Fry. 

The recommendation would also limit the property’s uses to the office space and the storage of heavy equipment and stipulated the property must be surfaced with gravel to specifications provided by the city engineer. 

Residents also asked what, if any, enforcement options the city would have if Clarkson were out of compliance with their new zoning once it was approved. 

Brancaglione said the city could issue citations, along with a cease and desist order to stop work on the property if they were out of compliance since the laws surrounding the planned development district would give the city teeth to enforce its stipulations. 

There were also some changes made to the recommendation before it was approved, including the change of a line item requiring fencing on the property. 

Clarkson had already committed, and was required by ordinance, to build a forested berm with a fence on the south side of the property where it abuts with the Heritage Hills subdivision, and Fry said they planned to use wood for that fence. 

He also distributed copies of their site plan at the meeting to show residents what the building and surrounding area would look like once completed. 

Residents asked that the recommendation be amended to specifically require wood fencing where the property abuts residential areas. The other sides of the property do not have to comply with that requirement and will be a chain link fence with cloth screening, according to Fry. 

Originally there was also a requirement that work on the property be limited to the hours of 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends. 

Those restrictions would have not taken effect for four years, and included exceptions for projects requiring work at night, like the Improve I-70 Project. In the end, residents decided they were too restrictive, and the commission removed any requirements for work hours from the recommendation. 

“To have that restriction in place for them is just, I mean, an all honesty, it's, it's a waste of taxpayer dollars, because we're having to pay employees to sit in here now to actually review this again in four years, again, and then in another four years, and then another four years,” said Planning and Zoning Chairman Donald Smith. 

In the end residents were satisfied with the noise and light mitigation measures that were being taken and the regulations for work hours were removed. 

Brancaglione did clarify that rezoning that property to an industrial planned development district would not set a precedent to rezone other nearby properties since the PDI was specific to Clarkson and their use and any other petitioner would still have to go through the rezoning process. 

Furthermore, if Clarkson ever sold the property, the new owner would have to meet the same requirements or come to the city to rezone the property, where additional public hearings would be held. 

He also said, per city ordinances, if the property was vacant for a period of more than two years it would revert back to the original commercial zoning.