The last Sadsbury Township Supervisor meeting of the year quite possibly broke a record on attendance, as the room was packed with citizens.

Directly before the meeting, a Conditional Use Hearing had taken place for what has been renamed the Lake View Terrace project. It was formerly called Wesbury Village and is still a Wesbury undertaking but, the name has changed.

The gist of the development is to have three different components to the village including an apartment complex, a retail center, with a pharmacy, and a two story office structure.

As for the apartments, they will be one and two bedroom units and some will have views of Conneaut Lake. The apartments will be available in first, second or third floor areas.

When the meeting began after the hearing, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Roy Whaley, asked Township Solicitor R. Charles Thomas to specifically cover what they were to consider.

R. Charles began by saying that they were to consider the Wesbury's application for conditional use under the zoning ordinance.

Everything was in order thus far and then he got to a part of the zoning ordinance where the administrative details were outlined.

He said that preliminary plans must be filed within 60 days, then a public hearing is to be held again concerning those plans.

At that point, some banter and debate took place between R. Charles and Zoning Officer Paul Roiz as Roiz stated that the hearing which had just taken place addressed the preliminary plan aspect.

R. Charles said that was not the case as it had been a Conditional Use Hearing and was advertised as such. He asked Roiz if he had read over the ordinance to which Roiz replied that he had done so in a thorough manner.

Roiz began to leaf through the section in question and R. Charles stated, “it's cumbersome but I can't change what's written now.”

The Zoning Officer then said that he had directed the developer in that manner and his interpretation of the ordinance was that the cluster development was a specific kind of conditional use with its own review process. “And it seemed excessive to make the developer go through the regular conditional use process and then start all over again and do the same thing again in compliance with section 12, which is the specific process for a cluster development.”

He went on to say that he thought section 12 indicated that it superseded any other sections of the ordinance, and was what he “hung his hat on.”

Roiz said that his bottom line was that he didn't think they should have to go through the process again and restated that he had directed them in that manner. He said that they were where they were currently because he had instructed the developer in that way. Roiz emphasized that it was his personal opinion and his interpretation as the zoning officer.

R. Charles said it should have been advertised that way then and Roiz said it had been. “The fact that it's a cluster development doesn't mean it's not a conditional use,” Roiz said.

R. Charles said it was his job as the solicitor of the township to advise the board as to what he thinks is appropriate under the law. “If I don't do my job then I'm obviously not doing what I'm supposed to do in terms of advice to the township.” He continued to say that he understood what Roiz was saying but he could not change the law.

This went back and forth for a bit longer with Roiz saying that he had a different interpretation and R. Charles saying that he just rendered an opinion and the board would have to decide.