By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

LEBANON - A planned 390-home subdivision will have to be scaled back after Warren County commissioners late Thursday denied a rezoning for the project, making good on their recent pledge to start slowing down growth.

With no let-up of new residents pouring in, Warren County officials want to take the lead in the booming northern suburbs to head off the congestion typical in the Tristate's older suburbs.

"If we don't do it now, it will be too late," Commissioner Mike Kilburn said Thursday. "The time to do this is yesterday. Look what's happening in Cincinnati. Look at the mass exodus of the middle class out of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. They are moving to Butler County or to Warren County. If we don't put this thing in check, we won't know this county 20 years from now."

Robert C. Rhein Interests Inc. wants to build the subdivision on 140 acres off Butler-Warren Road between Bethany and Hamilton roads in Turtlecreek Township. The neighborhood would hold about 2.8 units per acre.

Commissioners, however, unanimously rejected Rhein's rezoning request and warned that other home developers would face similar fates.

On Tuesday, commissioners are expected to initiate a zoning change to require larger lots and more open space for new subdivisions in the five townships where the county controls zoning.

"We are trying to better define how to balance growth and development," Commissioner Pat South told the crowd that packed commission chambers Thursday. "Unfortunately, this developer is caught in the crossfire. But we have on the front burner a lot of work to be done ... so in the year 2020 and beyond we will have a Warren County we can be proud of."

The land still is zoned residential, but without the rezoning Rhein sought, the company cannot build as many homes. Rhein's vice president, Alex V. Tarasenko, said after the vote Thursday he did not have any backup plans and would be considering options.

Warren County grew 39 percent in the 1990s, from 113,909 to 158,383, according to 2000 Census figures. County planners estimate 171,000 people now live in the county.

The growth hasn't slowed. From April 2000- when the Census figures were released - to July 2001, Warren County gained an additional 3,497 units, the highest percentage growth rate (5.94 percent) in the Tristate.

Residents and environmentalists were thrilled Thursday that commissioners appear to be "waking up to sprawl." Commissioners also were flooded with e-mails from neighbors applauding their efforts.

Several Warren County citizens and Sierra Club officials said the move is long overdue.

"I wish they had done this 20 years ago or back in 1950," said resident Betty Buffenbarger, 79. "... We were used to it nice and quiet and we could go where we want to go without it being bumper to bumper. Now we just stay home," she said. "The growth was too much, too soon. It just hit everybody at once."

She and her husband, Robert, moved to Warren County's Turtlecreek Township 50 years ago, long before it had subdivisions and shopping centers.

They helped launch an awareness group made up of Warren County neighbors from Monroe to Mason 11 years ago, and the Residents Association of West Central Warren County has been vocal about sprawl and on protecting aquifers it says are overtaxed by all the new residents.

"The problems precede the corrections," Mr. Buffenbarger, 76, said. "Everything they do, they jam it up front and then we spend all our tax money trying to salvage road systems and everything else. The only thing I have seen come out of development is higher property taxes and constant school levies. We don't benefit."

While Glen Brand, Midwest spokesman for the Sierra Club, was buoyed to see the commissioners move to increase lots sizes and green space, he says they also must craft a smart growth plan, not simply deny zoning for new subdivisions or just lop off the number of homes in new neighborhoods.

Warren County, he points out, has the opportunity to take the lead and set the Tristate tone for good planning for fast-growing neighboring communities.

"It's never too little, too late," he said. "It's a very big step the Warren County commissioners are waking up to the fact that poorly planned sprawl in Warren County has been ruining the quality of life for residents as well as the long term economic viability for businesses.

"But the county commissioners need to take this opportunity to put together a real comprehensive smart growth plan for the county to control growth in a responsible manner," he said. "Trying to just get at this problem through zoning is really backwards. Zoning should fit a comprehensive plan to fit sprawl and I'm afraid they are doing it in reverse."

Some homebuilders and politicians have maintained that Warren County's putting the brakes on new homes is more of a political retaliation than a smart-growth initiative.

In the November election, the Home Builders Association of Greater Cincinnati and its members donated thousands of dollars to Commissioner Mike Kilburn's opponent, Carolyn Tepe.

"That is 99.9 percent of why this is happening now, I feel," Hamilton Township Trustee Clyde Baston said. "That's the problem."

Mr. Kilburn, a commissioner since 1983, has been on the offensive since winning re-election Nov. 5 with an overwhelming majority of the vote. He had pushed to delay the rezoning request on the Rhein subdivision until Thursday.

Mr. Kilburn denied Thursday that he is seeking revenge against the builders for not supporting his campaign, saying he has worked to quell runaway residential development for a long time. He also is pushing for impact fees on new homes to pay for schools.

"That's so ridiculous I won't even comment any further on it," Mr. Kilburn said. "This thing will all be worked out and they'll be glad we did it."

The top Home Builders Association officials are out of town this week at a conference and could not be reached for comment.

In general, home builders say increasing lot sizes will increase the cost of homes, reducing affordable housing in the suburbs.

"If you can sell 1-acre lots for $25,000, then are forced to double that size, meaning 2-acre lots, you will sell those for $50,000," said Brad Knapp, executive vice president of residential services at Henkle Schueler & Associates Inc. The Lebanon-based real estate and development company has been in operation since 1935.

In the meantime, the commissioners should "cool the rhetoric," he added.

"The commissioners have an obligation to treat everyone with respect; and these are highly respected, legitimate developers and homebuilders," Mr. Knapp said. "On the other hand, they do have an obligation to monitor growth and see that it doesn't get ahead. I have been out on Butler-Warren Road. They are going to have to reconstruct that road if they put in more subdivisions.

"But,'' he added, "it's nice to live in a county where people want to live."

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com