Bedford Twp. trustees green-light parcel split

3 houses planned for Dean Road site

1/28/2013

TEMPERANCE — Bedford Township soon will have more new single-family housing.

The township board last week gave thumbs up to a property owner’s request that a parcel on Dean Road between Douglas and Jackman roads be divided into three buildable lots so a house can be put on each.

The land to be divided is at 2001 W. Dean Rd. and about 10 acres. Attorney David Wise told board members the newly formed lots would hold three homes priced in the $300,000 to $400,000 range.

“They will more than fit into the neighborhood. We want three major new homes to be there,” said Mr. Wise, representing Susan Wunder, the property owner.

Supervisor Greg Stewart told the board the land split and planned homes conform to the township’s master plan.

“We do have a responsibility to do this. It does not call for a public hearing. It calls for action by us,” he said.

The board vote was unanimous. Brad Helm, the project’s builder, said the house construction is under contract, with each home to have between 2,300 and 2,700 square feet of living space and links to water and sewer lines. Two will be on two-acre lots and the third on 2.8 acres, along with an existing home on the 10-acre tract, he said. Construction is set to begin in the spring.

In other business, the board appointed Royce Maniko of Temperance, just-retired Monroe County administrator, to be Bedford’s representative on the environmental working group of an important regional planning agency.

Mr. Maniko’s appointment to the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments’ Environmental Council is for one year and is voluntary. Mr. Maniko said he would not need mileage reimbursement and would not attend conferences at township expense.

Mr. Maniko told the board that changes in air-quality standards for particulates and other pollutants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could affect Monroe County. He said that the county’s only air-quality monitoring station is in Erie Township, where traffic backups on I-75 can cause high readings.

Mr. Maniko said that after years of nonattainment, the county had achieved attainment with the EPA and did not want to lose that status, as doing so could hamper economic development. The planned closing of Consumers Energy’s J.R. Whiting coal-fired power plant in Luna Pier would help Monroe County keep its attainment status, he added.

Treasurer Paul Francis said he could not think of anyone better-suited for the appointment than Mr. Maniko, a sentiment supported by Trustee Larry O’Dell. “Sir, you seem to be very knowledgeable. I was told you were very knowledgeable. I’m sure you'll do a good job.”

The board also approved a slate of appointments and reappointments to township boards and commissions: Jeff Biggs and Mary Anne Bourque to the planning commission, Robert Potter to the board of zoning appeals, Walt Wilburn to the housing commission, Elaine Kunz to the library board, and Ken Kilman to the compensation commission.