Zoning change OK’d for Sylvan Prairie Park

11/26/2012

Sylvania Township trustees have approved a zoning change for Sylvan Prairie Park that reflects the site’s current use rather than the housing and golf-course development once proposed there.

The township board’s Nov. 20 vote changed the park’s zoning to a special district, common in the township for public facilities, from planned-unit development. Sylvan Prairie, 8567 Brint Rd., is part of the Olander Park System, leaders of which realized the zoning change was needed when they applied for a permit to build a greenhouse on the property.

Daryl Graus, the township's planning and zoning manager, told the trustees during the meeting that the zoning change made sense because the special district “is more for parks.”

A public hearing that preceded the trustees’ unanimous vote elicited no comments from five citizens who attended the meeting.

A ditch widening project was recently completed at the park to promote stream restoration and help control area flooding by creating a functional floodplain.

Since buying the site in 2005, Olander Park officials also have overseen plantings of native grasses and trees in the park to promote its restoration to a prairie ecosystem.