• /

Accessory Dwelling Units discussion scheduled for August 2

The 29 page packet for this meeting is attached HERE.

By Andy Chappell-Dick

Bluffton Village Council met at Town Hall on July 24 with a familiar agenda (pages 1-2):  hear committee reports, vote on legislation, and oversee the activities of Village administration. I would have said there's nothing better to watch on a Monday night, but while we were four in the public gallery, I have it on good authority that at that very hour several hundred citizens had packed in cheek to jowl at another hall two blocks south to watch a movie about Barbie. I took heart; few of them were voters.

ORDINANCE COMMITTEE
Reporting first for the Ordinance Committee, Councilor Mitch Kingsley raised the topic of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). The committee has long wanted to address a possible update to the Village's zoning ordinance. With the near-completion of the collaborative Bluffton Beyond Tomorrow comprehensive plan, said Kingsley, "we ask with apprehension, is zoning now on the table?"  ADUs have long existed in Bluffton, and with some inquiries about building new ones coming in, Village Administrator Jesse Blackburn was asking the committee if the present rules might need a modernization. 

A systematic look at how other communities have handled the trend is underway, and the committee meets again on August 2 at 5 p.m. to continue talks.  Like all Village meetings, it's open to the public.

  • /

By Paula Scott

Arriving ten minutes before this week’s meeting of the Bluffton Schools board of education meeting, I feared I was at the right place at the wrong time. No cars parked out front, no motion-sensor lights on in the vestibule or hallways.

When I arrived in the Bluffton Elementary School media center, board member Larry Hoffman was there, the sole signal that there was indeed a meeting that evening. As it turned out, my ten minutes of preparation time was almost as long as the meeting. Minus an executive session, the following meeting was just eleven minutes. That’s July news in a nutshell.

  • /

The Richland Township Zoning Board of Appeals has announced a public hearing: 

- 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 2
- Meeting at 8435 N. Dixie Hwy, Bluffton

Contiguous property owners bordering 8350 Bixel Road, Bluffton, OH 45817 and interested general public are invited to attend.

The Swiss Community Historical Society at  8350 Bixel Road, Bluffton, OH 45817 is requesting a previously approved conditional use permit change to have a newly constructed building with a 20’ set back from the southernmost property line, changing from 30’ that was approved in 2022.

  • /

The Richland Township Zoning Board of Appeals has announced a public hearing: 

- 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 2
- Meeting at 8435 N. Dixie Hwy, Bluffton

Contiguous property owners bordering 7244 Tom Fett Road, Bluffton, OH 45817 and interested general public are invited to attend.

The property owner of 7244 Tom Fett Road, Bluffton, OH 45817 is requesting to build an accessory building that would be 40’ wide by 56’ long and 14’ tall.  This building would be for storage.

  • /

July 18, 2023 

PUBLIC NOTICE 

The Apollo Career Center Board of Education hereby gives public notice that  

Keith Horner, currently employed by the Apollo Career Center Board of Education as the superintendent, is retiring and seeking re-employment with the district in the  same position. The Board of Education proposes to re-employ Mr. Horner at its  regular meeting on Monday September 25, 2023. 

The Board of Education will hold a public hearing on the issue of re-employing Mr. Horner at its regular monthly meeting on Monday, August 28,  2023, at 7 p.m., in Apollo’s Board room, 3325 Shawnee Road, Lima, Ohio. 

Contact: Maria Rellinger 
Treasurer/CFO 
419-998-2912 

  • /

By Paula Scott

The 7:30 p.m. meeting of the Bluffton Exempted Village Schools Board of Education on Monday, July 17 will include a public hearing regarding federal IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) and Title I funds. In Ohio, federal Title 1 funds support supplemental instruction in reading and math.

The general public is welcome to attend the presentation and comment. School board meetings are held in the elementary school media center at 102 S. Jackson St.

Pages