HERMITAGE —





Shanequa Wilder was looking to get away from apartment life, but she wanted to stay in Hermitage, when she heard about a new rental housing development planned for the city.

Although city commissioners tried to kill the Quakers Meadows project after residents of Valley View Road protested the plan, Ms. Wilder said she was not fazed by the controversy.

“It seemed like a great opportunity,” she said.

She moved into her new home at the end of October with her children, Dequan, 15, and Destine, 7, and has enjoyed the extra space and privacy of a house.

“I love it,” she said. “I’ve never had anything brand new so I’m very excited. It’s close to work and school.”

In the mere months that people have been moving into Quaker Meadows, there hasn’t been much, if any, impact on the folks around the development, according to some of those who tried to get the development quashed. It’s simply too early to gauge, they said.

A new resident of Quaker Meadows who asked not to be named agreed with that summation.

“Time will tell,” she said. “We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Woda Development, Westerville, Ohio, proposed building 40 rental homes on 26è acres in 2008, and residents rallied against the plan, citing its potential affect on traffic, road safety, the value of existing homes, drainage and having low-income people move in.

The homes are aimed at the affordable housing market with income caps for renters depending on the size of their families and whether any inhabitants are handicapped.

Commissioners voted against the project, but relented after Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas R. Dobson overturned the action and they received legal advice that there was no basis to vote no.

Although Woda obtained building permits not long after that vote, it took a while for construction to begin, and the city issued the first occupancy permits in August.

City officials said they have had no complaints about Quaker Meadow since people started moving in.

While some of those who lobbied against the project did not want to talk to The Herald, others were open to it. They said there hasn’t been much of an impact on the neighborhood, but stood by the predictions they made during the public approval process.

Mark Podralski, who lives almost across the street from the Valley View driveway to Quaker Meadows, said he drove through the development a couple of weeks ago.

“It’s appealing,” he said. “It’s nice, what they did in there.”

He said he hasn’t noticed any additional problems with traffic or speeding on Valley View.

His biggest beef was the timing of the project and the affect it will have down the road.

“Why are you building new houses when you have homes in Hermitage and Sharpsville for sale?” Podralski said.

He also called the rent-to-own concept on which the developer received federal funding for the project “absolutely ridiculous.” If people can’t afford to buy homes now, they won’t be able to in 15 years, when the homes are put up for sale, he said.

A general contractor, Podralski said the post-15-year period is also when you have to start putting serious money into a home, such as for a roof.

“They’re going to be selling those houses at a time when you’re gonna need to put money into them,” Podralski said. “People are going to lose the houses.”

If that prediction comes true, that’s when the development will start devaluing neighboring properties, he said.

Because of the government money involved, the development smells of a housing “project,” he said.

“It’s not now,” he said. “It will end up being that way.”

Angie Orndorff, another Valley View resident, said she hasn’t seen an impact on the neighborhood, yet, but she also believes it’s too soon to assess.

“I’m not sure the entrance onto Valley View isn’t going to be an issue because there’s a blind spot there,” she said.

The houses look nice, Ms. Orndorff said.

“Hopefully, it will give people a start,” she said.

Kathy Barnes, also of Valley View, agreed that it’s too soon to measure the development’s impact on the neighborhood, particularly with the winter months set in.

“Really, with the weather the way it’s been, we haven’t seen much going in,” she said.

When the weather gets warmer, kids will start moving around more, she said.

“We have definitely thought about a security system,” she said.

Traffic has increased on Valley View, but Mrs. Barnes attributed that to the closing of the jughandle connection at North Hermitage Road and Thomason Road.

Mrs. Barnes said she hopes the school system can handle the extra children.

At a recent Hermitage School Board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Daniel Bell said about 10 children are attending school from Quaker Meadows.

Heather Kincaid, who has lived in Quaker Meadows for barely a month, said she was unaware of the controversy that preceded the development until she was approached by a Herald reporter Saturday.

“I can understand where they’re coming from,” she said. They don’t want to have a lot of bad people.”

But, she said, “We’re not going to bother them. It doesn’t affect their lifestyles. It’s not like we live in their backyard.”

The application process was rigorous and included checks on criminal history, credit and income, Ms. Kincaid and Ms. Wilder said.

“It took forever,” said Ms. Wilder, who has a cousin living in Quaker Meadows. “We called in June and we didn’t get in here until the beginning of December.”

“I think they put good people out here,” Ms. Wilder said.

Ms. Kincaid moved from Sharon with her grandmother, who does not get around well, because the Quakers Meadows ranch is handicapped accessible, and has a garage.

“It’s nice,” she said of the setting. “It’s in the woods. Very pretty.”

Ms. Wilder said she could see herself buying her home someday.

“We need nice neighborhoods, too,” she said, referring to concerns about low-income residents. “Just because we’re in a low-income development, we need nice things, too.”