AMGALENA, Ohio — The question of whether an outlet mall should be built near I-71 has divided people in Berkshire Township, a rural part of Delaware County that’s south of Rts. 36/37.Last night, the township’s trustees sided with the people who don’t want the mall near them. The trustees denied a zoning request by one of two developers to build an outlet mall and recreation complex on the east side of I-71 along Rts. 36/37.
NorthGate Centre, proposed by developer Pat Shivley, would have included more than 1,000 acres of stores, warehouses and hotels. Shivley’s plan also would have had an auto mall with four to six car dealerships, as well as a recreation complex that would have included soccer fields and indoor basketball and volleyball courts.
Kelley Lilly, spokeswoman for NorthGate Centre, said that NorthGate’s developers have concerns about how Berkshire Township handled the request.
“NorthGate Centre made many public-information requests to the township, the answers to which caused us great concern that the process was fatally flawed from the beginning,” Lilly said.
But the trustees’ decision to deny the zoning request doesn’t mean that Northgate Centre is dead. Shivley could appeal the decision to Delaware County’s Zoning Board of Appeals, or he could ask neighboring Sunbury to annex the land and allow the mall to be built.
And the decision doesn’t mean that another outlet mall is out of the question.
Berkshire Township already has approved zoning for a different outlet mall just across from where NorthGate wanted to build, on the west side of I-71, by Simon Property Group and Tanger Outlets.
Some Berkshire Township residents who oppose any outlet mall will take their fight to the polls, though, and put a referendum on the November ballot to overturn that zoning approval.
Rick Bowman, who lives on Galena Road and helped collect signatures to get the referendum on the ballot, said he thinks the outlet mall would cause severe traffic problems for people in Berkshire Township. Bowman said he worked to collect signatures for the referendum because he wanted his neighbors to have a say.
“All I did was make sure my neighbors can vote,” Bowman said, “because they were forcing it down our throats.”
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