Residents File Suit to Stop New Apartment Complex

The fight against the 596-bed "Province at Kent" student housing complex planned for South Lincoln Street isn't over.

Two High Street residents not far from the apartment site, Marc Kirby and Cassandra Pegg-Kirby, filed a civil suit in Portage County Common Pleas Court trying to stop construction of the apartments.

In essence, the Kirbys want to overturn decisions by and the that created a new residential overlay district allowing the complex in an area of the city zoned R-3, which doesn't allow as dense a project as the developer, Edwards Communities Development Co., is planning.

In April, the planning commission approved the overlay district, which creates a hybrid between R-4 and R-3 zoning for the 10 acres comprising the project site. Kent council unanimously approved the overlay district in May.

Among its claims, the Kirbys' court complaint argues the overlay district is spot zoning — a practice deemed illegal in some courts.

"Placing the Edwards project/Overlay District into the center of an R-3 district for the benefit of one developer on one plot of land is certainly spot zoning," the couple's civil complaint states.

The developer has already obtained approval of its site plan from the planning commission and approval of the only variances needed for the project from the Kent Board of Zoning Appeals. And they recently closed on some of the property needed for the project.

It's unclear when the case, first filed June 22, will be heard by a judge or jury.