CANTON – Nearly 164 acres of farmland — an area that’s slightly smaller than Hills and Dales Village — are being added to Canton’s southern border.
Canton City Council on June 16 unanimously approved the annexation of four properties on the southeast corner of Millerton Street SE and Central Avenue SE in Canton Township. Stark County commissioners already approved the transfer.
As part of the annexation, the city is requiring the owner of the annexed area to provide a buffer, such as landscaping, a fence, open space or streets and walking paths, to separate the annexed land and the land that remains in Canton Township.
Here are three things to know about the annexation:
1. Carrollton resident owns the annexed land
Gary Teeter of Carrollton owns the four properties, either through his revocable trust or under the name of his company Image Inc., according to county auditor records.
Teeter, a home builder and real estate developer, purchased two of the properties in 2011 and the other two parcels in 2012, county auditor records show. Teeter bought the properties at auction as an investment and has an arrangement with a neighbor to farm the properties for soybeans, corn and hay, according to court documents in a lawsuit Teeter filed in 2018 over a drainage issue.
Teeter could not be reached for comment.
2. Annexed land is expected to be developed
Canton has zoned the four properties, which are part of Ward 4, as light industrial, which is designed to encourage the development of manufacturing and wholesale businesses that operate within enclosed structures and generate little industrial traffic, noise and odors. Research and technological activities are encouraged in light industrial zoning districts, according to Canton’s zoning regulations.
Economic Development Director Christopher Hardesty previously told council that the city is working with the annexed area’s developer, and the property is expected to be used for commercial purposes. He declined to elaborate.
3. Canton Township neighbors oppose the annexation
Lois Croston, who lives east of the annexed property on Millerton Street SE in Canton Township, opposed the annexation and any potential development of the property. She said the high-traffic area already has too many vehicle crashes due to the semi-trucks arriving and leaving the existing manufacturing companies in the area and other motorists who use Millerton and Central as a cut-through between state Route 43 and state Route 800.
“I chose to live in a rural area to live in peace,” said Croston, a former Canton resident who has lived on Millerton Street SE for 55 years.
Other neighbors expressed concern about how the potential development will affect their horses, their ability to leave their driveways and the parklike setting they’ve known for the roughly six years they’ve lived in their first home. They said the buffer that the city is requiring as part of the annexation is too vague to give them any comfort.
Croston, who was part of the successful protests in 1995 against a state prison that had been proposed for Canton’s southeast, said she’s also concerned that another industrial-type company could affect residents’ electricity, which she says already randomly turns off.
Reach Canton Repository staff writer Kelli Weir at 330-580-8339 or kelli.weir@cantonrep.com.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton annexes 164 acres from Canton Township
Reporting by Kelli Weir, Canton Repository / The Repository
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