YELLOW SPRINGS — In the wake of Monday’s village council vote, Oberer Homes said Thursday it plans to move forward with its Yellow Springs housing development, and Dave Chappelle responded to criticism of his involvement in the debate.

Chappelle released a statement through a spokeswoman Thursday, saying he was not against affordable housing, but felt the proposed housing development on 53 acres of land was not good for Yellow Springs.

“Dave Chappelle didn’t kill affordable housing. Concerned residents and a responding Village Council ‘killed’ a half-baked plan which never actually offered affordable housing,” said Carla Sims, a spokesperson for Chappelle.

Yellow Springs annexes 34 acres, site of proposed housing development
Chappelle was one of several Yellow Springs residents who spoke up against a 53-acre development plan that included 1.75 acres of land to be donated to the village for affordable housing. Chappelle threatened to pull his investments in the village, which include a planned restaurant and comedy club. In the two public meetings where he spoke, he did not explain detailed reasons for opposing the plan.

The zoning plan that the village worked with Oberer to create and that council ultimately did not approve Monday had a total of 140 homes, beginning at about $200,000. The breakdown was 64 single-family homes, 52 duplexes and 24 townhomes, with 1.75 acres of land to be donated to the village and later developed into affordable housing. The affordable housing project would have been separate from this development.

“Neither Dave nor his neighbors are against affordable housing, however, they are against the poorly vetted, cookie-cutter, sprawl-style development deal which has little regard for the community, culture and infrastructure of the Village,” said the statement from Sims, Chappelle’s spokeswoman.

“The whole development deal, cloaked as an affordable housing plan, is anything but affordable. Three out of 143 lots would have been for ‘future’ affordable housing,” she continued. “The rest of the homes were to be priced between $250k and upwards of $600k. In Yellow Springs, and in many other places, that is not considered affordable housing. Instead, it’s an accelerant on the homogenization of Yellow Springs.”

READ THE REST AT SPRINGFIELDNEWSSUN