Commission adopts PUD97 amendment and approves 160-room Hilton hotel with added buffering, tree planting and lighting limits

After a lengthy public hearing and questions from residents, the Beavercreek Planning Commission approved two linked items affecting the long‑running PUD97 litigation area: (1) an amendment to incorporate recent court-ordered modifications (including an increase in total permitted square footage to 200,000 square feet), and (2) a major modification to the specific site plan that allows construction of a 160-room, three-story Hilton-branded hotel on a 5.068-acre parcel north of Kemp Road.

City staff detailed the PUD’s complex history — rezoning and referendum in the 1990s, federal litigation and agreed orders in 2000 and a later modification in 2018 — and explained the amendment’s purpose is to align municipal records with the federal orders. Staff recommended approval of both the amendment and the hotel site plan, noting the hotel is a permitted use in the PUD and that the proposed 37-foot-6-inch building height complies with the 40-foot maximum in the court order.

Neighbors raised repeated concerns about scale, visual intrusion over the existing mound, privacy, traffic and potential effects on emergency services near the adjacent Premier Health facility. In response, staff and the applicant produced a photometric plan showing minimal light spill at residential property lines, confirmed roof equipment will be screened behind parapet walls, and described stormwater infrastructure sized for buildout. Commissioners negotiated additional conditions before the vote: require the applicant to construct/extend the mound, plant 6-foot evergreen screening at commencement of site work, limit exterior construction hours and heavy truck movement during school commute windows, relocate the dumpster toward the western edge subject to staff approval, and prohibit decorative lighting on the east elevation.

After adding the conditions, the commission approved the major modification by roll call, 5-0. Staff will ensure the hotel design meets the court-ordered PUD language, verify any required coordination with EMS/CareFlight for operational conflicts, and require final landscape and photometric plans prior to issuance of a zoning permit.