NILES CHARTER TOWNSHIP — What once was an overgrown former crop field could soon become an electrical service station, and what once was forested area could soon become a dollar store.

On Tuesday, the Niles Charter Township Planning Commission unanimously approved the site plans and a special land use permit request for American Electric Power to build office space and a service truck center on Walton Road next to US-31.

The approval came after a township resident, Terry Holloway, noted that the zoning ordinance only explicitly permits office space, not a warehouse or a storage yard on the property.

The electric company will need final approval by the township’s council at a future council meeting before building can begin.

The planning commission also unanimously approved the site plans for a Dollar General to build at the corner of Old US-31 and W. Winn Road. The area was zoned for such a development, so no special use permit requests or public comment periods were needed.

Zoning administrator Denise Kasprzak said the two site plan approvals are a testament to the development that has been occurring in the township.

If approved, AEP would construct a 34,500 square-foot building and parking space meant to house 150 employees servicing the Niles Charter Township area on issues ranging from electric bill concerns to power outages. The building would contain a truck garage and office space.

The 38 acres of property sought would also contain a drainage system and a manmade pond to fight against runoff.

The construction would follow Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design v4 standards.

The company’s site plan approvals did not come without concerns from the commission and the public, though.

During a public hearing period, Holloway expressed concern that his orchards, which are adjacent to the parcel AEP is seeking, would be put at risk.

“They’re going to be erecting a fence,” he said. “I’m a fruit farmer. The air all goes to the St. Joe River which is downhill, south. At night, when you have frost events, you’re erecting a fence, an obstacle to my livelihood.”

Holloway said air can be trapped when opaque objects like fences are constructed. When frost sets in overnight, the cold conditions would not able to be blown away from the fruit he grows, putting his crops at risk.

When voting came, the commission included a caveat to AEP’s approval: all screening would be made with plants that allow wind to flow through them.

Holloway also said he feared that AEP would house hazardous materials and allow runoff to enters his property.

Jesse Lee, of MS Consultants in Columbus, Ohio, said that no hazardous materials would be on site and that gasoline would be protected with double walls on concrete. He also said the drainage system in place would bring all runoff, even in major flooding, away towards the property front’s pond, away from Holloway Orchards.

Holloway also noted that the township’s zoning ordinance conflicts with AEP’s proposed site.

The Niles Charter Township Zoning Ordinance permits utility offices on rural reserve properties through a special land use permit. It does not mention warehouses and storage yards.

“I’m questioning the intent here,” Holloway said. “What is the definition of a utility office?”

Kasprzak said that a city of Niles utilities structure of similar purpose was built on a township rural reserve, and the zoning department decided to follow its precedent.

“As we already have one, this is what we have defined utility offices as,” she said. “You do have your offices. You do have your storage facility. You do have inside storage and outside storage. Instead of breaking out each individual thing as the component, it is all combined.”

Lee said that two-thirds of the 150 employees on site would be servicing the township from its offices. The 50 or so employees servicing through trucks would not store the trucks on site for long periods of time, meaning the space the trucks occupied would not be considered storage but a garage.

On June 17, the township council approved the parcel AEP wishes to build on to be rezoned from an agricultural reserve to a rural reserve, which allowed AEP the chance to build what it wanted on the site.

After Kasprzak and Lee responded to Holloway’s concerns, commissioners asked consultants representing AEP and Dollar General whether trees on the parcels both companies sought would remain. The consultants said that, aside from the spaces being developed, the trees would likely remain.

“I can’t say, ‘Never say never,’ but if we have some potential buyer, they’d obviously have to come through you guys,” said Jon Abent, representing Dollar General, to the commission. About 200 square feet of the property would not be developed, he said.

The Dollar General would be located on two of two-and-a-half parcels the company bought on Winn Street.