Defiance City Council approves rezoning and planned-unit development for 0 Rosewood Ave.

On Oct. 7, 2025, the Defiance City Council voted unanimously to approve a map amendment and planned-unit development (PUD) overlay for property identified as 0 Rosewood Avenue.

The action rezones the site from B-3 (Highway and General Business) to R-2 (Medium-Density Residential) and adds a residential PUD overlay to permit greater lot-based subdivision and variations in setbacks. City planning staff said the change will allow the project to be subdivided into individual townhouse lots rather than remain as three large lots.

City planning staff member Mister O'Donnell told council the planning commission met on Oct. 1, 2025, and recommended the plan. “Section 11 71.06 c of our planning and zoning code lays out the process for approving a planned unit development,” O'Donnell said, noting the council’s review was part of that code-required process. He added, “It’s not changing the site plan. Same units, same density. The only thing that changes is they’re subdivided into individual lots rather than just three giant lots.”

Councilmembers discussed the item briefly during the public hearing and accepted the planning commission’s recommendation. Council then moved to suspend the rules and adopt the ordinance by roll-call vote; the motion carried with all members present voting yes (7–0). The ordinance was adopted and will allow the city engineer to approve the final plat for recordation with the county recorder.

The PUD overlay is intended to provide flexibility on lot configuration and setbacks while maintaining the previously approved site layout and unit count. No changes to unit types, densities or the overall site plan were approved in this action.

The council’s approval completes the local map-amendment step; the next administrative action is final plat approval and recording.