Yellow Springs, Ohio is a small town with a population of under 4,000, but boasts a n activearts community that belies its size, and is the birthplace of a number of renownedpeople including Coretta Scott King, John Lithgow, and Dave Chappelle. This week, Chappelle thwarted the progression of an affordable housing development in the village, as first reported by Dayton Daily News.

In July 2021, it was announced that Oberer Homes, a Miamisburg-based development company, was planning to build roughly 140 new homes on 53 acres along the villages southernmost edge, due to Yellow Springs housing market becoming increasingly steep and scarce over the last several years. At the time, this proposal received some criticism; residents wrote to the planning commission in opposition to rezoning the area to include duplexes and townhomes, includingthe single-family housing it is already demarcated for.

At a council meeting on Monday, Feb. 7, Chappelle said I cannot believe you would make me audition for you. You look like clowns. I am not bluffing, I will take it all off the table. His threat was in relationto his local business ventures, which are in the works: Firehouse Eatery restaurant and and a comedy club called Live from YS. The actor and comedians company, Iron Table Holdings LLC, broughtthe former Miami Township fire station in December 2021.

According to Rolling Stone, Chappelle stated he was adamantly opposed to the project at a council meeting that same month, saying: Ive invested millions of dollars in town. If you push this thing through, what Im investing in is no longer applicable. I would say that Oberer can buy all of this property from me if they want to be your benefactor because I will no longer want to.

Chappelle reportedly lives closelyto the location of this future development, and is not alone in lobbying against the project; other residents also expressed concerns about traffic flow, water management, and the proposed homeowners association.

The village council ultimately voted 2-2 with one abstention on the revised planned unit development zoning, said theDayton Daily News, which is an undoing of the villages original plan to include affordable housing in the development (which would have existed on 1.75 acres of donated land). Now, the lots zoning will only allow for 143 single-family homes, which will begin at approximately $300,000 and will be reportedly ready for homeowners to move in as soon as 2023..

By F.Aslam