BARNESVILLE — Village Council on Monday relented and approved a building permit for a local builder despite having just passed legislation that would have forbidden what he has planned.

In March, council passed an ordinance concerning required lot sizes and setbacks for new homes being built in the village. This came after a series of meetings that included input from a number of local real estate developers and builders.

Among those consulted about the legislation was Adam Ackerman, who has built a number of new homes in the village, especially on Church and South streets, in recent years.

The language of the legislation was amended early during Monday’s meeting at the recommendation of Councilman Steve Hill, adding a 4000-square-foot minimum lot requirement unless a house had previously been located on the lot.

Ackerman had three building permits up for approval later in the meeting, two of which involved the splitting of 302 W. South St. in order to build two new homes.

Councilman Brian Yarnall asked Village Solicitor Richard Myser whether the amendment members had passed earlier in the meeting was in effect.

“It is in place tonight, but as soon as it has been posted for the regular period of time it will be in effect,” Myser replied.

Yarnall asked about tabling the South Street permits, but Mayor Jake Hershberger said he didn’t think council could deny the permits based on the ordinance in effect at the time.

In response to a question from Council President Tony Johnson, Ackerman confirmed that the lots would be 2,415 square feet each once split, adding that they would be the same size as the lots directly beside that property.

After Johnson emphasized that the legislation passed in March and amended Monday had been put in place to prevent this kind of practice, Ackerman pointed out that he had used this very lot as an example during the meetings that took place while the legislation was being developed.

“Everybody OK’d that lot at that meeting. I’ve spent money on that lot since to get it prepared to change, and then I found out basically today that we’re going to change the rules again,” Ackerman said.

Fire Chief Tim Hall, who performs inspections and recommends permits for approval, said that while he agreed that they needed the minimum lot requirement to “stop what’s been going on,” he also agreed with Ackerman’s assertion that the rules were being changed in the middle of his process.

Councilwoman Robyn Misner spoke in opposition to the lot split, with Ackerman responding that he would be fine with the lot size requirement “from here on out” and that he would no longer purchase lots that had to be dealt with in that way.

Yarnall’s motion to approve the entire listing of six permits including the lot split died after it failed to receive a second. Councilman Les Tickhill made a motion to approve the other four, which were approved.

The discussion continued, with Councilman Terry McCort asking about what process was available to Ackerman to get a variance. Ackerman retorted that the rule was not in place when he bought and paid for the permits.

McCort told Ackerman, “If that’s the case, I feel like we’re picking on you a little bit here.”

Hershberger gave an example of a recent instance in which they allowed a variance to the setback requirements at another location.

After some further discussion, Johnson spoke up again:

“I have a problem with this because this is exactly what we wanted to stop and what Steve (Hill) worked all that time on to stop, because I don’t want to see any more of that. I’m going to make a motion that we vote on these two (permits), and I’m going to vote for this one time.”

Yarnall seconded the motion, and the permits were approved by a 4-1 vote with Tickhill and McCort joining Johnson and Yarnall with “yes” votes while Misner voted “no.”

Hill was absent from Monday’s meeting.

The other four permits approved were for Michael Gibson to install solar panels at 144 Ohio St., Forest Corbett to construct a new deck at 209 Washington St., for Christopher Keylor to install new metal siding at 107 Cole St., and for Ackerman to build a structure at 659 E. Main Street.