Residents of the Valley View Road area of Hermitage who have opposed the Quaker Meadow development walked out of the city commissioners’ meeting Wednesday before the commissioners had finished voting.

After solicitor Thomas W. Kuster told commissioners that he did not believe there was any basis for the commissioners to vote against three plans concerning the development, residents knew how the vote would turn out.

“We’re doing what we’re doing because we’re under orders,” said Commissioner Duane J. Piccirilli, who contributed to the unanimous vote to approve the development’s final plan and two subdivisions.

To go against those “orders” likely would cause the commissioners to incur more legal fees for a doomed legal position. Commissioners denied an earlier Quaker Meadow plan, although they later conceded the plan met all applicable laws. The developer sued and won its case in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.

Ron Orndorff of 2596 Valley View, the earliest and most frequent campaigner against the plan, thanked the commissioners for hearing residents’ concerns.

“I know you did everything you could to help us,” he said.

Quaker Meadow LLC of Westerville, Ohio, wants to build 40 homes on 26èacres connecting to Valley View and North Hermitage Road.

The company would rent the homes for 15 years and sell them afterward. There would be income limits set on those who could rent the homes.

Residents have complained the extra motor vehicles generated by the development would increase the existing traffic safety and congestion problems.

Orndorff’s wife, Angie, told commissioners that, “when an accident occurs,” and the city is sued, she and her neighbors will support the commissioners.

“You did everything you could there,” she said.

Piccirilli said safety remains his major concern.

Kuster said the commissioners’ function is adjudicatory, not legislative. Commissioners are charged with comparing the plans with the city’s zoning and subdivision ordinances, he said.

“If they comply, it is nondiscriminatory and the governmental board must approve it,” he said. “If it does not comply, denial would be appropriate.”

The developer has met the provisions of the ordinances, and the conditions set by Judge Thomas R. Dobson, who overturned the commissioners’ earlier denial, Kuster said.