CANTON TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- The old Ambassador Hotel on Liberty Street in Canton Township has been vacant for years, so efforts to make improvements to the property have been welcomed by nearby residents until they learned about the plans for the property.

In February the township's Zoning Appeals Board granted Rev. Kenneth Lancaster the right to use the property, under contract from the state, as a home to transition convicted criminals from prison back into society.

Property owner Eddie Hmedian told Fox 8 News he believes the intentions are good. "It seems to me like what they was doing is good things, unless there's something shady I don't know about," Hmedian said on Thursday.

"At least those people who are coming out of prison, whether they are criminals or not, or the sex offenders -- at least they will be in a spot where someone is watching them and everything is there. It's better than them spread all over the city and nobody knows where they are at," Hmedian added.

But residents in the nearby area say they would rather be safe than sorry.

"Sex offenders, robbers, who knows what and they are going to have free access to come and go as they please," said John Cunningham who lives right across the street in a home he has owned for more than 30 years.

"There's no jobs in this area, none whatsoever right now. There's a lot of people here that's unemployed that cant find work," added James Stewart, whose wife Joyce says she is worried that there is a school bus stop on the same corner.

Another neighbor said she doesn't want to seem callous, but believes it is better to err on the side of caution.

"We think they should be able to change their lives around, that's not what we want to stop, but not in our neighborhood."

Township Trustee Chris Nichols says the Zoning Appeals Board is its own governing body and can approve the variance without input from the Board of Trustees.

Although the decision was made in February, Nichols says he was not even aware of the intended use of the old hotel until about a month ago.

Nichols says if he were given the opportunity to vote on the transition home himself he would have objected.

"Knowing all of the information, what the ultimate use is, I think it's easy to say in hindsight that I would have been very hesitant to approve such a thing"

"Our job as their trustees is to represent whats in their best interest and in my personal opinion that use of the facility is not in their best interest." Nichols added.

Trustees say they have taken the heat at recent meetings from residents who angrily oppose the plan, some of them thinking their township intentionally kept the plan quiet.

Nichols says while he believes the letter of the law has been followed, the spirit of the law regarding the concerns of the people in the township is something that needs to have been taken into consideration.

The home was intended to have its first residents in December. The February variance granting the use of the property as a transition home will need to be renewed in February 2010.

Commissioners are moving up the renewal hearing to December 16th, hoping if it is rejected at that meeting the home will not open for just a few months.

But they may be setting themselves up for a lawsuit.

Multiple efforts to reach Reverend Lancaster on Thursday were unsuccessful. A telephone number on a website for his organization called Jabez Mentoring, Counseling & Education has been disconnected.

A receptionist at a Columbus Ohio Church with which he is said to be affiliated told Fox 8 News they do not have his phone number, A message was left on a number Fox 8 obtained from the Zoning Board but the call was not returned.

The Reverend was also not at a residence in Canton where we were told he could be found. A message for the Reverend to contact Fox 8 was left with a woman at the residence.

But the owner of the property on Thursday said the Reverend actually has never signed a lease for the property, and without one he doubts the transition site can open.

Eddie Hmedian said as recently as the last week Reverend Lancaster was trying to talk him out of the original terms of their agreement, attempting to reduce his lease by 85-percent, a price that was not acceptable.

"The agreement wasn't signed or anything and he left and hes telling everybody that we are still negotiating, but I don't think at this time any negotiations is going on." Hmedian said.