BUTLER TWP — Township officials have set a public hearing date for mid-September for rezoning the Deshon Woods property from residential use to general commercial use.

The hearing will be at 7 p.m. Sept. 19, at the township’s municipal building. The township commissioners Monday night approved the hearing date.

The hearing comes after the ownership group that bought the property in March told township officials in June that they wanted to change its permitted use.

Deshon Woods, which is on Route 68, is zoned for residential use (R1). The ownership group — Deshon Woods Development LLC — wants the use to be changed to allow general commercial development (C1).

The site formerly had been tapped to house VA Butler Healthcare’s new health center, but a tumultuous bidding process with the initial developer, Westar, resulted in the federal government voiding the lease agreement and moving the project to property in Center Township.

The township commissioners have called Deshon Woods, which was clear-cut in preparation for the VA project, an eyesore and lobbied for it to be rehabilitated or developed.

That’s what Ted Cranmer, one of the principals of the ownership group, said in March that he intended to do. But the use of the property remains unclear, and Cranmer has declined to speak about possible tenants or buyers that the group is seeking.