August 26, 2004

Fogg land approaching annexation, development

By Lauren Heaton

As plans for the village commerce park on East Enon Road get off the ground, a similar sized property across the street could be going up with it. Fifty percent of the interest in the 39-acre parcel of land located on Dayton-Yellow Springs Road just west of Yellow Springs High School was purchased last month by Doug Miller, owner of HRI Commercial Realty in Beavercreek. Former Yellow Springs resident Lucy Fogg and her son Harold Fogg, who own the other half of the property, are working with Miller to annex the land into the village and have it developed.

Miller drafted a preliminary development plan for the Fogg property several months ago that included using one quadrant of the land for multifamily residences, another quadrant for motel and retail businesses and one more quarter of the property for a “private school,” which was originally intended for Antioch University McGregor’s expansion.

Since then, the Village helped Yellow Springs Community Resources purchase the 46-acre Vernay property on the corner of East Enon and Dayton Street for the village commerce park, and McGregor announced its intention to expand on that site.

Miller said on Monday that though the school will no longer be part of the plan, he and the Foggs still intend to market the property for development “geared to do something to benefit the community,” and especially to complement McGregor’s needs.

That could mean pursuing a residential developer to build an apartment complex or motel to house students and visitors coming to McGregor. It could also mean getting a business developer to construct an office warehouse for smaller start-up businesses, such as restaurants, a software company, or a small contractor needing storage space for equipment and supplies, he said.

Miller does not envision much retail opportunity on his property because “the retail needs of the community are sufficiently met by the downtown location,” he said. He said the space could potentially be modeled after the incubator business and warehouse space further east on Dayton-Yellow Springs Road across from Kroger’s.

“We’re looking for guidance from the Village on what they’re willing to approve,” Miller said. “The community would end up having the final say-so on what can be built there.”

Last year the Fogg property became part of the cooperative economic development agreement between Miami Township and the Village to promote business growth in designated areas around the village. According to the terms of the CEDA, the Village and the Township would work together to annex into the village land used for commercial development, Village planner Phil Hawkey said Tuesday.

The Village has not yet received an application for annexation of the Fogg property, and Village Manager Rob Hillard would not speculate on how a mixed use plan such as Miller’s initial proposal would affect the ability to incorporate into the village. Though the CEDA does not address annexing land for residential development, if zoning changes appropriate for the intended land use were approved, the Village could consider annexing the land, Hillard said.

“We want things to complement the commerce park, and we also see the potential for future development to complement what we already have in the village,” Hillard said.

Miami Township Trustee Chris Mucher raised some concerns about annexing the Fogg property, which was only added to the CEDA as an optional commerce park location after the Vernay property became temporarily unavailable last year. Mucher, one of the author’s of the CEDA, had always intended for the agreement to facilitate commerce park development on just one of the three designated properties, the Vernay property, the 35-acre Pitstick property on East Enon Road, and the Fogg property.

“The Village and the Township were trying to promote managed economic growth and identify property that could be potentially converted to commercial use,” he said. “But in my mind I expected to pick from those areas and develop one, not all three.”

According to Mucher, explosive growth in one condensed area could lead to unsustainable competition between like businesses that might choose to locate on the Fogg property and in the commerce park, which are just across the street from each other on the western edge of the village.

“It gives me concern that the possibility for economic growth could be diluted because of so many hands chasing too few dollars,” he said.

Miller began the application process for annexation last month, which is his “first order of business” since it is the only way to have access to utilities from the Village, he said. Annexation requires approval from the Greene County Commissioners before it goes before the Village, a process Miller estimates could be done 60 to 90 days from now, he said.

Lucy Fogg, who moved to Cincinnati from Yellow Springs over a year ago, and Harold Fogg, also in Cincinnati, partnered with Miller because of Miller’s background in getting property annexed into a municipality and zoned for development, he said. Miller was the lead agent at another realty company in developing the Fairfield Commons mall a decade ago. And HRI is currently involved in trying to develop a five-acre parcel at the corner of Dayton-Yellow Springs Road and Trebein Road as well.

“I speak frequently with Harold Fogg, and we discuss what we’re trying to do,” Miller said. “He’s relying on me to work with the village to come up with a plan that will work.”