October 14, 2004

County clears annexation of Fogg property

By Robert Mihalek

Last week the Greene County commissioners approved a request from the owners of the 39-acre Fogg property to have the land annexed into Yellow Springs.

The three commissioners — president Ralph C. Harper, W. Reed Madden and Marilyn J. Reid — approved the request during their regular meeting Oct. 7 in Xenia.

The annexation issue now moves back to Village Council, which must approve an ordinance accepting the request “as approved by” Greene County, Deborah Benning, the clerk of Council, said on Tuesday. Council will hold the first of two readings on the ordinance at its next meeting on Oct. 18. This will give Yellow Springers a chance to comment on the request, Benning said.

Council has already expressed support for annexing the property, located on Dayton-Yellow Springs Road, into Yellow Springs from Miami Township.

Last month, Council approved a resolution giving its consent to the annexation request, and another resolution committing to providing service to the property, including Village utilities: potable water, sanitary sewage, electricity and solid waste.

The owners of the property, Doug Miller of HRI Commercial Realty in Beavercreek and Harold Fogg, co-trustee of the Lucy Van Ness Fogg Living Trust, sought to have the property annexed so that they can build a mixed-use development on the land.

Miller told Council last month that his plans for the property include building a motel and restaurant, housing suitable for people 55 and older and apartments. He hopes the development will complement the commerce park, which is proposed for development across the street from the Fogg property, at East Enon and Dayton-Yellow Springs Road.

The commerce park is slated to be built on 46 acres of farmland now owned by Community Resources, the local community improvement corporation. That group hopes that Antioch University McGregor will relocate its campus to the commerce park site.

The Fogg property is one of three areas identified in the Cooperative Economic Development Agreement, or CEDA, the pact through which Council and the Miami Township trustees agreed to promote business development. The portions of the Fogg property that contain commercial development would likely be developed under terms in the CEDA. Therefore, the Miami Township trustees would receive property taxes from the commercial development. Land developed as residential cannot be included in the CEDA.

Miller said that he is looking for developers to work on different parts of the development, and is waiting for the Village to complete the annexation process before utilities can be extended to the property.