November 25, 2004

Fogg development poses worries for some merchants

By Diane Chiddister

Opponents of the proposed development of the Fogg farm cite as their main concern the development’s possible harmful effect on downtown. It seems reasonable, then, to ask business owners how they feel about the proposal.

Of the 17 business owners interviewed for this article, some fear that their business will be hurt, while most said they worry that the proposal could lead to a gradual downturn in downtown business. A few merchants said that they didn’t know enough about the development proposal to respond.

“You might bring more revenue to the Village, but will it change life so much that we don’t want to live here?” said Priscilla Moore, who has owned Mr. Fub’s Party for 24 years.

Many downtown businesses have been struggling because of the country’s economic slump sparked by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, she said, and new businesses on the edge of Yellow Springs could pull customers away from downtown.

In September Village Council gave initial consent to a request from the owners of the Fogg farm to annex the 39-acre property into Yellow Springs.

The owners, Harold Fogg and Beavercreek developer Doug Miller of HRI Commercial Realty, hope to build a mixed-use development that could include a strip mall that will serve the students of Antioch University McGregor, which is slated to build a new campus across the street, as well as housing and apartments. Miller has suggested that the development could include a hotel, restaurant and copy shop to serve McGregor students.

Council will give a first reading to an ordinance accepting the property into Yellow Springs at its meeting Dec. 20. A second reading and a public hearing will take place at Council’s Feb. 7 meeting.

In the meantime, many downtown business owners are trying to figure out what the new development might mean to them.

While two people stated they didn’t believe the development would affect downtown, the majority interviewed for this article expressed concern.

Joe Williams, longtime employee at Ohio Silver, was one businessman who didn’t forecast negative effects if a strip mall were built on the town’s western edge.

“I honestly don’t think it would hurt downtown,” he said. “We have a pretty good thing going here and people come to shop here from all over the country.”

Still, Williams said, he opposes the idea because it seems to go against Yellow Springs’ history of protecting green space.

Other business people worry that a new business area would harm Yellow Springs by drawing shoppers away from downtown.

“Yellow Springs needs growth, but this is not necessarily the type of growth it needs,” said Tom Gray, the owner of Tom’s Market, who suggested that instead of allowing development on the village’s western edge, Council should focus on refurbishing empty buildings or lots in the downtown area.

“I’d hate to see Yellow Springs become a community like Fairborn, with a lot of empty strip malls,” Gray said.

Cathy Christian, who has owned Ye Olde Trail Tavern for 18 years, predicted that a new restaurant that caters to McGregor students would hurt her business. Currently, the Tavern serves about a dozen students who take classes at McGregor on Saturdays, according to employee Scott Siegel. Christian believes that a new restaurant would probably be part of a chain, which can order products in bulk and therefore pay less for food.

“I could not compete price-wise because I have to order in minimum amounts,” she said.

Christian also said she does not agree with Miller’s assertion that McGregor students cannot find a restaurant in Yellow Springs where they can eat in an hour and not pay high prices. She has worked hard to keep her prices reasonable, Christian said, and her staff tries to offer excellent service.

Beyond McGregor students, other customers would flock to a new chain restaurant simply because it’s new, said Christian. She recalled that the Tavern’s business was “bleak” initially after the Fairfield Commons Mall opened several years ago, but has since rebounded.

“It could be the new hot place for a couple of years, long enough to hurt some of us and maybe kill some of us off,” she said.

Suzanne Oldham, who bought and refurbished the Arthur Morgan House bed and breakfast a year ago, said she was not comfortable commenting about the proposed development’s effects on her own business. But as to its effects on all downtown businesses, she said she fears that people lodging on the edge of town would be less likely to patronize downtown businesses and more likely to go elsewhere than would those staying in the downtown area.

Tourists who shop at downtown businesses might be less likely to come to Yellow Springs if the village begins looking like most small towns, said several business owners who worry about the long-term effects of the Fogg farm proposal.

“What would happen to why people come to Yellow Springs?” said Patty Purdin, the owner of No Common Scents, who noted that most of her business comes from out-of-towners. “People say ‘I just love this quaint little town,’ ” she said.

Purdin cited Springfield as an example of a city where business developed outside the central business district. “The downtown died when the mall came,” she said.

Amy Boblitt said that business has been good at the Sunrise Cafe since she and Brian Rainey bought the restaurant last summer. But much of the business is tourist-based, and, she said, she worries about the effects of the development.

“It takes away from the tourist pull,” she said. “Tourists come here because it’s unique, not a regular town with a strip mall.”

Peter “Owa” Mandelkern, co-owner of the Village Herb Shoppe, said that while much of his business comes from mail and Internet orders, out-of-towners make up a sizeable segment of his customers.

“It seems ludicrous and unnecessary,” he said of the proposed development. “What makes Yellow Springs special is that we don’t have sprawl on the edge of town. It ruins communities.”

The development also concerns one business owner whose operation is not downtown: Eric Clark, who more than two years ago left Yellow Springs Travel and bought the Springs Motel, which had for years suffered from a seedy reputation. After countless hours of hard work, Clark has turned the business around and he makes a living, though hardly an opulent one, for himself and his young son.

“I took a serious financial sacrifice leaving the agency and taking a rundown motel and turning it into something nice, responsible and safe,” he said.

Clark believes that he knows what will happen if a new motel rises on the west edge of town: he won’t make a living at all.

“It would change dramatically the way I do business,” Clark said. If a hotel is built on the Fogg farm, Clark said, his options would likely be “to add more rooms or to make the motel my hobby and get a full-time job or plant a lot of big bushes in front and go back to charging by the hour. I will say that was more profitable.”

Clark said that he finds it especially disturbing that no one involved in the process, including Council members, has contacted him to find out how the proposal would affect him. Noting that he’s a lifelong Yellow Springs resident, a downtown business owner for 15 years and a former member of the Chamber of Commerce executive committee, Clark said he expected the courtesy of being contacted.

Pam Hogarty, whose downtown business, Unfinished Creations, has been in town 30 years, also expressed concern for the development.

“Of course it will affect me. It will affect all of us,” she said of her fellow business owners. Especially, Hogarty said, she worries that those who come to shop in town might “get stopped at the edge of town and not make it downtown.”

Hogarty said she has been disappointed in the process involved in the development. “I think Council has gone about it in a terrible way,” she said. “The correct way is to come up with a plan of what you want and find someone to do it instead of having someone else come and say, ‘Here’s what I’m going to do.’ ”

Hogarty and several other business owners said they also felt uncomfortable with how quickly Council gave the annexation its initial consent.

In response to the business owners’ concerns, Council president Tony Arnett said in an interview last week that Council had no choice but to make a decision quickly on the initial request for the annexation because the property owners had requested an expedited process.

He also said that many villagers seem confused about the scope of the development and the process involved.

“There has been confusion about what decisions have been made, as if the September vote was approval of the entire project,” Arnett said. “It was not. We haven’t even seen the project and we know there’s a long road ahead on this.”

Council will next decide whether or not to give official approval to the annexation request, and after that will decide whether the property owners’ requests for zoning changes are appropriate, Arnett said. At the rezoning stage, Council will determine whether businesses may be included in the development, he said. If businesses are included, he said, Council will have some, but not complete, control over the types of businesses that would be allowed.

However, Arnett also said, the property owners have the right to choose which businesses they wish to include.

“It’s not for me to say what makes the best sense for them from a business perspective,” he said. “Our job is to create policies and guidelines and then judge applications based on those policies and guidelines.”

Arnett stressed that Miller’s proposal does not include “what most people think of as retail, such as when you go to downtown shops and buy goods.”

Arnett also said the proposed motel became part of the development after Antioch McGregor requested temporary housing for its students.

Arnett said he understands the concerns of local business people but believes that many are fueled by “rumor and innuendo.” He encouraged Yellow Springers concerned with the Fogg farm development to take part in the public hearing on Feb. 7.

“The important part is to find constructive ways to ask questions and suggest how things could be done differently and find ways to collaborate and compromise with each other so that the result is win/win,” Arnett said.