April 21, 2005

Council approves annexing of commerce park property

By Robert Mihalek

Village Council on Monday agreed to annex into Yellow Springs the parcel of land on which the commerce park, the Center for Business and Education, will be built.

Council president Tony Arnett described the commerce park project as vital to the community’s future. The park’s main tenant will be Antioch University McGregor, which plans to move its campus to the site.

Located at Dayton-Yellow Springs and East Enon Roads, the annexed land, which is 46 acres, was purchased last summer by Community Resources from Vernay Laboratories. Community Resources, the local nonprofit community improvement corporation that is spearheading the commerce park project, bought the property for $400,000. Council loaned the group $300,000 and the Yellow Springs Community Foundation gave Community Resources a $100,000 grant.

After the meeting, Carol Gasho, the chairwoman of Community Resources, called Council’s decision a milestone for the organization.

“I think it’s very supportive of what we want to do as a community and I think they are representing the community well,” she said of Council.

After gaining approval from the Greene County commissioners in January for the annexation request, Community Resources petitioned Council for final authorization.

Council approved that request at its meeting April 18 by voting 4-0 to pass a resolution accepting the land into Yellow Springs. Council member Denise Swinger was absent.

After the vote, the land officially became part of the village, said Arnett, who is also a member of the Community Resources board. Another Council member, Bruce Rickenbach, is also on the Community Resources board and chairs the organization’s site development committee for the Center for Business and Education.

Council members said little about the decision during Monday’s meeting, though a question from one local resident, Suzanne Patterson, elicited some response.

Patterson, a member of Villagers Addressing Land Issues and Development, or VALID, a group that opposed the annexing of the Fogg farm, which is located near the commerce park site, asked Council to delay annexing the land until the community can pursue a visioning process. The visioning project, which was organized during the Smart Growth Weekend, “Smart Growth for a Small Town,” is just getting underway and will take six months, Patterson said.

Council members noted that various Village boards and plans, including the Comprehensive Plan, have considered the 46-acre parcel now owned by Community Resources a possible site for a commerce park. They also said that the commerce park project needs to keep moving forward.

Council member Jocelyn Hardman called the visioning process vital but said that annexation would not affect the final design of the Center for Business and Education. She said that “there will be lots of opportunities for public input” on the commerce park.

After the meeting, Gasho said that one of Community Resources’ next steps is to have the site rezoned as Planned Unit Development-Business, which allows a mixture of commercial establishments and residential, educational and recreational uses.

Community Resources pursued the annexation request under the guidelines contained in the Cooperative Economic Development Agreement, or CEDA, which Council and the Miami Township trustees approved in 2002. The park site is one of three properties identified in the CEDA as suitable for commercial development.

Construction of McGregor’s new campus is scheduled to begin in September and would be completed in December 2006. McGregor expects to open the new facility in January 2007.

Gasho said that the organization is working with architects on the design of the site. The final design of the McGregor facility will not be completed for three to four months, she said.