DBR removes 'sticking point'; development deal to go before Elyria Council

ELYRIA — City Council appears on the verge of holding a formal vote on the development agreement for Reaser Pointe Crossing after DBR Commercial Realty removed a major sticking point from the agreement. A split 5-5 vote from the Strategic Planning Committee will send a vote on authorizing Mayor Kevin Brubaker to enter into the agreement, which would pay the way for a 422-town-home, mixed-use development, before the full Council as a minority report. A minority report is any report voted out of a committee that does not receive support from a majority of the committee members. It still goes before Council as a whole for a vote, just without the body's explicit recommendation. During a meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee on Monday, Council members were told by Councilman Phil Tollett, D-at-Large, that DBR, owned by developer Dan Reaser, had withdrawn a line which would have legally bound Council to accept parts of the development as public improvements upon project completion. Under the agreement, the project would receive public funding through the Lorain County Port Authority for parts of its infrastructure, but only if Council accepts those improvements as "public improvements." Law Director Amanda Deery confirmed that DBR's lawyers had removed the clause, which had been described at a previous Council meeting as the central "sticking point" holding up the agreement. "The language pertaining to pre approval has been drastically altered." Deery said. "With that being said, I am legally satisfied with the draft of the development agreement. However, I want to let Council know that based upon the representations of the Port Authority and the relationship that the development agreement would establish, it is important that this Council is comfortable with this project." Deery said that if a majority of Council is not in favor of the project, it should not approve the development agreement even if it is legally sound. Outside counsel for the city attorney Russ Balthis said that since the public funding is reliant on Council accepting public improvements, Council members should bring up any concerns about the plans now so they could be handled. He added that if Council approves the development agreement and then does not accept the public improvements, the city probably would be sued. The preliminary plat, essentially a planning document for the project, was approved by the Planning Commission over a year ago and Council does not weigh in on designs until it comes time to accept public improvements. Tollett said that any concerns about the plans were irrelevant because the issue at hand was the development agreement, and Council does not have any direct hand in approving designs. After heated back and forth about whether the project plans were acceptable — and whether that question even mattered — Tollett called for a vote to issue a committee report and call for a vote of full Council on the new development agreement. The vote split 5-5 with Tollett being joined by Council members Tom Callahan, D-at-Large; Jack Cerra, D-7th Ward; Brad Armstrong, I-5th Ward and Mary Siwierka, D-3rd Ward. Council members Kenny Oswald, D-4th Ward; Donna Mitchell, D-6th Ward; Donna Mitchell, D-2nd Ward; Chad Schneider, D-at-Large and Council President Vic Stewart, D-at-Large, voted against the measure. Deery said that the city's attorneys were still going back and forth with DBR's attorneys on revisions to the document as of 2 p.m. Monday, but she would have legislation prepared for a vote at a special Council meeting on Aug. 11. She also said that the city and DBR would need to adjust their existing tax increment financing agreement, or TIF, prior to that meeting to transfer the public financing portion of the project over to the Port Authority. She added that the TIF and agreement should be voted on at the same time. Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.