Reaser Pointe Crossing agreement narrowly passes Elyria Council

ELYRIA — The proposed Reaser Pointe Crossing mixed-use development will finally move forward after City Council passed a development agreement and school compensation agreement on Monday. The two ordinances were the final legislative steps that developer DBR Commercial Realty needed to pass with the city to set up its 422 townhome development, which will also include a number of commercial businesses, in southeast Elyria. During a special meeting of Council on Monday evening, members voted 6-3 in favor of both ordinances, narrowly reaching the six-vote total that represents a majority of Council. "I am thrilled with the opportunity that the city of Elyria and DBR are going to collaborate to produce the largest multiuse development in the history of the city of Elyria over there," Mayor Kevin Brubaker, a proponent of the project, said after the meeting Monday. "I greatly appreciate the long patience and giving that DBR did toward this project. I know they gave a lot back and I know there was a lot of fighting going back and forth, but the end game is we're going to have a massive project that's going to bring jobs, it's going to bring residents and this is gonna be a win for Elyria when it's all said and done." The approval of the development agreement gives Brubaker the authority to enter into the contract with DBR. This clears the way for DBR to enter into a tax increment financing, or TIF, agreement with the Lorain County Port Authority. Through the TIF agreement, the Port Authority will take out bonds to provide funding for much of the infrastructure associated with the project: this includes sewers, water lines, roads, sidewalks and street lights. Property owners within the TIF zone will not pay traditional property taxes, instead paying into a TIF fund that is used to pay the bondholders who funded the project. The taxation process is no different for the property owners themselves, only differing for the city, which will route the money through the fund and to the Port Authority. TIF payments can only apply to infrastructure that is accepted as a "public improvement," so for the process to work the city will have to vote to assume legal ownership of the streets and other applicable improvements once the project is done. Additionally, more than $2.7 million of the TIF funds will go to the city to pay for work the city did to construct the Reaser Pointe Crossing connector road, around which the project will center, under a previous TIF agreement. Under the second ordinance, the school compensation agreement will allow Elyria schools to collect the full value of what they would receive in property tax revenue if the development were taxed normally, which is projected to amount to $1.2 million a year once the project is fully complete. The TIF still needs the approval of the Elyria Board of Education, which meets next on Aug. 20. Officials have said that the board will be prepared to vote on the agreement at that meeting. Another effect of the passage of the ordinances is that DBR will stay, or pause, an outstanding lawsuit that it has against the city alleging the breach of a previous development agreement. Under the development agreement, once all necessary contracts are signed and the actual process of the project begins, DBR's attorneys will drop the suit entirely. "To the six Council members who stepped up, did their research (and read) all the documents, I appreciate them stepping up,especially Phil Tollett," DBR owner Dan Reaser said. "They put the city and the citizens and the schools first. For me, being a community guy, we are grateful they did that. Tollett, D-at-Large, has become a vocal supporter of the project on Council, pushing for several months for the development agreement to go before Council as a whole. The passage of the ordinances was far from a sure thing, after members of Council split 5-5 in a vote of the Strategic Planning Committee on whether to send the development agreement before Council at all. The tie still sent the legislation before Council under a minority report, and two members of Council who voted no in committee supported the project on the floor, giving the ordinances the six votes each they needed to pass. Council voted 9-0 to "suspend the rules" for both ordinances, meaning they would be voted on Monday, rather than undergo two readings at separate Council meetings before being voted on. It was on the ordinances themselves and a vote to pass them "on emergency" where Council members differed. Jack Cerra, D-7th Ward; Brenda Davis, D-2nd Ward; Donna Mitchell, D-4th Ward; Brad Armstrong, I-5th Ward, Mary Siwierka, D-3rd Ward and Tollett voted to pass both ordinances on emergency. Mitchell and Davis had voted against sending the agreement before Council as a whole last week. Tollett said similar developments had been very successful elsewhere, and he felt one would bring a lot of benefit to Elyria. "(I am) seeing the development of three story townhouses in surrounding communities, including Avon, within miles of our city limit with multiple townhouses in a much smaller footprint, also with very tight roads that people were clamoring for," he said. "This is one of the largest projects, if not the largest in the city's history, and the income that it would generate for our city through construction jobs is tremendous… looking big picture and long term, I don't understand how we can say no to a project like that in the community." Council President Vic Stewart, D-at-Large; Chad Schneider, D-at-Large and Kenny Oswald, D-4th Ward, voted against both ordinances as well as passing them on emergency. "The main question I keep being asked is, do you feel comfortable with this agreement? Well, I don't feel comfortable," Oswald said. "To me, there are so many loose ends in this project and down the road, these unanswered questions and details (are) only going to lead to a lot of complications when we start doing something." Councilmen Andrew Lipian, I-1st Ward and Tom Callahan, D-at-Large, were both gone from the meeting with approved absences. Both ordinances passed because they only needed six votes, a majority of Council's 11, but both emergencies failed because they needed eight votes. This only means that the ordinances will go into effect in 30 days, rather than immediately. During the committee meeting last week, several members of Council expressed concerns about the structure of the development agreement and the plans for the project, especially surrounding the width of some of the proposed streets which would become public. The preliminary plat, or design, for the project contains 22-foot-wide roads, while city ordinances dictate that streets be 28 feet wide. The city has approved narrower streets for other developments, but only for private roads, never public ones. The current proposed streets were approved by Planning Commission last June. "There has been a bunch of debate in regards to this project in its entirety," Stewart said before the vote. "This is not what this project was intended to be (when proposed five years ago), 75 percent residential property. This was supposed to be to help our tax base with general business and commercial. This is going to do none of that. the proposed subdivision that (is to be voted on) is not in compliance with the city standards as far as pavement width. This is a 22 foot road that's being considered. None of our public streets have that." Siwierka said that she had some issues with the project and design as a whole, but not enough to make her vote against the city gaining what is likely its largest mixed-use development ever. Reaser said again that he appreciated the support of those on Council who voted to pass the agreement, and that he and his company would continue to work to gain the approval of those who voted against it. "We are going to make sure they get educated plenty, so they feel comfortable, because once this gets done it is going to be a very beautiful, very prosperous development that is going to benefit many, many people," Reaser said "... We will work hard to win their trust and win their support." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.