Economic summit talks barriers to growth in Lorain County, how to address public opposition to development

During the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce 2026 Economic Summit on Thursday, experts from across the county and the region talked about the advantages that Lorain County has, but also the challenges it faces in seeking to add jobs and improve prosperity. Advantages include quality education and lake access; challenges include aging infrastructure and a lack of affordable housing. While there are well-established methods to improve infrastructure and expand housing, the panel also discussed a new challenge that has increasingly stifled projects: growing public opposition to rezoning measures and development. Opposition to development can be seen in a number of areas in Lorain County, including the public outcry over Lorain County's proposed urban county designation, the planned mega site project in New Russia Township and resistance to Elyria annexations of areas planned for development, to name a few. Members of the panel said that they felt much of the resistance was driven by social media rumors and fear of data centers, but they acknowledged that the opposition was real and could not simply be ignored. "This lack of trust in institutions has just been eroded over the last 30 years or so, so the idea that the first time a community hears about a tax abatement or tax increment financing or job creation tax credit is when legislation is introduced, it always creates a mistrust," said Max Upton, director of economic development for the Cleveland office of the law firm Bricker Graydon. "... Social media pours gasoline on that mistrust, and they they put a blowtorch to it, right? That is the environment in which we are operating as economic development professionals." Upton, in a sentiment echoed by several other panelists, said that the only way to counter that mistrust was by being transparent and proactive in informing the public of upcoming projects and why the community would benefit from them and any incentives. "I would encourage any community to be open, honest, transparent and upfront about the incentives conversation," said Upton, who'd previously served as the city of Lorain's building, housing and planning director. "I truly believe that most people, when you explain to them what we're doing, why we're doing it, there is a public good that comes out of it, most people understand where we are coming from." Tiffany McClelland, executive director of the Lorain Port and Finance Authority, said she would take Upton's argument a step further by saying that municipalities or other governing bodies should not consider incentives before they know with certainty that a project would benefit the community and they are able to explain that reasoning to the community. "Incentives don't make a bad project good," she said. "You need to have a good project, incentives should just be the icing on the cake. I think that when we're looking at our programs and offerings, we are looking for a good project that is coming to us fully ready except for this. And that has to be clear and articulated to us. When it's not, I think that they (the developer or business) are not ready for incentives yet." Housing a workforce Lisa Hutson of ONE Lorain County served as the moderator for the economic development panel, asked how communities in the county could better compete for the attention of companies and developers. Dave Greenspan, director of community development for the county, said that the quality and education of Lorain County's workforce were a draw for businesses, but that the county was coming up short in its ability to offer affordable workforce housing. Greenspan said the county had seen thousands of new houses built just in the townships, not even to mention cities and villages, in the past two years, but that the vast majority of those houses were too expensive to serve as the workforce housing the county needs. "What we need to focus on – and this is an issue not just here in Lorain County, when I was in the legislature we saw this statewide – where you have a lot of urban and infill housing stock that has gone underserved, under-inspected and under-maintained," Greenspan said. "That is an area we need to focus on when we talk about workforce housing, because the affordable housing that is going to support a lot of these jobs, it is going to come from existing housing stock." Infrastructure needs Just as leaders and administrators needed to encourage housing stock expansion, members of the committee said that those in the room also needed to lead the charge on modernizing and improving the county's infrastructure. McClelland spoke about the benefits that Lorain has because of its active harbor – which she said about 1 million tons of material pass through every year – but also how aging port infrastructure has become a limitation. "The biggest barrier we have in our harbor right now is infrastructure," she said. "The infrastructure component, building out our sea wall, is the reason why some of the properties in our harbor can't be utilized right now. Quite frankly, when a business comes in and they try to understand how they can take advantage of the property, they go to the time to market for the permitting and the cost associated with those means the properties are unusable." McClelland said that the barrier was also an opportunity though, as the port authority could pursue state and federal funding to make infrastructure improvements that would make the harbor more attractive for businesses and more ready to accept them. The port is currently in the midst of projects to repair a large portion of its breakwall and dredge the harbor to improve its accessibility. Upton said that in addition to upgrading their physical infrastructure when they can, municipalities should take an active role in modernizing their legal infrastructure by actively reviewing things like their building and zoning codes. "There is an incredible amount of momentum in Lorain County," said Nico Samaniego, President and CEO of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce, after the event. "Organizations are working together better than ever, and we welcome existing businesses to look at growing here and new businesses looking to relocate or set up a new show to look at Lorain County. Folks are welcome to start with the chamber and get connected to ONE Lorain County and go from there. The partners are all at the table, we are having honest conversations and things can keep moving in a better direction." Contact Owen MacMillan at 440-329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.