Maple Grove is proposed to have 110 single-family homes on the city’s east side, across U.S. 40 from Walmart. Sycamore Ridge will have 222 single-family houses at the intersection of Burnett Road and Leffel Lane near Springfield’s south border with Springfield Twp.
Clark-Shawnee’s school board approved the TIFs in December.
“A positive development started between the school district and this developer for this specific project,” City Manager Bryan Heck said at the city commission meeting.
Tax abatements can be controversial, as new housing developments add more students to a school district, but abatements affect whether the district gets additional tax funds for those students.
For a local jurisdiction to establish a TIF, it must pass legislation designating a parcel of land as tax-exempt, declaring improvements to private property within that area as “serving a public purpose,” describe what public infrastructure improvements will be made to benefit that parcel and specify the ”equivalent funds to be created for those redirected monies," according to the Ohio Department of Development.
Clark-Shawnee Schools Superintendent Brian Kuhn said at the December meeting that the current tax-abatement legal structure (whether tax-increment financing, or community reinvestment areas) is not ideal for schools, but that the district is doing its best within them. He said the school district is advocating for legislative changes.
“Our district has conducted good-faith negotiations with the developers for Maple Grove and Sycamore Ridge to arrive at compensation agreements that are fiscally responsible based on the laws in effect at this time,” Kuhn said at the December meeting.
The approval sets the developers of the projects up to move forward, Heck said.
Local developer Clay Chester is working on the Maple Grove project, Heck said. DDC Management is developing the Sycamore Ridge subdivision.
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