Oregon moves foward with downtown deveopment

        Oregon City Council approved an agreement with Oregon on the Bay Regional Economic Development to allow the city to assign its land lease interests to the Oregon Economic Development Foundation as a first step to develop the former Kmart site as part of the city’s Downtown Center project.
        The city has a lease interest with an option to purchase 12.3 acres of property located at 2830 Navarre Avenue, also known as the Kmart property. The city intends to transfer its lease interest and option to purchase this parcel to Oregon on the Bay Regional Economic Development.
        Oregon on the Bay Regional Economic Development is the economic development arm of the city. Oregon hopes to increase opportunities for development in the area of this parcel by partnering with Oregon on the Bay Regional Economic Development to better enable marketing of the property.
        Upon selection of a developer, Oregon on the Bay Regional Economic Development will subsequently transfer its interests to the developer for construction, management and leasing to create financial growth in the city. Oregon will, however, be able to retain control of the shape of the redevelopment through a master development agreement that will be entered into by the city and the developer. The development agreement will govern blended tax increment financing and other tax incentives for infrastructure development that may be available to move the project forward. Prior to the project moving forward, such an agreement will come before council.
        “This is precisely one of the main reasons we have an economic development foundation, so that we’re able to work with respective businesses without disclosing all of their details,” said Mayor Mike Seferian. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t even consider dealing with us. That’s the basis of having a foundation.”
       
Downtown
        City Administrator Mike Beazley said the city authorized a lease/purchase agreement a few years ago with the owner of the former Kmart property. The city eventually entered into a 10-year lease agreement with an option at the end of the 10 years to buy the property. The acquisition was part of the city’s downtown development project.
        “We’ve worked through a pre-development phase,” said Beazley. “We had an unscheduled COVID interruption. Now, we’re at the stage where we’re excited. We’ve had strong interests from developers for the site. It’s kind of the prerequisite step for us to start negotiating leases with potential tenants to move the property to the foundation. Our goal here within a very short period of time is to end the city’s financial obligations and ownership of the parcel, and have it assumed by a developer. An interim step is to turn it over to the foundation so they can do the negotiations. The foundation at some point will turn it over to a developer.”
        Long term, the city’s relationship to the site won’t be through land control, he added, but through tax incentives such as TIF (Tax Increment Financing) and tax abatement instruments in an agreement with a developer.
        “That will come before this council. It is the city alone that controls those tools to development. We did this sort of thing at the southern end of the project back to Pickle Road a couple of years ago, with roadways, sewers. This is the next step for the land to the north. The developers are in the due diligence phase right now with several interested groups. There’s really a strong interest. People want to be here. There’s some things I think the community has been wanting for a long time. They’re going to end up in this area. But the first step is to turn this over to the foundation.”
 
Bike path
        Also at the meeting, council approved an agreement with Greenman-Pederson, Inc., Richfield, Ohio, to provide professional construction administration and inspection services for the Oregon Trail Bikeway, Phase 4, for $42,620.
        The city has received grant funding through the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) for the construction of a 10’ bike path between Brown Road and Pickle Road, which is Phase 4 of the Oregon Trail Bikeway.
        “This is the latest in the construction of our latest bike path,” said Seferian.
        “This ordinance is to hire a construction firm to watch over the administration and inspection of the bike path,” said Public Service Director Paul Roman.
        “I think when you get federal dollars like this, you certainly have to account for everything in terms of all the products, inspections and documented. There’s a little bit of red tape involved with that,” said Roman.
        Roman requested qualification statements from consultants to provide the services.
        A letter of interest with qualifications were received from DGL Consulting Engineers, LLC; Greenman-Peterson, Inc., (GPI); MAAKIL Group, Ltd.’ Mannik & Smith Group; Proudfood Associates, Inc.; and TTL Associates, Inc.
        Based on a complete review of their qualifications submitted, the Department of Public Service found GPI to be the most qualified consultant for the project.
        “GPI actually did the work on our Wheeling Street Bridge and Yarrow Street Bridge replacement and did a good job,” said Roman.
        The professional construction administration and inspection services is included in the approved 2022 municipal budget.