It’s somewhat disheartening, but it is what it is. Master plans never get completed in their entirety. It’s a fluid tool. – Trustee Jeff Markley
A proposed master plan for the 650 acres that once was Geauga Lake and SeaWorld is on display in Bainbridge Township Hall.
However, trustees are quick to point out it is just a concept of what could be built on the property that straddles the City of Aurora, in Portage County, and Bainbridge, in Geauga.
“It’s clear, for the sake of the press that is here, that this plan was an exercise, a vision plan, a consultant’s illustration of what could be,” Trustee Jeff Markley said at Monday’s trustees meeting.
The concept map was unveiled during a February work session, after Markley announced that talks with the City of Aurora about establishing a Joint Economic Development District agreement had stalled.
Geauga Lake was the home of two amusement parks — Geauga Lake Amusement Park and SeaWorld Ohio — for many years. Owned by Sandusky-based Cedar Fair Entertainment, which also owns Cedar Point and King’s Island amusement parks, the company closed Geauga Lake in 2007 and SeaWorld’s replacement, Wildwater Kingdom, last year.
The 650 acres that once was two parks is half in Bainbridge and half in Aurora. The Bainbridge portion is zoned for commercial recreation, but trustees do not believe the land will be used for another park and needs to be rezoned. For the last 10 years, the two communities have been in negotiations with Cedar Fair to establish multi-use zoning for the property.
In addition, Bainbridge and Aurora have been working on a JEDD agreement that would allow Bainbridge to share in income taxes generated from any new businesses on the property.
Bainbridge established a zoning moratorium in 2014 to halt any zoning applications until the area could be rezoned, but lifted the moratorium when retail giant Meijer purchased several acres of the property.
In addition, a car dealership has purchased property on the Aurora side, trustees said.
Monday, Trustee Lorrie Sass Benza said the conceptual master plan, prepared by EDG for Cedar Fair, appears to conform to township zoning.
She added the township’s economic development consultant, Jennifer Syx of InSITE, had said Cleveland State University also has prepared a master plan concept for the property and has sent out surveys to some residents, seeking their opinions on possible uses for the property.
“This is a master’s degree studio exercise; it’s a project,” Markley, a landscape architect, said of the CSU study.
Markley said the concepts show the consultants’ separate visions for what could eventually be developed on the property, to serve as a guide in the planning and zoning process.
“But we’re currently at a standstill with Aurora, so we are not sure there will be a development,” he added.
Last month, Markley announced Aurora had changed its position in the proposed JEDD agreement to what he believed was to Aurora’s economic advantage, and to Bainbridge’s disadvantage.
“This is an exercise by a consultant paid by Cedar Fair, but the discussions thus far are not anywhere near creating this,” Markley said of the proposed master plan.
“Cedar Fair wanted to sell to one developer, but they changed their minds and now they want to piece and parcel it out,” he explained.
“It’s a pretty picture and that’s how I am treating it right now,” said Markley. “I am acknowledging the receipt, and that it appears to conform to our zoning.”
He thanked Cedar Fair for sharing the drawings with the township, and said the Cleveland State study would be released May 1.
“The Route 43 corridor will develop soon,” Markley said. “It’s somewhat disheartening, but it is what it is. Master plans never get completed in their entirety. It’s a fluid tool.
