Bainbridge Township Trustees approved a resolution Feb. 24 to grant conditional occupancy for four buildings totaling 16 units called VC Park at Geauga Lake.
Bainbridge Township Trustees approved a resolution Feb. 24 to grant conditional occupancy for four buildings totaling 16 units called VC Park at Geauga Lake.
Trustees had halted progress on the project at their Feb. 10 meeting because the master developer, Industrial Commercial Properties, of Cleveland, has yet to build a road, signage and accessibility for emergency services.
Monday, Trustee Jeff Markley said the Ohio Department of Transportation approved the construction of Big Dipper Road on Feb. 21, action that provides emergency access to the apartments.
Monday’s resolution read, in part: “The board agrees that granting the requested approval, with certain conditions, will help avoid the asserted economic hardships identified by the Vision (Development) parties and encourage and support responsible development in the township…”
However, apartment tenants will have to use Depot Road to come and go and, at state Route 43, be limited to right-in, right-out access and egress, Markley said during the meeting.
“Any other applications that they have for occupancy — conditional occupancy requests — will be tied to fully completed units,” he said. “It’s got to be tidied up and neat and safe before they get any more (units approved).”
ICP, which is expected to build a total of 331 units, received approval from ODOT to complete Big Dipper Road, which Markley believes will be finished in October, he said.
Markley detailed some of trustees’ ongoing concerns at the Feb. 10 meeting.
“In order to give (Vision Development) the ability to begin renting out the facilities, we have to make sure that there’s a safe ingress and egress, that there’s access for our safety forces,” he said. “That entrance just has to be approved for public use before it can be used that way and a barrier needs to be in place until it’s been approved.”
In a follow-up interview, Markley detailed the requirements needed of the developers.
“For the township to approve (future) conditional occupancy permit(s), the buildings must be complete. Meaning carpet, paint, everything is ready to go. Signs, address signs, all that kind of stuff are up. The roads are clean, safe, accessible. The internal driveway, roadway system (are accessible),” he said.
Neither the Geauga County engineer nor the Bainbridge Township Fire Department can sign off on the permits until these conditions are met on the remaining units, Markley said.
ICP and Vision have to meet all of the conditions every time they ask for an occupancy permit, the trustee added.
Vision’s website listed more apartments as being available in the spring of 2025.
A barrier has to stay up blocking off Big Dipper Road, which is currently a private road, Markley said.
The address, listed on Vision’s website, is also not yet registered to what is currently a private road.
Geauga County Engineer Andy Haupt said last week the road has not yet been dedicated as they are waiting for developers to work with ODOT on resolving some of the issues.
“ICP has really gone very slowly and dragged their feet on getting this road done and getting it approved with ODOT,” Markley said, later adding he projects it won’t be complete until October.
“There’s still a lot to do and there’s also what they call lead time on ordering material,” he said. “The traffic signals have a long lead time to order and the developer, ICP, has not even placed that order, yet. It’s very frustrating when, in fact, we were talking about this a year ago in March when I said you need to order these things because these are large, long lead times.”
Since it’s a private road, the apartment complex will be responsible for the township’s gratuities, Markley said.
“(It is) effectively a private road, which will not have been dedicated publicly, which we will not be plowing, we will not be salting for ice, we will not be policing on a regular basis,” he said. “It’s no different than somebody’s parking lot or driveway. The police officers do not control those areas.”
Trustees ultimately hoped halting the permits would apply pressure to the developer to get these outstanding projects done.
“(We’ve) put on our government hats and a lot of these (conditions) are going to stay,” Trustee Kristina O’Brien said Feb. 10.
“We recognize you’ve got money in the ground and you’re trying to recoup some of that. We get that,” Markley added in a follow-up interview. “From an economic development perspective, we’re sympathetic, however, we’re not going to compromise safety for economic development.”
Representatives for ICP and Vision deferred to the other when asked for further comment.
