Township Residents, Officials Push Back on Annexation
A developer is eyeing 26 acres that straddle Chardon city and township to build apartments on, which would require annexation, but township residents and officials aren’t having it.
A developer is eyeing 26 acres that straddle Chardon city and township to build apartments on, which would require annexation, but township residents and officials aren’t having it.
Redwood Living, Inc., of Independence, recently approached Chardon City Council to discuss the city’s charter regarding annexation, as 10 of the 26 acres on Ravenna Road are located in Chardon Township.
“The city received … an inquiry from Redwood Chardon about our charter,” said Law Director Ben Chojnacki during the Aug. 14 council meeting. “Because our charter is in conflict with itself.”
There are two provisions in the charter about annexation, one saying annexation would take place in accordance with the general laws of Ohio and one saying annexation can only proceed in a particular way by presenting the matter to the electors, Chojnacki said.
As the provisions directly conflict with each other and the property Redwood — which currently has apartments in the city on Seventh Avenue — is considering building on would require annexing those 10 acres into the city, the developer asked the city what to do, Chojnacki explained.
Both the city and developer have done independent legal reviews that came to the conclusion the city could not adopt and enforce local annexation laws, he said.
“Annexation laws are governed — they’re general laws of the state of Ohio,” Chojnacki said. “So, when you’re looking at annexation and someone’s looking to potentially annex to the city, which means they move into the city and become a part of the city, they have to follow state code. They cannot follow our charter. We do not have the home rule authority to dictate how people come into the city as a part of the city.”
City officials did not initiate the idea of annexation, council member Andrew Blackley emphasized.
“Just to make it clear to the rest of the public out there, this was not our idea,” he said.
Attorney John Slater, representing Redwood, explained the only reason annexation was being discussed was due to those 10 acres in the township.
Redwood has been in talks about how to get utilities to the site, which is owned by the Chardon United Methodist Church, said Redwood Vice President of Acquisitions Rad Schneider.
“We’re looking at about 117 apartment homes right now and that’s about 3.9 units in acre density, which is actually a little bit less than our current development, which is about 4.5 units in acre density,” he said, referencing the apartment complex on Seventh Ave, which has 91 units.
Redwood has not formally applied to rezone the property as they wanted clarity on the annexation process first, Schneider said.
Redwood would have to select one of multiple annexation methods and submit a petition to the county, Chojnacki said.
“The most common ones are expedited type one and expedited type two. Both of those require the property owner to engage in certain activities,” he said. “One requires the property owner to essentially notify the city they have to attempt to negotiate either an annexation agreement or a cooperative economic development agreement with the township. If that type of agreement isn’t something that’s going to happen or cannot happen, the property owner is entitled to do what’s called an expedited type two annexation, where they would petition the county for the annexation.”
If that goes through, the property sits in both the city and township with property taxes being paid to both by the property owner, he explained.
Despite the name, expediting would take a long time, Chojnacki noted, adding even in the most common methods, there is a lot of ping-ponging back and forth between local entities.
Chojnacki described the county’s discretion in the matter as “null.”
“Under the expedited process, there’s like eight requirements and it’s a check the box. They either did or they didn’t,” he said.
Mayor Raises Concerns
Chardon Mayor Chris Grau said he is mainly concerned with water and sewer access for the project, as well as its impacts on the police and fire departments.
“I can tell you that the people who have approached me from the public are against it,” he said. “So, I’m wondering with you, if we were to review everything more in depth and come back to you and say, ‘We’re not in favor of this,’ what’s going to be your position on that?”
Slater said they would want to understand what the particular issues are, noting it is common for adjacent property owners to not want nearby property developed.
“That’s something we typically try to work through and find out what the objections are because there can be ways to address whatever the concerns are,” Slater said. “It can be stormwater, it can be buffering, keeping trees in place to help shield, it can be other accommodations, how you lay out the site.”
Redwood’s goal would be to work with the city and township to enter into an annexation agreement and work to resolve those issues, he said.
There may be hidden costs related to the utilities, Grau said.
“Down on that section of Ravenna Road in the last few years, we had discussion with Chardon Schools about adding in some additional sewage down in there and it came back to us that that’s not an appropriate area to do that,” the mayor said. “Well, this is where you would be dumping in, unless we have a different lift station.”
There are all kinds of considerations with this project, both immediate and long-term, he said.
“How do we judge that going forward? Because if the impact is severe on the city, then I’m not for it, but if it could be rationalized and we could see something that actually … does benefit the city, then let’s hear that,” Grau said. “But, I don’t know how to get to that point until you have done a study.”
Township Pushes Back
Chardon Township Trustees made their thoughts on the idea of annexation clear Aug. 20.
“This board is dead set against that,” Trustee Michael Brown said during the regular trustees meeting, which drew a crowd of residents who also opposed the annexation. “We have not been approached by anybody, nobody has asked our opinion and we will fight it being annexed to the best of our abilities.”
They do not want high density zoning that close to the border of their township, Brown said.
Everything trustees have learned about the project has been word of mouth or rumor, Trustee Tim McKenna said, noting they recently spoke with Grau.
“The fact of the matter is that part of the reason why you enjoy Chardon Township is that it’s a township,” Brown said. “We up here, it’s going to sound odd for me to say, we don’t have a lot of authority. There’s very little damage we can do to your lives and that’s the way I like it.”
However, the flipside is that trustees do not have much power when someone with more authority shows up, he added.
Brown suggested the trustees reach out to the Geauga County Prosecutor’s Office about their options to oppose an annexation.
If the office cannot represent them, they would have to seek their own legal representation, he said.
“Nobody here has anything to do with this (or) wants this to happen,” he said. “We’re going to fight it as much as we can. I just want reasonable expectations because historically, townships don’t fare too well trying to fight annexation.”
One township resident said she would like to see the development discouraged, noting many move to the township for its rural character, including her family.
Township resident Melissa Ricco expressed concern about accidents if a new development was put into the area.
She lives down the street from the parcel and sees many car crashes, she said.
“I sit there and eat dinner and watch accidents happen. My sister works for the City of Chardon fire department and she’s been in my yard pulling cars out of the front yard many times,” Ricco said.
Brown encouraged the gathered group to keep attending meetings, noting he would try to be present at the upcoming Chardon Planning Commission meeting.
“Sometimes, I’m just being honest with you, there’s not a whole lot you can do other than to voice our objections,” he said.
