226-acre Carlisle annexation a go
Brad Dicken | The Chronicle-Telegram
Elyria will take land from township, provide sewers for development
CARLISLE TWP. — Elyria is poised to finally annex 226 acres of land off Indian Hollow Road from Carlisle Township after a legal battle that lasted more than three years.
After taking the clash to the 9th District Court of Appeals and losing, the township has decided not to proceed to the Ohio Supreme Court, township trustee Robert White said.
“We did not think we could prevail,” he said.
Much of the land is owned by developers Lorne Elbert and Maurice Shave, who plan to build about 550 single-family homes. The remainder of the land is owned by the United Polish Club, which Lorain County Commissioner Betty Blair said plans to add a picnic area.
Elbert said the reason the property owners sought to have the land annexed in 2005 was to get sewers to support their projects. He said if the city and township had reached an agreement to create a joint economic development district (JEDD), the agreement would have allowed the city to install sewers in the township without the annexation.
County Administrator Jim Cordes said the county wasn’t able to force the two sides to work together to create the JEDD, and ultimately commissioners voted 2-1 to approve the annexation.
Blair, a Carlisle Township resident herself, said she reluctantly voted in favor of the annexation because it’s what the property owners wanted.
“Where the property is presently situated, they don’t have access to sewers, and they need sewers to develop,” she said.
The township appealed to the Lorain County Common Pleas Court and to the appeals court after that, losing all of its legal arguments, which centered on the language of the annexation request and the size of the land being annexed.
Elbert said he’s pleased the fight is over and he plans to begin construction on the homes, which will start at around $225,000, in the next year to 18 months. But first, he said, the city has to extend the sewer off Middle Avenue to the annexed land.
White said he still hopes there will be a way for Lorain County Rural Wastewater District, or LORCO, to provide sewers in the area and convince the property owners to undo the annexation and rejoin the township.
Elyria Mayor Bill Grace said that’s not going to happen because the city, not LORCO, is responsible for providing sewers in that part of the township.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Brad Dicken | The Chronicle-Telegram May 9th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 3% |
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Comments
Comment from
KenB
May 9, 2008, 9:24 am
This has been Mayor Grace’s wet dream for years to annex as much of Carlisle Township as he can even when he ran for Mayor the first time and lost he had a dream.
Just what the City needs is more new Housing to sit idle. Who is going to buy these new Homes when the Housing Market is in shambles? Not to mention the Elyria School system is in bad shape so let’s ship them off to Keystone and Midview systems.
Now as far as the folks who live in the area when they connect the new sewer line in you may be charge double on your sewer Bill because someone has to pay for the cost of that it isn’t going to be the Builder, City or County biting the bullet.
Commissioners voted 2-1 in favor! Doesn’t surprise me at all, they better start figuring out what their going to do about the County Budget problems and God forbid a Brick hits anyone while walking on the side walks on or near the Justus Center, Rumor has it that Mayor Grace pick out the type of Bricks on the building its self.
It’s not time to voted Mayor Grace out of Office yet but come this fall there are two County Commissioner slots to vote on and boy it is time for a change for sure because they themselves have wasted tax payers money buy and fixing buildings the County as many have said do not need.
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