PHOTO BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
PROJECT UPDATES … The Williams County Port Authority met on Monday, March 23 to discuss the possibility of doing an updated housing assessment report for Williams County along with updates on the Fountain Creek Senior Villas project.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
The Williams County Port Authority met in a regular session Monday, March 23, discussing the upcoming Fountain Creek Senior Villas Project, which is expected to begin construction this summer.
Board members in attendance were Cheryl Andres, Sean Rupp, Bill Martin, Ashley Epling, Dave Newcomer, Dawn Fitzcharles, Rachel Walz, Joe Kimbell, and Tyson Stuckey with Tyler Sailer being absent.
Following approval of minutes from the February 23 meeting and the financial report for February, the board considered a bond resolution proposing to borrow $651,500 for the Fountain Creek Senior Villas Project, which is located on 300 West Fountain Grove Drive in Bryan.
Newcomer said because they are the Port Authority, they must issue bonds securing the purchase of real estate.
To do that, he added the Port Authority’s own bond counsel, Calfee, Halter & Griswold, LLP of Cleveland said they had to adopt a resolution authorizing the issuance of the bonds.
“This action will enable us to qualify for the statute of different sites,” said Newcomer. “The project constitutes the Port Authority solely act which means it’s a project that would enhance, foster, provide and promote housing and economic development which obviously will.
“We must indicate that we have this bond issue to finance this project which we do because we’ve received and we have funds to buy the ground, but there is another $2.7 million that is going to cost to make the improvements. This will cover part of that cost.”
Following approval of the bond resolution, the Port Authority will now go through a series of steps in which they already have a buyer for the bonds, but it’s a step down the road.
The board reached a memorandum of understanding with Frontier Community Services, which is the developer of the senior housing project.
Newcomer pointed out the bids to build the Fountain Creek Senior Villas Project came in high, resulting in a shortfall of funds.
Fitzcharles said there were some changes in costs from submission to taking it out for bid while the market changed slightly for the tax credits.
“We were able to do something that what was originally projected to be a $300,000 development fee and now the project has been approved and going through closing all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed it equates to $75,000 development fee to the Port Authority and that’s the number we are accepting,” said Fitzcharles.
Newcomer said it’s unfortunate because the Port Authority needed to get the project done.
“I don’t think we have any choice but to do this,” added Newcomer, who then made a recommendation to support the MOU with Frontier Community Services. The motion was approved.
The Port Authority discussed updating the 2023 Williams County Housing Assessment in which authority members felt it was time for a new one.
Epling said a full study was released in 2018 and updated in 2023. The cost for a full report is $15,000 and for an updated report it will cost $10,000.
The report was previously done by Pete DiSalvo of DiSalvo Development Advisors of Dublin, Ohio. Rupp suggested delaying the assessment for a year since he’s seeing prices coming down in houses right now.
Newcomer suggested meeting with DiSalvo about doing a new study, with Stuckey suggesting partnering with Defiance County and Fulton County officials to help save costs on the report.
In other action, the board approved a building quote from Christian Builders of Montpelier to construct a $153,000 cottage style home on 421 Cherry Street in Bryan.
In other Port Authority business:
-Approved Shultz & Huber and Associates of Van Wert for audit management services.
-Discussed updates on current Port Authority projects in Bryan, Pioneer, and Stryker.
-Reviewed the annual report draft which comes from the Ohio Department of Development. The report focuses on industrial projects but doesn’t address the work the Port Authority is currently doing.
An executive session was held for the purpose of considering the purchase of real property. No action was taken.
For more on local government projects, see STRYKER VILLAGE COUNCIL: Bids Awarded For Elevated Water Tower & Control Panel Replacement Project.
Next meeting will be on Monday, April 27 at 1 p.m.
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