Present for the Monday, Nov. 17, Village Council meeting were, from left, Carmen Brown, Gavin DeVore Leonard, Kevin Stokes and Johnnie Burns. Council members Brian Housh and Trish Gustafson attended via Zoom. (Video still)
Village Council approves a villagewide CRA, TIF agreement for schoolhouse
- Published: November 25, 2025
At the group’s most recent regular meeting, Monday, Nov. 17, Village Council members again turned their attention to two related, but distinct, economic development incentive tools that the Village aims to implement in the near future.
By majority vote, Council approved two ordinances, both read as emergencies: the establishment of a community reinvestment area that overlays the entirety of municipal limits, and the authorization of a tax increment financing agreement for 314 Dayton St. — the Union Schoolhouse building owned by Iron Table Holdings LLC, where 91.3 WYSO plans to headquarter their operations permanently in the coming months.
Tax abatements now an option
As previously reported in the News, a community reinvestment area, or CRA, is a property tax reduction tool overseen by the Ohio Department of Development and is applied by county and local governments.
CRAs abate real property taxes on the county auditor’s appraised value of structural improvements — renovations or new construction — made to a parcel, that ultimately reduce the property owner’s overall development costs in exchange for their material contribution to a community.
With the passage of Monday’s CRA-related ordinance, the Village now has the latitude to offer tax exemptions to builders of multifamily, commercial and industrial structures throughout Yellow Springs.
According to a document in a pre-meeting memo to Council, the new CRA is “intended to encourage the revitalization of the existing housing stock and the development of new housing — particularly housing that would be considered affordable to area residents, inclusive of rental housing and owner-occupied housing.”
“Inducements to homeowners, landlords, developers and other property owners, in the form of CRA abatements, would contribute greatly to the Village’s desired outcome for more housing options,” the document reads.
As for the particulars of the tax abatements the Village can offer:
• For multifamily housing, projects that invest at least $5,000 in remodeling or new construction can receive up to 15 years and 100% of the added value. As it pertains to multifamily, the CRA ordinance states that, in order for developers to qualify for the exemption, at least 15% of the proposed dwelling units — rounded up to the nearest whole number — must qualify as affordable, as defined by the Village Zoning code: a residence for low-income households earning 80% or less of the area median income, where total housing costs do not exceed 30% of the household’s gross monthly income.
• Businesses that remodel existing buildings and invest at least $25,000 can qualify for up to a 15-year, 100% tax exemption on the increase in property value resulting from those improvements.
• New commercial or industrial construction projects may also be eligible for up to a 15-year, 100% tax exemption.
The CRA ordinance states that the specific terms of all tax abatements sought for building or renovation projects will be considered by the Village on a case-by-case basis, with ultimate approval needed by Village Council.
“Nothing is etched in stone,” Village solicitor Amy Blankenship told Council members ahead of their vote. “Council can always revisit this ordinance and revise it accordingly.”
Council members spoke favorably about the CRA ordinance — in particular, the flexibility afforded to the Village in the “case-by-case” provision.
“I’m one of several on Council who has spoken for the need for more economic development,” Council President Kevin Stokes said. “This is one of the tools we’ve chosen to implement and put into place to be in a better leverage position when talking to developers in the future.”
While the CRA ordinance before Council on Monday was a general outline of how to proceed in future conversations with developers seeking tax breaks, one project was at the fore of the discussion: the proposed 96-unit apartment complex slated for the former Antioch College Student Union.
As previously reported, Columbus-based real estate developer Windsor Companies aims to demolish the derelict student union building, and in its place on the 2.16-acre site, build two three-story apartment buildings, with 48 rental units in each.
Earlier communications from Windsor to the Village indicated that the developer seeks to benefit from a 15-year, 75% property tax abatement on the student union apartment project. Windsor partner Erik Alfieri previously stated in a letter to the Village that such an abatement “is paramount to the financeability and overall viability of the project.”
Should the Village grant Windsor that requested abatement, then local taxing jurisdictions would receive just 25% of the property tax revenue they would have gleaned from the development otherwise.
Solicitor Blankenship told Council members that Windsor will likely return to the discussion table to negotiate a site-specific tax abatement at a Council meeting in December — hence the purported need for Council members to vote on Monday’s CRA ordinance as a single-read “emergency.”
“There are some key points to remember,” Bricker Graydon public finance attorney Tyler Bridge said of a potential tax abatement on the Windsor apartments.
“The schools are currently not receiving any value from that site,” Bridge said. “It’s not a performing site at the time, so it’s not like anyone is losing funds. It’s deferring funds into the future.”
In other words, Bridge pointed out, while Windsor would pay tax jurisdictions only 25% of the full tax toll, that would still be more money going into public coffers than what is currently being generated by the vacant student union building.
Village resident and neighbor to the former student union Jerry Papania spoke unfavorably about the school district potentially not getting its full property tax dollars owed as a result of a potential abatement on the future Windsor apartments.
“The tax burden for many Yellow Springs residents is a challenge,” Papania said. “Over 60% of our property taxes go to the school district. The schools need to have a seat at the table when tax abatements are discussed. This provision needs to be incorporated [in the ordinance].”
Papania continued: “To me, the school district needs to weigh in on this. We’re all paying dearly to operate our schools. We pay, why shouldn’t they?” he asked rhetorically, referring to Windsor Companies.
He and another local resident, Tim Barton, who also lives near the former union, said they were dismayed by Council reading the legislation as an emergency.
“Here’s what a lot of residents are concerned about, and it’s not just me: The concern is that when something is passed as an emergency, we can’t do a referendum, or let the people vote,” Barton said.
The Council members who spoke on Monday appeared to be fine with the emergency status of the ordinance, and also said the tax cut would be a fair deal in exchange for more rental housing in Yellow Springs.
“We have a challenging rental market and there aren’t a lot of new apartments,” Vice President Gavin DeVore Leonard said. “So, how do we get investment? In this case, there not being dollars for the schools in the short term is certainly a concern. But the question is: Would you prefer to have something that will certainly generate revenue in 15 years, or something that will continue not generating revenue?”
Village Council members unanimously approved the CRA policy ordinance by a vote of 5–0.
The News will provide updates on a future tax abatement agreement between the Village and Windsor Companies — as well as the financial implications of such an agreement — at a later date, once those specific figures are made available.
Iron Table gets ‘TIFed’
The tax increment financing ordinance that Council members approved on Monday is also geared to benefit a developer in the midst of a large-scale build — this one at 314 Dayton St., where Iron Table Holdings has been renovating the 19th-century schoolhouse into a suitable space for WYSO operations.
Similar to a CRA, TIF is a taxation-based tool, also overseen by the state, that municipalities can wield to incentivize and directly reap the benefits from development.
TIF is an economic development mechanism that redirects real property taxes on the increased property value created from new builds or remodels: Taxes collected under “TIFed” properties can be funnelled back into a local government’s coffers to fund public infrastructure improvements. Unlike CRAs, TIF is not an abatement or reduction in taxes, but instead a diversion of property tax revenue.
So, in lieu of paying real property taxes to the county, Iron Table Holdings will make commensurate service payments into a newly established Village fund — “a public improvement tax increment equivalent fund.”
The TIF ordinance that Council approved declares 100% of the increase in the assessed value — the added value created from renovating and modernizing the old building into new offices — to be exempt from real property taxation for 30 years.
Those diverted tax dollars — an estimated amount of $900,000 over 30 years — will now help the Village pay for public infrastructure improvements around 314 Dayton St. and the surrounding neighborhood.
According to an addendum to the ordinance, those public infrastructure improvements could include the construction or maintenance of surrounding roadways, storm and sanitary systems, a nearby park, nearby parking and streetscape and landscape improvements.
The diverted taxes could also be used by the Village to cover the costs associated with the acquisition of real estate determined to be necessary to accomplish ongoing improvements, and more.
“This is another tool that we can use to guarantee that we have funds to use for our infrastructure — not only on the parcel, but around the area,” Village Manager Johnnie Burns said. “It can be used on Winter, Union, Stafford and Dayton streets — places with major [infrastructure] problems.”
“But you can’t use these funds for a park all the way across the village,” Bridge reminded Council.
Burns said that without the money from a TIF agreement with Iron Table Holdings, those area infrastructure improvements would be financed by the Village’s general fund.
“I deeply ask you guys to think about this,” Burns beseeched the Council.
Vice President DeVore Leonard expressed more trepidation with this ordinance than the last. As he contended, the TIF agreement would, yes, direct money toward municipal coffers, but away from other tax jurisdictions such as the county health district, senior services and the county library system.
The Yellow Springs Exempted School District and Greene County Career Center, however, would remain “whole” from the taxes paid at 314 Dayton St. under the provisions of the ordinance.
“That’s the nuance of this — we’re talking about making the schools whole on this one, but there are other taxing entities that won’t be made whole,” he said. “It’s a slippery slope with our property taxes.”
He later asked, “Where do we draw the line?”
“The line we drew was education,” Burns responded. “Yes, the schools need money and we are willing to make that happen, but other entities outside of our area are not going to feel the burden that taxpayers and staff are going to feel by the added increase of traffic, foot traffic, snow and salt in that area.”
Like the CRA piece of legislation, the TIF ordinance was read as an emergency.
Bridge explained this kind of legislative reading — which he contended ought to occur before the end of 2025 — was to allow Iron Table Holdings to maximize the change in property valuation before the beginning of 2026, when that valuation will likely soar as a result of the physical improvements on the parcel.
As the News previously reported, the Union Schoolhouse, built in 1872, has been under construction and redevelopment since January 2022. The building and an adjacent lot were purchased in 2020 for $550,000 by Iron Table Holdings, the real estate company owned by local resident and comedian Dave Chappelle.
In the three years since construction began, Iron Table built a new two-story, 10,000-square-foot space that adjoins the schoolhouse on its western facade, as well as regraded the lot for parking and completely redid the existing building’s interior, foundation, roof and windows. The building also now has an accessible entrance.
Behind the building, on the Union Street side, now stands a 150-foot-tall radio tower — specifically, a “studio transmitter link” that will send WYSO’s FM signal from the schoolhouse to its main transmission tower in Bellbrook.
In a past interview, a WYSO employee declined to specify the cost of the ongoing improvements to the schoolhouse property.
By a vote of 4–1 — with DeVore Leonard as the lone dissent — Village Council approved the ordinance to authorize a TIF agreement for the 314 Dayton St. property.
The next Village Council meeting will be held Monday, Dec. 1, at 6 p.m., in the John Bryan Community Center, in Council Chambers on the second floor.
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