The district-owned fields to the north of the Yellow Springs High and McKinney Middle schools — known as the Morgan Fields — are the home turf to around a dozen local, club and school soccer teams. Presently, the land is eyed as a potential site for a proposed 50-unit low-income housing development. (Photo by Reilly Dixon)
Greene County ESC shows interest in Morgan Fields
- Published: September 10, 2024
At the most recent Village Council meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 3, Council member Brian Housh shared with his colleagues news of what he described as a “wrinkle” in the Village’s ongoing pursuit of purchasing 3.6 acres of land from the school district.
According to Housh and a recent letter obtained by the News, leaders of the Greene County Educational Service Center, or ESC — located directly next to the McKinney Middle and YS High schools — have expressed interest in purchasing the adjacent Morgan soccer fields.
In an Aug. 28 letter penned by ESC Superintendent Terry Graves-Strieter and Interim Treasurer Kasey Mahaffey to YS School District leaders, the ESC is considering the purchase of the Morgan Fields to “have the land as a space for our students … for recess and other outdoor activities.”
Additionally, the ESC would “consider building on the property in the future” so that it could expand its specialized services.
As Housh and other Council members indicated on Tuesday evening, the ESC’s interest in the Morgan Fields may hamper the months-long, intergovernmental efforts to support local affordable housing nonprofit Home, Inc.’s initiative to apply for $15 million in tax credits that could fund the eventual construction of a 50-unit, low-income housing development on the soccer fields — that is, should the Village succeed in purchasing the land from the school district.
“It’s not clear what this means,” Housh told his colleagues, referring to a potential competing buyer and how it presents yet another obstacle in the Village’s attempts to disencumber the land.
Council previously authorized $12,500 in legal fees to cover the future costs of disentangling the land from its collateral and financial ties — chief among which is the school district’s lease agreement on the land with bondholder Build America Mutual. Owing to the unexpected news of the ESC’s simultaneous interest in the land and the unknown challenges it presents, Council agreed this week to pause the legal investigations into disencumbering the land until ESC’s intentions become more apparent.
In an email to YS Schools Superintendent Terri Holden, ESC Superintendent Graves-Strieter said the ESC has already begun considering approaches for a future purchase of the land.
“We do not know the actual price of the land, so we would not be able to say definitively how we would pay,” Graves-Strieter wrote. “It could be that we take out a mortgage for some or part of the purchase. Or we would look at our financials and determine if we pay for part or all of it without a loan.”
She added that the ESC seeks to give input into the upcoming efforts to rezone the property — a process that will begin at the Tuesday, Sept. 10, Village Planning Commission meeting when that group will consider a zoning map amendment to reclassify the Morgan fields from R-A, or low-density residential, to R-C, or high-density residential.
In the meantime, Council, the school board and other stakeholders seeking to disencumber the land — ultimately, in the pursuit of the low-income housing tax credits for the 50-unit development — are all in what Council President Kevin Stokes called a “pseudo pause.”
The group agreed to revisit the matter at their next regular meeting Monday, Sept. 16.
Utility Round-Up changes
Council members voted unanimously to modify the Village’s Utility Round-Up Program — a program wherein municipal utility customers round up their monthly bill to the nearest dollar, with the additional amount going to help those struggling to pay their bills.
Earlier this year, Council approved a measure that changed enrollment in the program from opt-in to opt-out. In other words, local residents previously had to volunteer to round up their utility bill payments to the nearest dollar. Following the passage of the December 2023 ordinance, local residents have since been automatically enrolled in the program.
Despite the increase in Round-Up funds available for financially needy residents, the fund is currently at a $3,680 deficit, according to Village Finance Director Michelle Robinson.
To correct that deficit, Council on Tuesday placed a new limitation on the number of times per year residents may request Village assistance with their utility bills. Whereas previously local residents could ask for $400 to cover utility costs twice over 12 months, residents can now only request that amount once per year.
Additionally, Village staffers and their households are now ineligible to participate in the program — a decision, Village Solicitor Amy Blankenship said, that was made to avoid conflicts of interest.
As Finance Director Robinson said, the Round-Up Program generates over $1,100 in revenue each month. Since the beginning of 2024, 27 local residents have applied to benefit from the program.
“So, if those [27] people would ask for the $400 annually [instead of twice a year], that would be $10,800 — meaning we’d have a little bit of a buffer for more applicants,” Robinson said.
Council member Carmen Brown suggested that she would support further changes to the program in the future — changes that she said could make the application process more rigorous so that those who benefit from the program are those with the greatest need.
“We should require more income information,” Brown said. “Other programs similar to ours have very specific requirements that we don’t have.”
Light Up Navajo in 2025
By an enthusiastic vote of 5–0, Council members approved a resolution to fund the Village Electric Crew’s participation in the Light Up Navajo Nation Project for 2025 in an amount not to exceed $20,000.
As the News has previously reported, Light Up Navajo is a mutual aid initiative that sends utility workers from municipalities across the country to the Navajo reservation in the American Southwest to connect residents to the electrical grid for the first time. Yellow Springs sent five crew members to the reservation earlier this summer; they electrified four families’ homes over the course of their week-long trip.
Just like this year, the Light Up Navajo Nation nonprofit and American Municipal Power, or AMP, will cover next year’s costs in lodging, plane tickets, car rentals and the expense of shipping tools and equipment to the reservation.
As Village Clerk Judy Kintner reminded Council members, it’s not often municipalities are asked to participate in the project two years in a row.
“Communities are really eager to participate, and they often don’t get asked for a second trip,” she said. “AMP has invited us for a second time. This resolution provides clear support.”
Council member Housh said he not only values the charitable work inherent in the Light Up Navajo Nation initiative, but also the skills the public works employees bring back home.
“Our crew gets great additional training, works with new folks, learns to better address emergency situations and makes connections with other communities,” Housh said. “This is all vital to building and improving our team.”
$900,000 in electrical improvements
Council gave emergency reading to an ordinance that transferred $900,000 from the Village’s electric operating fund to the electric capital improvement fund.
In a memo to Council, Village Manager Johnnie Burns explained that this money came from the recent sale of some of the Village’s renewable energy certificates, or RECs, from 2021–2022 — a sale that netted $963,549.49.
According to the memo, the Village needs approximately $827,500 and additional buffer money to cover the costs associated with several upcoming infrastructure projects — projects that were identified in a recent project needs assessment conducted by Encompass Engineering.
Among those projects considered most immediate by Encompass are building a new reconductor circuit on Dayton Street, completing underground circuits for the new Spring Meadows subdivision, completing arc flash studies and installing new fuses throughout the village.
While Council members all agreed on the importance of improving the municipal electric system, there was some debate on just how much from the recent REC sale should go toward these capital improvements.
As Housh pointed out, Council passed an ordinance last summer that established a policy that mandates proceeds from REC sales will be apportioned in an 85%–15% split — with the former percentage going toward immediate infrastructure needs, and the latter invested in future projects “designed to lower greenhouse gas emissions” from the Village.
To that end, Housh made a motion to redirect 15% of what Manager Burns requested to go toward future renewable energy projects in town.
“This is a principle of following our policy,” he said.
Ultimately, the motion did not receive a second and failed. The ordinance to transfer $900,000 to the electric capital improvement fund to finance the upcoming projects passed 4–1, with Housh being the lone dissenter.
The Yellow Springs News encourages respectful discussion of this article.
You must login to post a comment.
Don't have a login? Register for a free YSNews.com account.
No comments yet for this article.