LIHTC project ‘win-wins’ discussed
- Published: December 5, 2024
At its most recent meeting on Thursday, Nov. 14, the YS Board of Education provided updates to the ongoing discussion around the potential sale and development of 3.6 acres of district-owned land on East Enon Road, known locally as Morgan Fields, for a proposed 50-unit low-income housing development.
As the News has reported over the last several months, the Morgan Fields received a high rating from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, or OHFA. The rating favors the land in consideration for $15 million in low-income housing tax credits that could be applied to the construction of a 50-unit low-income-focused housing development — known colloquially as the low-income housing tax credit, or LIHTC, project — on the site.
The OHFA rating has been the impetus behind collaboration between the school district, Village Council and local affordable housing nonprofit Home, Inc. to prepare the parcel of district land for potential sale to the Village for development, should the tax credits be received.
In the past several months, the school district and Village government have cleared several hurdles with regard to the land’s suitability for a potential development, including subdividing the 3.6 acres from its adjoining district-owned land and rezoning the parcel from low- to high-density residential last month.
Another significant impediment has been the number of land restrictions, financial encumbrances and lease agreements on the land. At a Monday, Nov. 4, Council meeting, Village Solicitor Amy Blankenship confirmed that the encumbrances on the land are “coming off.”
“The final steps are finishing, documentation, signatures, recording — all of that,” she said.
In a follow-up interview with the News, Blankenship added that the rest of the school-owned property from which the 3.6 acres were carved is still collateralized and encumbered by US Bank and Build American Mutual, and that no “new land” needed to be “swapped in” for the two institutions to agree to disencumber the fields.
This map shows the 3.6-acre Morgan Fields property, currently in consideration for a potential low-income housing project, at top right. The land is currently owned by the school district, is is the land immediately to its west and south, barring the site of the Greene County Educational Service Center, or ESC. Depicted to the west and south are possible locations where school and recreational soccer programs could be sited if the 3.6-acre Morgan Fields are sol and land adjacent to the middle and high schools is acquired, according to a Nov. 14 presentation from Superintendent Terri Holden.
The map also includes depictions of potential softball and baseball fields, which, Holden said aims to relocate to school property in the future. (Map data courtesy of the Village of Yellow Springs)
The latest update on the land, presented at the Nov. 14 school board meeting, is that Morgan Fields have been appraised by Cedarville-based real estate and auction company Sheridan & Associates to ascertain its fair market value. That appraisal estimates the value of the 3.6 acres of district-owned land at $339,000.
According to documentation from Sheridan & Associates, the company reviewed a number of metrics when considering the property’s value. Those metrics included the current availability of land within Yellow Springs’ urban service boundary for residential development and comparable sales data from other, similar area properties.
The appraisal documentation also included an analysis of the land’s “highest and best use,” stating that, because the 3.6 acres of district land could be “valuable for future expansion or operational needs” for the district, its sale could “impact the district’s long-term adaptability,” though it noted that such an impact is “undeterminable at this time.”
However, the analysis went on to note that the village is “highly developed for residential purposes with limited opportunities for new housing construction,” and that “conservation easements and development restrictions” limit the village’s expansion into surrounding rural areas. Citing the village’s “low supply of housing … and high demand,” the analysis concluded that the property’s “highest and best use is for high-density residential development.”
The appraisal of Morgan Fields teed up Village Council to consider the approval of a resolution to make a purchase offer to the school district for the land. At their regular meeting Monday, Nov. 18, Council members approved a resolution to enter into a purchase option agreement with the district for the 3.6 acres, for the appraised fair market price of $339,000.
The largest hurdle before the school board remains in how to replace Morgan Fields should they be sold as part of the LIHTC project. Replacing the land is paramount for the district, as Morgan Fields currently play host to a number of community- and district-related activities, including school and recreational soccer programs.
The school board has affirmed in the past that, in order for the proposed development to move ahead, suitable replacement land would have to be identified and secured for the use of the programs that currently use the East Enon Road land.
With that in mind, Superintendent Terri Holden presented renderings of two prospective “win-win” scenarios for the district, with the renderings siting replacement soccer fields adjacent to McKinney Middle and YS High schools.
One rendering included potential soccer fields just to the south of the middle and high schools, and another to the west — though she noted that both would require the new fields be placed on land not yet owned by the district and just beyond village limits. The owners of the land in question have been in talks with the district for several months about the possibility of selling, or donating to the district, parcels of land contiguous to the East Enon Road schools for replacement fields.
The renderings also included softball and baseball fields. At present, the middle and high schools’ baseball and softball programs utilize fields at Gaunt Park; Holden stated that she aims to bring those athletic programs to the East Enon Road campus in the future.
“I’ve been public about that because I think it’s important,” Holden said.
Holden added that, should new soccer, baseball and softball fields be built adjacent to the schools, they would be available for use by community and recreational programs.
Board member Dorothée Bouquet said she requested that Holden include the renderings in the evening’s meeting agenda because she hoped to illustrate how the prospective “win-wins” might benefit the district.
“As a school board, we have a duty to justify the spending of taxpayer money,” she said. “We have two reasons: One is that [the LIHTC project] could bring students. The other one would be that it could allow the district to gather all of its athletic fields on one site.”
Bouquet added that, with renovation and new construction slated to begin in early 2025 at the elementary, middle and high schools, fifth and sixth grades will be moved to the East Enon Road campus at the completion of the facilities upgrade project. Moving all of the district’s sports fields to one site, she said, could offer “access to those fields in a way that is not there” currently.
It remains to be seen, at press time, whether either of the “win-win” scenarios outlined by Superintendent Holden will be actionable, since they would rely on the district both selling Morgan Fields and either purchasing replacement land adjacent to the East Enon Road campus, or having that land donated.
At press time, the school district was slated to hold a special meeting Thursday, Nov. 21, to consider the “possible sale of real property and the possible acceptance of donated real property” — considerations that will already have been discussed and, possibly, decided by the time this issue of the News has been published and delivered.
In other school board business—
Facilities project update
Superintendent Holden gave an update on the upcoming groundbreaking for the facilities improvement project at the campuses of Mills Lawn Elementary and McKinney Middle and YS High schools. Initially, the district had planned for students to move into modular buildings, which were delivered last month to both campuses, in January following winter break. However, she said the construction and renovation schedule is running behind.
“We’re behind because of permits — we’re working on it,” Holden said.
She added that students will likely move into modular buildings in February, and that district families will receive communication from the schools ahead of time alerting them of the move date.
“It’s disappointing, but this is a big, highly complex construction project to have two facilities with kids in session at the same time,” she said. “But it’s going to be beautiful; our goal is to provide updates every two weeks on our construction website.”
The construction website, where updates will be provided by the district, is http://www.ysschools.org/construction.
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