Present for the Monday, May 5 Village Council meeting were, from left Council members Trish Gustafson, Carmen Brown, Gavin DeVore Leonard and Kevin Stokes, as well as Village Manager Johnnie Burns. (Video still)
Village aims to annex 84 acres into Yellow Springs limits
- Published: May 19, 2025
At the most recent Village Council meeting, Monday, May 5, the group authorized a resolution that could soon grow Yellow Springs’ physical size by 84 acres — the latest effort of several in recent months to expand municipal limits.
By a vote of 4–0, Council members agreed to allow Village Manager Johnnie Burns to enter into a development agreement with area property owners Matthew and Julie Jones, whose 84-acre property sits just outside the southeastern corner of Yellow Springs.
Under the terms of the development agreement, the Joneses intend to work with the Village to annex their land into the Village within one year, using an expedited process permitted under Ohio law.
Though no specific plans have been unveiled, a proposed development would be “primarily residential, with the possibility of incorporating mixed-use elements such as neighborhood businesses or professional offices,” according to Village documents.
By incorporating these 84 acres into Yellow Springs limits, the Village commits itself to facilitating utility extensions, easements and permits, and to consider collaboration on infrastructure improvements.
Once annexed, the property will automatically be rezoned from agricultural to R-C, or high-density residential. The agreement states that there exists a potential for the Joneses to pursue a Planned Unit Development zoning designation, which could “support flexible site design.”
Map: Greene County GIS
A portion of the Jones’ property made News headlines last year when the family entered into an agreement with Yellow Springs Schools to donate 3.6 acres of the land to the district for the creation of new soccer fields for school and recreational players.
The existing soccer fields — locally dubbed Morgan Fields — that sit north on the campus of McKinney Middle and Yellow Springs High schools may become the site of a future 71-unit affordable housing development.
As the Joneses and school district brokered that land donation agreement, a list of contingencies was outlined between the two parties — one of which was the pursuit of an annexation agreement, Village Solicitor Amy Blankenship explained last Monday.
“This document is the culmination of our commitment to enter into the agreement of possible annexation of 84 acres of land into the Village,” Blankenship said.
The Jones’ property will remain outside of municipal limits until Village Council approves by majority vote a future ordinance that authorizes a formal move to annex the land.
This is the second time this spring Village Council authorized Burns to grow the Village’s physical size.
At the April 21 regular Council meeting, the group approved a resolution that allows Burns to execute an agreement with Miami Township to begin the work of eventually annexing a 28-acre parcel of farmland north of municipal limits.
In other Council business, May 5—
Second community outreach specialist
By a vote of 4–0, Council members passed an ordinance that allows the Village to establish a second full-time community outreach specialist, or COS, position.
Presently, local resident Florence Randolph is the lone community outreach specialist with the Yellow Springs Police Department.
Randolph took on the full-time role in 2020, and has since been tasked with planning, organizing and coordinating police-assisted social services, mental health intervention, crisis intervention and similar services to Yellow Springs community members in need.
According to a memo to Council from Police Chief Paige Burge, Randolph engaged with over 600 individuals in 2024 — hence the need for a second full-time position to provide similar services, Burge wrote.
As she stated, “the growing demands placed on our existing COS role and the continued success of the position in fostering positive, community-based policing” were the primary drivers for Burge to seek Council’s approval of the second position.
The job description for the second COS position states that the police department is seeking applicants with a degree or completed coursework in social work or an academic field with relevant experience. The individual must be able to work with at-risk youth populations, as well as individuals with mental illness, drug addiction, who are in abusive relationships or have been affected by disasters or emergencies.
Beyond working with these people, the COS position must serve as a liaison between community members, the police department, the Village and any available social service, mental health, faith-based housing or other living support service organizations and medical agencies.
As Manager Burns told Council members at Monday’s meeting, this second person will ideally help secure additional social service resources that Randolph doesn’t have the time or capacity to allocate, owing to her workload.
“She’s just too overwhelmed tapping into the resources she has now,” Burns said. “This second person could go in a different direction to find more and get them to more people.”
Council was in agreement — Randolph needs a helper.
“There’s clearly a need for more social services in our system,” Council Vice President Gavin DeVore Leonard said.
Upon the hiring of a second COS, the News will write a profile on both Randolph and the new hire to explore their approaches to providing social services in Yellow Springs.
The next Village Council meeting will be Monday, May 19, at 6 p.m. on the second floor of the John Bryan Community Center.
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