Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Celina looks to sell land for business expansion

Grand Lake Warehousing wants to buy 12.5 acres in city's industrial park

By William Kincaid
CELINA - The city of Celina may sell 12.5 acres of its industrial park land to Grand Lake Warehousing, a new business expansion of Celina Moving & Storage.
Celina City Council members Monday night heard first reading of an ordinance detailing an agreement to sell land in the northeast corner of Grand Lake Industrial Park for $10,000 an acre. Council members Angie King, Myron Buxton, Mike Sovinski and June Scott all voted yes, while Bill Sell and Ed Jeffries voted no and Jeff Larmore abstained.
Rob Krane wants to increase the company's volume and needs to expand. Celina Moving & Storage is located at 1901 Industrial Drive in the Celina Industrial Park. Grand Lake Warehousing would be a 60,000-square-foot facility in the Grand Lake Industrial Park along Havemann Road.
Company officials want to construct a facility that could double in size in the next few years, Celina Planning and Community Development Director Kent Bryan said. The company now has 20 full-time employees and would add 15 over three years with the expansion.
Grand Lake Warehousing moves, distributes and warehouses various goods for commercial and residential purposes.
Jeffries is opposed to the legislation, which mandates the city to relocate a portion of Havemann Road at an estimated cost of $78,000.
"Yeah, I have a lot of problems with this deal," Jeffries said, pointing out the city will have to tear out a perfectly good, unused road. "It just isn't a good return."
Jeffries said he favors creating jobs, but at what cost?
"It's too much of a lopsided deal," he said.
The existing road doesn't work with the proposed layout design of the facility, according to Bryan. All work would be paid through the Staeger Road Tax Increment Finance fund, not the general fund.
"It's almost like a Catch-22," Councilman Angie King said, adding that people would be upset about the city's infrastructure investment, but also upset if the business would move to St. Marys. "No matter what we do, we're not going to make (everyone) happy."
Larmore supported the proposal, pointing out the owner's intent to create 15 jobs is probably conservative.
Sell voted no because his requested amendment - to require the company to add 15 jobs to keep a 15-year, 72-percent tax abatement - would not be included until the second reading of the ordinance.
"I think we're being as stretched as far as we can be stretched," Sell said about the deal.
Larmore said there must be some kind of cushion. For instance, if 14 jobs are created instead of 15, the business shouldn't be penalized, he said.
According to the pending agreement, the company would pay for the land by making annual payments of $8,352.67 for 15 years at zero percent interest.
The city also is attempting to secure as much as $400,000 from the Ohio Department of Development. The money would be used to provide a 12-inch waterline to the edge of the property along Havemann Road and an 8-inch waterline on the north side of Braun Drive.
It also would provide sanitary sewer service to the property line and storm sewers in front of the property in the right of way of the relocated Havemann Road.
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CELINA - More than 20 people filled city hall council chambers Monday night as council members approved first reading of an ordinance to rescind the city's 1-percent tax credit for Celina residents who work in other villages or cities.
St. Marys
ST. MARYS - Council has approved trading spaces with a longtime city company in a land swap designed to increase greenspace.
Council members approved a resolution giving the go ahead on a trade of real estate between the city and the St. Marys Foundry.
ST. MARYS - Wine, bier, cheese and chocolates, a St. Marys group is organizing a gourmet fundraiser all in the name of friendship and cultural understanding.
ST. HENRY - A row of evergreens near the village swimming pool are about to get the axe.
Village council members meeting Monday night gave the go-ahead to chop down the trees along Parkview Drive, which were deemed "dirty" and high-maintenance.
WAPAKONETA - A 22-year-old St. Marys man was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for supplying alcohol to an underage teen who died in a traffic accident in June.
COLDWATER - Village council members have given the owner of a Main Street property a timeline to clean it up or face legal action.
Village Law Dire
WAPAKONETA - A group of thieves are being blamed for numerous burglaries in the area, including several that occurred this past weekend in Auglaize County.
CELINA - Leah Rose's single with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning allowed Cassie Freeman to score the winning run as Celina won a Mercer County battle over Marion Local, 5-4, at Bill Feth Diamond on Monday night.
FORT RECOVERY - There is an old adage in bat and ball sports: "Make contact with the ball, put it in play and good things will happen."
On Monday a
Local Roundup
Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry
The St. Henry softball team held Versailles scoreless until the fifth inning and opened Midwest Athletic Conference play with a 12-1 win in five innings in Darke County.
A recently released USDA planting report predicts that U.S. farmers could plant record soybean acres this year, fewer corn acres than anticipated and even less soft red winter wheat.