Group proposes $300M development in Vermilion

VERMILION — A mixed-use development project expected to cost upward of $300 million will go before Vermilion's city council after receiving preliminary approval from the city's planning commission. DBR Commercial Realty owner Dan Reaser presented the Vermilion Landing plan to the commission on Wednesday. He outlined a three-part, 671-unit residential development along with a commercial strip to be built just north of Ohio 2 off of Sunnyside Road. "This is a very thought-out, engineered, input-from-everybody project with the purpose of being beneficial to the community," Reaser said. Project details Reaser is partnering with Ryan Homes to build the homes in the plan. Along with a similar development project in Elyria announced in late April, DBR and Ryan Homes have plans to invest roughly $500 million in Lorain County in the coming years. "This could be fantastic for the city," Vermilion Mayor Jim Forthofer said. "It would increase the population of the city by around 10%, bringing in new people and new income taxes, and that is not even to mention the commercial development — and all of this without any burden to the city." Forthofer said that his police chief, fire chief and other city officials have told him the development would not necessitate any expansion of emergency response services. Vermilion Landing would consist of three housing areas: Antler Ridge, Whitetail Estates and Eagle Reserve, which would be the only section on the eastern side of Sunnyside Road. Nick Sommer, land manager for Ryan Homes, said that the homes in Eagle Reserve would be single-story ranch houses that would cost in the "upper $200,000" range. He said they would not be designated 55-years-and-older housing but that they would be marketed to people in that range. Whitetail estates would have larger "more stately homes" in the low-to-mid $300,000 range, Sommer said. Reaser said that the homes in Antler Ridge would be "somewhere in the middle." The entire development will be in Vermilion's city limits, on the Lorain County side within the Firelands Schools district. Reaser said the area would be designed to have a neighborhood feel and fit in with the spirit of Vermilion. "The nice thing about this is we are very aware of what we refer to as the friendly, cottage-like atmosphere that Vermilion has," Reaser said. "We do not want to change that. We want to keep that. That's an asset to everybody in the whole county." Danny Reaser, Dan Reaser's son and partner, said that the development's location on the "outskirts" of Vermilion would provide a buffer between it and the rest of the community. The commercial section is planned to be named Vermilion Commons and would lie directly south of Antler Ridge and Whitetail Estates, between them and Ohio 2. Danny Reaser said that this location would allow the commercial area to serve as a buffer between the homes and the highway and also drive consumers coming off the highway past businesses there. Infrastructure issues, part 1 DBR plans to create a highway exit from the north of Ohio 2 at Vermilion Interchange Road, which now only exits to the south. It would connect to Sunnyside Road at a proposed roundabout. Reaser said the idea for the roundabout came about after a conversation with Vermilion city engineer Chris Howard in which Howard expressed concerns over traffic and potential traffic lights. "Within 24 hours, we've solved that problem, in our minds, by putting a roundabout in the center of this property on Sunnyside Road," Reaser said. "The traffic doesn't get jammed up (and) people don't have cars sitting outside their houses for hours on end waiting for a red light to change." Though the number of homes on the current drawing is 671 units, Reaser said that number would decrease slightly. The design would be altered to provide a buffer to two existing eagle nests on the property. Reaser said he was in contact with the Ohio Division of Natural Resources to discuss how to build the development while keeping the eagles in place, saying they would be an asset to the area. Infrastructure issues, part 2 DBR is also working with the Lorain County commissioners on one aspect of the project: its sewer system. Forthofer said that the city is trying to cease use of its wastewater treatment plant rather than pay for $70 million in mandated updates to the plant required by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Instead, the city and county are working on a plan to connect the city to existing plants to the south via a sewer extension along Baumhart Road. The issue is that to connect to downtown Vermilion, the extension would have to run under the railroad tracks owned by Norfolk Southern and obtaining a permit to dig under tracks is a lengthy process. But Reaser already has such a permit and he has agreed to allow the city and county to connect the sewer extension underneath Vermilion Landing. "We know we are going to have to bite the bullet on the extension to some extent but nowhere near $70 million," Forthofer said. 'Adding so much housing' Lorain County commissioner Dave Moore has been working to facilitate that partnership. But it is just one of many reasons he said the commission's approval of the plan was good news. "Housing is an issue in the county, and this project will alleviate a lot of the pressure on our housing stock," Moore said. "This project accelerates the county's development plans by several years, adding so much housing will just make it even more appealing for the national and international companies eyeing Lorain County to come here." He also said the development would open up other areas in western Lorain County to development, making the area "one of the hottest properties in Ohio." "I am excited for the city of Vermilion and for the western part of the county as a whole," Moore said. Prior to the plan's potential approval, planning commission chair Heidi Strickler believed the proposal fit well into the type of development the city had been pushing for. With preliminary approval from the planning commission, the Vermilion Landing development plan will go before council for three readings. On June 10, there's a scheduled public hearing at which point residents can give their input about the project. Then council will vote on the plan. If council approves the preliminary plan, then a final plan will have to go back through the planning commission and then council. Then, before actual work can begin, a process for rezoning requests must first occur. Reaser said that the project is expected to be fully complete in five to six years, depending only on how quickly everything is approved. "Our plan is to be starting as soon as we get the approvals," he said. "This isn't something where, OK, we'll start two years from now, we are ready to start tomorrow."