Mentor passes land conservation ordinance on property in Painesville
Mar. 11—Mentor City Council recently passed an ordinance, by a vote of 5 to 2, reaffirming the designation of city-owned property located in the city of Painesville along Brookstone Boulevard as conservation park land.
Following passionate arguments from both sides at the March 5 council meeting, Councilman Matt Donovan and Councilman Scott Marn voted against the ordinance, while the other five members voted to pass.
The decision conforms with Mentor's longstanding policy of designating all municipally owned open spaces as conservation park land, which enjoys tax exempt status along with nearly all publicly-owned property at every level of government.
Both Mentor City Manager Ken Filipiak and Law Director J. Peter Szeman gave detailed background of the acquisition of the acreage and the history between the two cities, as well as the potential future impact of traffic on Diamond Centre Drive and Heisley Road if development were to occur.
The 215-acre parcel was acquired by the city in 2019 as part of a settlement agreement with the former property owner/developer who failed to meet its obligation to improve Diamond Centre Drive as ordered by Lake County courts in 2003 and 2008 after an earlier court decision forced extension of the roadway into Painesville.
Filipiak said the passage of the ordinance is consistent with past decisions on municipal land parcels owned by Mentor and that the council is not bound by the vote and can in the future choose to use the land for other purposes.
Szeman was more aggressive in his address to council and the crowd on hand in defense of Mentor and its actions in regards to the parcel of land, saying he would not be as "diplomatic" as Filipiak in his recollection of the negotiations.
He called Painesville's accusations of Mentor being aggressive and trying to prevent its neighbor from developing industry and increasing jobs as "nonsense" and "foul play" and that placing publicly owned land in a conversation status is "status quo" for what the city has always done with publicly owned assets and parkland.
Mentor will continue to evaluate potential uses for the property, including, but not limited to, permanent conservation status to all or a portion of the land to benefit the Mentor Marsh watershed.
Several members of the Painesville City Council expressed concerns to the Mentor City Council over three readings of the proposed ordinance, including President Jim Fodor who asked Mentor to at the very least put its decision "on pause".
"This decision confirms Mentor's intent to control land located in another city's jurisdiction to prevent the economic advancement of its diverse neighbor," a city of Painesville news release stated. "The fact remains that a conservation group graded the property as low-quality wetlands and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers delineated the property which is approved for development."
The release acknowledged that while Mentor is the property owner of these parcels of land, the land is within Painesville City limits and falls under Painesville City ordinances and zoning code.
The Riverside School District has also filed an appeal with the state of Ohio for the tax exemption status of the property which would cause considerable financial injury to the school district, according to the release.
"It is unfortunate that Mentor's decision will result in not only the loss of roughly 1,000-plus new full-time jobs for the region, but also the potential loss of hundreds of construction jobs for planned roads and public infrastructure projects," the release stated.
