North Canton Council approves tax break on Hoover factory development
NORTH CANTON − City Council has approved a tax-increment finance agreement with Maple Street Commerce for the long-awaited redevelopment of the Hoover Co.'s former west factory.
Under the deal, the owners of the Hoover District will get to spend the property taxes they normally would owe — an estimated $13.7 million over 30 years — to cover the costs of developing the factory into apartments, stores and offices.
The developers have to secure $55 million in funding later this year for the agreement to continue past 2024. Construction would have to be completed by April 2027.
With council's vote on Monday, the agreement takes effect in 30 days.
The city's public policy analyst Benjamin Young said city officials met with Maple Street Commerce's developers to discuss the preliminary building plans. He said the developers need to get a state variance from the Ohio Board of Building Standards to exempt the Hoover District from new state rules that limit a current development's size.
North Canton appoints Catherine Farina as interim administrator
Council also voted 6-0 to confirm Mayor Stephan Wilder's appointment of Catherine Farina as interim director of administration. Council President Matthew Stroia, at-large, was absent.
Wilder earlier this month dismissed Farina's predecessor Patrick DeOrio due to his "management style." Wilder said he will advertise the position and plans to have interviews through April 12. His goal is to announce an appointment to council by April 22.
In other business:
Wilder said he and the city's Finance Department would present options next week to council on what the city should do in response to voters rejecting a 0.5% income tax increase earlier this month.
Council advanced legislation that would generally prohibit trucks weighing more than five tons with cargo from going on local city streets. Such trucks would be permitted to use state routes to get through the city. Resident Jennifer Creighton Kling asked council to consider legislation tightly restricting heavy delivery truck vehicles from using Radford Street NE in the city in front of her house. She said many of these vehicles were causing the road to disintegrate and often are bound for homes in the Plain Township portion of the neighborhood. Kling is a former North Canton City Schools board member.
Council authorized the mayor to purchase 6.174 acres off Wise Avenue NW from the Stark County commissioners for $30,000. City officials say the $30,000 was the price that the county paid in the 1970s to buy it. The purchase will result in the city being contiguous to more properties that it could annex as part of North Canton's economic development agreement with Jackson Township.
North Canton's newly organized Easter egg hunt, to replace the North Canton Jaycees defunct event, will be 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at Price Park. Officials had originally planned to have it at Walsh University.
City engineer Robert Graham announced that the city has lined up funding to drill a water well at Arrowhead Golf Course for the city's water system. The Ohio Public Works Commission will provide a $1.2 million grant, a $300,000 no-interest loan for 20 years and Congress in its funding bill signed into law Saturday will cover $500,000 of the $2.3 million cost.
The city has also gotten grant funding to help cover the $1.2 million cost to replace the water line beneath Woodrow Avenue NW. About $500,000 will come from a federal Community Development Block Grant approved by the Stark County Regional Planning Commission. And about $358,000 will come from the Ohio Public Works Commission. Work could begin this fall or next spring, said Graham.
Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly Twitter: @rwangREP.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: North Canton Council approves tax break on Hoover factory development
