White Pond developer, mayor and half his Cabinet answer questions on project
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A private businessman, the mayor of Akron and half his Cabinet sat with City Council for 90 minutes Monday as a passionate group of residents continue to lobby against the proposed sale of city-owned wetlands to a national developer and operator of luxury condominiums and apartments.
Chair Jeff Fusco led the extended meeting of Akron council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee, which rarely meets for 90 minutes, even when multiple public hearings are on the docket. Across from Fusco, Mayor Dan Horrigan was flanked by chief of staff Gert Wilms, strategic adviser Emily Collins and Sean Vollman, deputy mayor for Integrated Development. Stepping to the microphone when needed were Zoning Manager Mike Antenucci and arborist Jon Malish.
The top administrators and Alan Gaffney of Triton Property Ventures — the limited liability company ready to buy and build on 29 of 65 acres at White Pond in West Akron — fielded questions on everything from contaminated soil below and a tree canopy above what would be more than 200 townhomes, ranches and apartments, whether the city did enough to engage residents early on in the planning process and even the mayor’s governing style and reluctance to speak candidly in public.
“I think there’s a lot of consternation around, ‘Hey, you have to have more public engagement’ …,” Horrigan said after Fusco invited the mayor to give opening remarks. “But I think you have to ask the question, rhetorically, at least: ‘How much is too much and how much is enough?’”
Council held the first public hearing this month on the White Pond Reserve project, which Gaffney priced as a $50 million to $55 million investment. In these past few weeks, dozens of residents, activists and environmentalists from northwestern Akron questioned the development and land deal negotiated by Horrigan's administration.
The White Pond project consumed more than an hour of council's public comment period Monday night. No member of the public spent his or her allotted three minutes of speaking time in support of the land deal and development project, which council is being asked to approve as early as next month.
Ward 4 Councilman Russ Neal will facilitate a community meeting on the subject at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Zwisler Hall at St. Sebastian Parish. Horrigan’s staff said they’d be there.
Pushing back on the pushback over White Pond development
In response to recent public pushback, Horrigan’s communications team pushed out an FAQ as members of council wavered in their support for the high-end housing project, which would feature condos and apartments for $1,600 to $2,300 a month and 10 retail shops.
On his reluctance to talk openly, the mayor said Monday that he wouldn’t “dignify some of the questions with a response,” and there’s “a fairly good chance that there’s going to be some litigation that comes down. It just happens,” he said. “Anything we do and say, especially on the record, adds to that.”
Horrigan announced in October that he won’t seek reelection in 2023. On Monday, the former high school teacher laid out his philosophy on governance in a “representative democracy,” where the legislative branch lets the executive branch execute and people elect mayors to make decisions instead of putting “my finger into the wind and (saying), ‘Well everybody wants me to do this.’”
“People may disagree …,” Horrigan said of the deal. “When you look at the total impact of what we’re doing, I think it’s a pretty good project.”
Developer gives more details on White Pond project
Gaffney said his company approached the city about the development deal a year ago. He explained in greater detail his company’s business and the plan for White Pond.
"We’re developer-owners," he said. "Our intention is to maintain this property and own it.”
His company, Triton Property Ventures, was listed to do business in Ohio in June 2021. It’s part of a network of companies, including Stow Reserve Loch LLC, that owns and manages apartments in Summit (Stow, Fairlawn, North Akron), Portage (Kent) and Medina (on Wadsworth Road).
In California, Gaffney said, the company has built new housing developments in the $25 million to $50 million range. White Pond would be the enterprise's first new build in Ohio.
A zoning change limits Triton Property Ventures to building on 29 acres. Gaffney has promised not to fill or dredge wetland ponds on the property. Collins, the city’s strategic adviser, said the public land sale, if council approves, would transfer the 65 acres and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit, which expires at the end of 2023.
Because the city bought wetland bank credits to help preserve the Panzner Wetland Wildlife Reserve in Copley, the permit would have allowed Akron to fill in wetlands at White Pond when the city was marketing the land to a prospective office park developer, but that’s no longer the plan.
Townhomes and ranch-style units are situated in the rear of the development with apartments on the second floor of 50,000 to 60,000 square feet of retail space near White Pond Drive. The proposed development has a single entrance and apparent public access.
“Our thought process, at least, on the type retail that we’re looking for is maybe a breakfast place, a coffee place, ice cream parlor, some of those more service-based (options),” said Gaffney, who pitched a “friendly, community” design. “We’re not trying to make it a shopping mall or anything like that. And we tried to design it so it didn’t look like a strip mall.”
Trees, traffic and contaminated soil
Malish, the city arborist, said tree canopy covers 50.5% of the land, according to recent surveys. About 34% would remain after construction.
But the plan is to plant 160 new trees, Gaffney said, which Malish estimated would bring canopy coverage on the property back up to around 40% when they mature. In addition, Gaffney said his company will donate $15,000 to the city to offset the loss of trees.
Vollman, the head of the consolidated planning and economic development departments, said he hopes to hear more on a traffic study this week. He assured council that, even if the land is sold before the study is ready, the developer would have to satisfy the city traffic engineer’s guidelines before building.
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Ward 8 Councilman Shammas Malik asked about the potential cost for taxpayers to add or reconfigure traffic lanes to an already busy neighborhood used by commuters to get on and off nearby Interstate 77.
Vollman dismissed Malik's premise as “speculative.” Horrigan went further, saying new pandemic-era travel patterns should make the development of housing less of a traffic concern than building an office park with thousands of workers letting out at rush time. The mayor added that federal and state tax dollars are available should higher traffic volumes require wider or new roads.
“I get that this residential development will be less burdensome than commercial development, perhaps,” said Malik. “But I have residents saying that the current (traffic volume) is already unacceptable to them.”
Nancy Holland, Akron's Ward 1 councilwoman, questioned a line in the city's FAQ about soil contaminated with hazardous fuels and metals like arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead and mercury.
Brad Beckert, the city's development engineering manager who has been marketing the property for more than a decade, said the 2014 testing uncovered levels that could be too high for residential reuse.
Triton Property Ventures has hired Environmental Design Group to advise the developer on where soil contamination can be contained by concrete slabs under the townhomes or ranches, which will have no basements, or where soil may need to be removed to ensure the health of residents.
Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Mayor Horrigan, White Pond developer answer Akron council questions
