generic Council members criticize mayor, call public meeting on embroiled White Pond project
Local residents and lawmakers will meet Tuesday evening in West Akron as City Council pumps the brakes on the sale of publicly owned wetlands and deindustrialized dumping grounds off White Pond Drive to a private developer with plans for high-end shops, apartments and condominiums.
The public engagement session facilitated by Ward 4 Councilman Russ Neal, with neighboring colleagues Nancy Holland of Ward 1 and Shammas Malik of Ward 8 committed to attending, is scheduled for 6 p.m. in St. Sebastian Church's Zwisler Hall at 476 Mull Ave.
Several council members say a meeting with residents is long overdue after weeks of local activists, constituents and environmentalists passionately criticizing the proposed developer, Triton Property Ventures LLC, for its White Pond Reserve project, as well as Mayor Dan Horrigan for supporting the development while avoiding public debate.
Council approved a mayor-backed zoning change this spring for the undeveloped White Pond area between Interstate 77, White Pond Drive and Frank Boulevard. Declaring "blight" on a portion of the scenic property used by the city and others to dump construction debris, the change allows for retail and other uses, breaking from the city's long-held plans to sell the 65 acres to an office park developer.
Blueprints from Triton Property Ventures surfaced in June for 91 two-story townhomes, 98 one-story ranches, 56 apartments (with monthly rent later confirmed by the developer between $1,600 to $2,300), street-level shopping, a community clubhouse for residents, a swimming pool and courts for pickleball and tennis.
The blueprints, the developer and its architect made their first big public appearance this month after Akron planning staff transmitted the plans to council for a series of public hearings. During these meetings on the proposed land sale and redevelopment plans, the mayor addressed council but did not attend sessions with vigorous public debate. He's declined to speak directly to the media on this and other issues since announcing in early October that he will not run for a third term next year.
In an email last week, Horrigan declined an interview on the White Pond project and wrote, instead, that he remains "committed to responding to citizens expressing their concerns and making sure accurate information regarding the development is shared and available to all interested in learning more," referring the public to an FAQ his office released.
Members of council and the public have called his engagement insufficient.
How opposition has given council pause
In early November, about 60 people met at a library in Northwest Akron to deliberate and organize ahead of council weighing in on the land sale and development plans.
Many spoke or wrote to the city this month about the potential impact on wetlands, the clear-cutting of mature trees and displacement of wildlife, about the economic concerns of adding more retail near existing shops in Wallhaven, about no new traffic study for a cut-though neighborhood already used by highway commuters, about apartments that are unaffordable for most Akron residents, tax breaks going to out-of-town developers and no trespassing signs that appeared around White Pond last weekend.
Some council members expressed “shame” in not applying more scrutiny earlier as the series of embarrassing public meetings unfolded.
During one meeting with a council committee, Horrigan accused activists of living outside Akron.
Activists, in turn, called the developer with ties to a California construction company an outside interest looking to cash in on property tax breaks that longtime Akron residents aren’t getting.
The activists also questioned top-dollar campaign contributions the developer and its associates gave the mayor last year, just weeks before paperwork was filed in Ohio to create Triton Property Ventures LLC.
"It’s interesting to hear the reactions from some people” on timing of the campaign donations, said Meghan Lugo, a Highland Square resident who helped organize neighbors to discuss the White Pond project at the local library in early November. “I still think it points to an issue of process. Why would a lame-duck mayor get so heavily involved in a construction project he would never see any benefits from?”
Horrigan did not address the contributions in his emailed response. A voicemail left with what is believed to be the home of Copley resident Alan Gaffney, who filed the paperwork to create Triton Property Ventures, was not returned.
Former and current city officials have questioned whether 15-year tax abatements for the developer are the best use of public funds or whether the development is better suited elsewhere, like on the decommissioned Akron Innerbelt.
In a committee meeting, Horrigan contradicted his own staff and the private architect, who each used the word “wetland” to describe parts of the city-owned land. The mayor said the property is “not really wetlands; it’s just where water has gathered at some particular point.”
Akron council is now taking a collective pause. Some, including Councilwomen Tara Mosley, Linda Omobien and members attending the meeting Tuesday, are having second thoughts about selling the 65 wooded acres for $725,000. On the land are multiple ponds and the presence of wildlife. Documents detail wetlands and a dumping ground for construction debris on the site of a former concrete plant.
The developer and architect say wetlands will be protected and tree lines preserved, as much as possible, as 29 of the 65 acres are turned into an upscale shopping center and gated community akin to Hudson's First & Main.
Latest development facing public pushback
White Pond is the latest project derailed by public pushback.
After receiving detailed proposals, some promising more than $30 million investments, to build luxury homes on 43 acres of wooded land near Theiss and Hardy roads in the Merriman Valley, the city reopened the bidding process amid a groundswell of organized opposition from a group called Preserve the Valley.
Plans for new housing were resubmitted, along with a single proposal for conservation of the property.
Though the Western Reserve Land Conservancy offered to pay $50,000 more than the city wanted for it to leave the land as is, the mayor has not announced a winner among the new bids more than two years later.
Down in the valley last year, a developer sought to build townhomes and apartments at the old Riverwoods Golf Course. As elected leaders in Cuyahoga Falls and Akron responded to broad public pushback by hiring a consultant to collect community input on overall redevelopment in the valley, Akron City Council worked with the private developer on private property to improve the aesthetics of the housing, secure access to trails, include $880,000 in public improvements and buffer the Cuyahoga River from the construction.
Pro-development members of council declared the end product better than what was originally presented. Now, some are saying robust community input should be standard in working with developers to avoid debacles like the uproar over White Pond.
Broader implications for Horrigan's development agenda
Fallout over the White Pond project could have broader implications on what Horrigan, who has said he will not seek reelection next year, can get done on new development projects in his last 13 months in office.
Growing the city's population, as opposed to "managing its decline," is the mayor's driving and unmet goal, though the city hasn't experienced the current level of new housing construction in decades.
"People are frustrated," said Councilman Malik, who has announced his bid for mayor and whose constituents have led opposition on recent development plans. In a recent discussion about approving the demolition of old Erie Island Elementary School in West Akron, which is near White Pond, Malik said city leaders should learn from White Pond and engage Erie Island neighbors from the start on the land's eventual reuse.
"This is where I think we have an opportunity to change the process," Malik said.
The abundance of people speaking against the White Pond development is a "red flag," Malik said, and an opportunity to "slow down" and have "meaningful community engagement" with "dignity and respect for all parties involved and impacted."
Neal said he's inviting everyone to Tuesday's meeting, including upset residents and eager developers. It’s time to "stop talking about each other or at each other," he said, and start talking "with each other."
"I don’t mind having the conversations," he said.
Councilman Donnie Kammer of Ward 7 accused Horrigan of facilitating months of closed-door discussions with developers and then dumping fully cooked plans on council, which often catches public pushback for things it has not proposed.
"I think the mayor needs to do a better job," Kammer said last Monday at the end of a council meeting. "And what I mean by that is he basically takes a lot of his stuff and throws it right onto (council on) the third floor from the (mayor's office on the) second floor, and puts us on the hot seat. And I’m OK to be put on the hot seat. And I want to thank the citizens for coming down and speaking, because it shined a lot of light on this issue."
Kammer said he's "tired" of picking up the newspaper and reading that the mayor provided "no comment" or is referred to in online television news articles as "camera shy."
Kammer was moved by a guided-tour White Pond video Lugo emailed him and other council members. He has another engagement scheduled but said he will try to stay as long as he can at the meeting Tuesday, even though he represents a neighborhood on the other side of the city from the White Pond project planned in Ward 4.
He joined Malik and others who criticized Horrigan for posting no trespassing signs around White Pond last weekend, when activists had planned a guided tour of the area on Sunday to show elected and other officials how local residents use the undeveloped public land for recreation and leisure.
"What really upset me is that we as a city go out there and put up signs that say no trespassing," Kammer said in a phone interview. "Shame on us as a city that for years and years we allowed that to become a nature area for people to walk and walk their dogs and enjoy. I understand it's city property, but we should have done something a long time ago."
Reach reporter Doug Livingston at dlivingston@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3792.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: White Pond project public meeting scheduled Tuesday St. Sebastian 6 p.m.
