Lease for retirement project to go before trustees

The Ohio University Board of Trustees will take another look at the proposed leasing of land for a retirement center, an OU spokeswoman confirmed Friday.

The Ohio Department of Administrative Services, which must OK the lease, has asked the university if it still wants to pursue the lease as submitted to the state. That proposal called for leasing land off Stimson Avenue for $1 per year to National Church Residences for development of a retirement center.

OU spokeswoman Sally Linder said Friday that the issue will go before the board of trustees again, but when has yet to be determined. The full board meets again in February.

In a Nov. 21 letter to OU President Roderick McDavis, Department of Administrative Services Director Hugh Quill asks that the university reconsider the lease.

“My department has received an unusual amount of public inquiry and interest in this lease, and so I would like to ensure that its submittal is consistent with the current vision of the university board of trustees,” Quill wrote. “Since there has been some turnover on the board since the origin of this project, I would ask for your thoughtful reconsideration of its submittal.”

Ron Sylvester, spokesman for the Department of Administrative Services, said the department wants an up-to-date statement of the university’s stance on the lease.

“We don’t feel real comfortable with the $1 lease amount,” Sylvester said.

The lease has been pending before the department for months.

The proposed retirement center has been the focus of legal battles against the city of Athens for allowing the project to move forward. Residents have opposed the construction based on the loss of green space, the process in which the development was approved and traffic and flooding concerns stemming from its construction. Also, the owners of the Lindley Inn in The Plains opposed the lease in court, citing unfair competition and misuse of public funds by leasing out valuable land for a token amount. Though that case was dismissed — since the lease had not been approved by the Department of Administrative Services — it could be re-filed after a lease is approved.

University representatives have said they are looking into conducting an appraisal of the land, and they will be discussing the situation with National Church Residences, which has said it is committed to continuing the project.

On Thursday, the Athens Planning Commission will consider National Church Residences’ request for an extension of the start date for construction, according to the meeting agenda. However, that extension is being protested by some community members.

Athens City Council approved the development at the end of 2005. According to city code, construction of a planned unit development must be started within two years of approval and must be completed within five years, said Athens Zoning Administrator Steve Pierson.

Pierson said he does not believe the request for an extension has to go back to Athens City Council. But language in the code says the extension can be granted by the planning commission without going back to Council “if there is not a conflict with the public interest” in the project.

The planning commission, however, has received letters from two Athens residents opposing extending the start date.

In his letter, Glenn Matlack asserts that some information that was used by National Church Residences for its flood models may no longer be valid.

“This calls into serious question the findings of these models when it comes to flooding impacts of this project,” Matlack asserts. “The current permit is based, in part, on models that are suspect. This makes the permit themselves suspect. If the commission is considering extending the permit for this project, it should only be after new flood models are developed, by an independent entity, using the correct data. This would ensure that the project does not have significant negative impacts on the surrounding areas.”

Pierson said Friday that the city’s floodplain models date back to the 1980s, and they are the Federal Emergency Management Agency models. He said there is new floodplain data available, but that data is not the official mapping data used by FEMA.

Resident Christine Fahl also submitted a letter, focusing on retirement housing in Athens.

“Many of the reasons for the project presented by the project advocates are no longer valid,” she asserts. “For example, there was much talk about the lack of retirement housing by many project advocates. This is no longer the case.”

Fahl goes on to mention the new senior housing development Beaumont Greene off Della Drive, and the construction of the new Hickory Creek Nursing Center off Columbus Road.

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Lease for retirement project to go before trustees