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Results of County Housing Market Study to be Unveiled at Feb. 14 Public Meeting

2/6/2020

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Community leaders have known for some time that Champaign County needs more available housing options to attract new businesses – and their workforce – and to support growth of existing business.
 
Recommendations to help Champaign County provide the full range of current and future housing needs will be unveiled at a public meeting, 8:30 to 11 a.m., February 14, in the Champaign County Community Center Auditorium.
 
The recommendations are part of the Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis for Champaign County, developed by the Greater Ohio Policy Center (GOPC) and commissioned by the Champaign Economic Partnership (CEP).
 
CEP Director Marcia Bailey said that the housing market analysis will be shared first with local county, city, village and township officials before the public meeting.
 
“The February 14 public meeting is open to all citizens and will provide information of special interest to business leaders, developers, real estate professionals, builders, property owners, financial institutions and others interested in helping Champaign County thrive,” Bailey said.
 
She added that an evening session will be scheduled for late February or early March and additional public meetings will be announced to provide residents multiple opportunities to learn more about the study findings.
 
The GOPC is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on helping improve Ohio communities through smart growth strategies and research. The GOPC regularly provides expert analyses to public, private and nonprofit leaders at the local, state and national level.
 
Bailey said that the study is designed to serve local leaders as a guide for making decisions that support a broad range of housing options for all segments of the population. And to attract new residents, including young families drawn by jobs and people looking for a quieter lifestyle within commuting distance of their jobs in metropolitan areas.
 
The study covers the county as a whole, as well as the four primary population centers, Urbana, Mechanicsburg, St. Paris and North Lewisburg.
 
The GOPC conducted the study with the guidance of steering and advisory committees composed of local government officials and representatives of financial institutions, developers, builders, property owners, real estate agents and business owners.
 
Examples of recommendations made in the study include:
  • Create a standing consortium of local representatives like those on the study advisory committee to continually focus on housing initiatives.
  • Prioritize historic downtowns and main street, as “vibrant downtowns become economic and civic centers whose success often attracts new housing investments and increased commercial traffic throughout a municipality.”
  • Use economic development tools, such as community reinvestment areas, to promote housing development.
  • Protect existing housing stock from decline and return abandoned and neglected properties to productive use.
  • Use creative financing and funding strategies to help support development.
  • Maintain affordability of housing.
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Study to Examine Champaign County Housing

10/22/2019

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$40K will be spent to look at challenges facing Urbana, county’s 3 villages

Park Place Subdivision Champaign County
The foundation of the first house in the 12-home Park Place subdivision is in place along Powell Avenue. Elected officials and business leaders in Champaign County plan to conduct a study that will help improve municipalities’ housing situations. BILL LACKEY / STAFF
By Hasan Karim, Springfield News-Sun Staff Writer
The Champaign Economic Partnership has commissioned a study that will examine Champaign County’s housing situation as well as what can be done to improve it.

The study is being conducted by the Greater Ohio Policy Center and is expected to be completed in January. It will look at common housing challenges in the city of Urbana as well as the villages of Mechanicsburg, North Lewisburg and St. Paris, said Marcia Bailey, the economic development director for Champaign County.
​
“We want development to occur where there is available or nearby infrastructure. We are an agricultural community and we want to be able to preserve agricultural land as well,” she added.

The study will cost $40,000, and it will be paid for with funds set aside by Champaign County commissioners to be used for economic development, Bailey said. The study aims to compare municipalities in the county to others in the state that are tackling similar problems such as aging housing stock, a fair number of blighted properties and limited land for new housing developments.

Bailey said the study will be similar to the one recently conducted in Springfield that looked at what the city could do to attract new housing opportunities.

The Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis for Springfield was released in August and made six major recommendations to city officials.

Those recommendations included playing into preexisting assets, continued focus on downtown revitalization and rehabbing existing housing stock.

Bailey said her organization is looking to do the same in Champaign County and wants to use the findings of their study to make the area more marketable to developers. She said that includes looking at what new housing options would work best in the county, whether that would be smaller single family homes or loft apartments in recently renovated buildings.

“One of the big things that we are looking at right now is what type of housing is in demand,” she said. “We are seeing more loft apartments in downtown Urbana for example. We want to continue that trend.”

Bill Bean, the mayor of Urbana, said his city is landlocked and there is not much land available to develop new single family homes. He said, instead, some property owners in downtown Urbana are turning the second and third stories of their buildings into loft apartments.

“Instead of growing out, we are growing up,” he said.

Bailey said in the city’s Monument Square, she estimates 10 loft apartments and says more are currently being developed.

However, the city’s last major housing development was completed in the early 2000s. The subdivision known as Parmore Estates, on the eastern edge of the city, consisted of 90 single family lots as well as two condo sections of 20 lots each, according to its developer Bill Parker, who is the president of Par-Mee Development Corp.

He is currently working on a subdivision called Park Place of Urbana. The first phase of that project will consist of 13 small, patio/single family homes along Powell Avenue, which is expected to be completed in the next two years, Parker said.

Bean said, however, land for new housing developments can be hard to find in the city. He said it depends on whether property owners are interested in selling their property or are working with a developer.

“In order for us to grow, we need to get developers to look at us. We need to let them know what we have to offer,” he said.

Bean said he believes the housing study will be a good tool for future development not only in Urbana but also in the county as a whole.

Greg Kimball, the mayor of Mechanicsburg, said his village has similar housing problems such as the lack of available land for new developments and a limited number of developers operating in the area. He said there is also a fair number of nuisance properties in the village.

Kimball said he hopes the study will help them work around those issues as the village hopes to reassess its housing stock while working to increase property values.

Contact this reporter at 937- 328-0355 or email Hasan.Abdul-Karim@cmg.com.

BY THE NUMBERS 
38,754 
Estimated population of Champaign County in 2018, according to U.S. Census Bureau 

4 
Number of cities and villages in Champaign County that will be examined as part of the housing study 

$40,000 
The cost of the housing study, which is expected to be completed in January 

CONTINUING COVERAGE 
The Springfield News-Sun has provided extensive coverage of housing and employment issues in Clark and Champaign counties, including recent stories on wages, job opportunities and a recent housing study conducted in Springfield.
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CEP Enters 5th Year Advancing Local Economic Development

4/26/2019

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Marcia Bailey
Marcia Bailey
By Marcia Bailey, Director Champaign Economic Partnership
There’s power in working together for a shared purpose of business expansion and job creation. The Champaign Economic Partnership (CEP) has proven that, since becoming Champaign County’s economic development agency, nearly five years ago.
​
The CEP couldn’t do this without the financial support, talent and leadership of our partners, the City of Urbana, the Champaign County Commissioners, Mechanicsburg, North Lewisburg and St. Paris, more than 20 local businesses and our 19-member board.
Key development projects
Thanks to economic development investments by private businesses working with the CEP, Urbana – for the first time ever – ranked 41st in the Site Selection magazine’s 2017 list of top U.S. micropolitan communities.
​

Recent successes include the new Navistar distribution center, Memorial Health’s medical building, expansion of Weidmann Electrical Technology, opening of Nutrien Ag Solutions, Sutphen Corporation’s new Service, Parts and Refurbishment Center, expansion of Old Souls Farms hydroponic operations, expansion of Advanced Technology Products and purchase of the former Robert Rothschild Farm property.

Champaign County manufacturing jobs have grown from under 3,000 jobs in 2013 to nearly 4,000 in 2018.

Major projects for 2019 include:
  • Construction of a 54-room Cobblestone Hotel in Urbana, owned by local investors
  • Completion of cleanup of the former Q3/Johnson Manufacturing site 
  • Development of the proposed Legacy Place project to transform the former Urbana North and South Elementary schools and the Douglas Hotel into 51 affordable senior living apartments.
Preparing the workforce
The CEP is partnering with schools and businesses in numerous ways to help make sure Champaign County has the skilled workforce required by new and expanding businesses.

Results of these partnerships include:
  • The CEP's new business liaison, Ashley Cook, who helps coordinate workforce development initiatives with schools and businesses 
  • Internships and job shadowing opportunities
  • Job fairs and in-school presentations by businesses 
  • The online Community Job Connect job board, where local employers post job openings 
  • 11 TV monitors placed around Champaign County broadcasting news about local training programs, job openings, and economic development 
  • Ohio Hi-Point Career Center’s Advanced Manufacturing program at Triad Local Schools
  • YouTube videos of our local manufacturers
  • The Champaign County Business Advisory Council, partnering with schools and businesses preparing students for the local workforce.

Future development
  • Also in the works for economic development:
  • The City of Urbana will be reviewing results on development ideas for the South Main Street Corridor as well as the South High Street Corridor for potential improvement of pedestrian and bicycle traffic, drainage and parking
  • The Sowles Hotel building will be redeveloped for office and retail space.
  • The CEP will help St. Paris market its enterprise zone.
  • The CEP will be establishing a Community Reinvestment Area in Mechanicsburg 
  • The CEP will continue promoting Urbana’s Certified Opportunity Zone (COZ) which offers incentives for development in economically distressed areas.
  • Downtown property owners are moving ahead with redevelopment projects, following the Moving Downtown Forward initiative launched by the CEP in 2018.

For more information, call the CEP at 937-653-7200 or browse CEPOhio.com.
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CEP Office Location:
3 Monument Square
Urbana, Ohio 43078
937-653-7200
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All drone photography courtesy of Jassen Dobyns of UAVisions LLC. Additional photography courtesy of ​Dave Millner of the Champaign Camera Group.
Website by Berry Digital Solutions, LLC
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  • Why Champaign County?
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