DELAWARE — The city of Delaware is about to grow by 175 acres after County Commissioners approved an annexation petition on Thursday.
The land, which was previously part of Troy Township and known as Price Farms Two, is undeveloped farmland right now — but Corridor Development CEO Bill Keethler II said big changes are coming.
Among them are plans to build three different types of homes:
- Patio homes, which are single-family residences that feature first-floor living for older individuals.
- “Move-up homes”, which are typically larger homes featuring more amenities desirable to homeowners looking to move out of their starter homes.
- And starter homes that are more affordable for first-time home buyers.
The preliminary plans still need to make their way through planning and zoning approval, but Keethler said they would like to start construction early next year, and bring single-family lots by fourth quarter of next year.
Keethler also has 52 acres set aside for the potential new Delaware High School. That land, which sits on Troy Road across from Smith Park, was donated to the Delaware City Local School District earlier this year.
He also mentioned the Buckeye Valley School District is “in support of everything we’re doing.”
“They’ve actually talked about putting an elementary school on the site and we’re still working through that,” Keethler said.
Buckeye Valley Superintendent Ric Stranges said there are no proposed or finalized plans yet regarding donated land.
Meanwhile, Buckeye Valley Board of Education members have expressed concerns regarding land annexed into the city that is still part of the school district.
Those plans are also in the early stages, Keethler said, but he looks forward to working with the schools on the project.
He also said the housing will be “very walkable” and connected to the different uses on the parcel, such as the school.
Now that commissioners have approved the annexation request, Delaware City Council must pass an ordinance accepting the land before it becomes part of the city.
Map of land provided by Delaware County Clerk Jennifer Walraven.
Troy Township Trustees oppose annexation
This annexation came nearly a month after Delaware City Council approved a service resolution expressing the city’s commitment to undertake all road maintenance obligations that result from the annexation.
The resolution also noted the city will provide sanitary sewer services upon “major off-site and downstream sanitary sewer capacity upgrades and extension of sanitary sewer to the annexed land,” but offered no timeline of completing improvements.
Troy Township trustees filed a resolution formally objecting to the resolution on May 28 because of that lack of time frame.
“Even though the city says it will provide sewer, there is no time frame to provide sewer down the road. So that is the basis of our objection to the annexation,” trustee Doug Price told commissioners.
Price’s concern is that the city will need to install a new sewer line to connect to proposed developments.
He also said he and other trustees received a shared service maintenance agreement for road maintenance from the city Wednesday evening at 5 p.m.
“They never said anything to us about the road maintenance part of it until 5 o’clock last night,” he said.
General Counsel for the commissioners Aric Hochstettler found no legal issues with the annexation petition, as alleged by the trustees.
“The resolution may specify that a municipality will provide all, some or perhaps none of its services to the annexed territory,” Hochstettler said.
“If the the municipality has approved the services resolution under RC 709.023c, the condition and 709.023e6 is satisfied. So staff’s recommendation to the board is that the objection is not well-founded.”
General Counsel for the commissioners Aric Hochstettler found no legal issues with the annexation petition. Photo by Taylor Henninger.
Other annexations coming soon
Commissioners also acknowledged receiving two more annexation petitions, both requesting annexation of land in Delaware Township to the city.
One is for 43.4 acres ad the other is for 58.6 acres. Laura Macgregor Comek submitted both petitions.
Commissioner Jeff Benton said commissioners must approve or deny the petition within 45 days. He also noted annexation petitions are common; however, opposition to petitions is rare.
