Turtlecreek Twp. Trustee Jonathan Sams said the entities have been talking intermittently about the JEDD for years, but when the Pilot/Flying J Travel Center plans surfaced, talks turned to action.
“The easiest way to to understand a JEDD is to consider it like a homeowner’s association,” he said. “Where you have certain covenants and restrictions because you want the development to go in a certain direction.”
The plan recommends using the area for high-intensity, mixed-use development with business, industrial, research and development, retail and office uses.
“This development should be of high quality with excellent design and sustainability components,” according to the document.
There are no residential parcels in the JEDD and part of the new agreement calls for a 1 percent income tax that will be imposed on new developments. The township and the city will each received 45 percent of the taxes collected, and Lebanon will retain two percent for administering the tax. Eight percent will be invested in the JEDD area.
“This is unique to JEDDs anywhere,” Sams said. “Eight percent of the JEDD revenues stay within the JEDD district itself for beautification and maintenance.”
The hotly debated truck stop is an accepted use under current zoning because the parcel is zoned industrial. Dozens of neighbors have packed the commissioner’s meeting room on several occasions to protest the truck stop. The commissioners are currently accepting written comments from people who have participated in the approval process.
Sams said the JEDD could not have prevented the truck stop, but now — if the commissioners approve the Flying J — they can enact the restrictions of the JEDD, landscaping and income on the business.
Flying J has agreed to pay $500,000 to bring a sewer line to their the site and the city would pay $80,000 to install an enlarged pipe to handle the whole JEDD area that will eventually be developed, according to Lebanon Assistant City Manager Scott Brunka.
The agreement also has a 99-year anti-annexation agreement. Once a sewer is extended to the site from Lebanon, residents who live along the way will be required to tap in and will have their tap fees waived, according to Sams.
The development of the JEDD is a sound decision, City Manager Pat Clements said.
“The city’s interest in the JEDD is to promote the quality development of the interchange area by working with Turtlecreek Twp. to jointly provide government services to that area,” he said.
Commissioner Dave Young said cooperative efforts where economic development is concerned are always a winner.
“I think this is a good thing,” he said. “We’ve seen so many examples in the past where cities and townships can kind of go at it a little bit and there’s a turf war, and competing interests of who is going to control what and where the tax dollars are going to go. Ultimately when they fight and bicker back and forth, a lot of times that scares off businesses.”
About the Author