By GLEN WERLING
Wells County Economic Development Director Chad Kline urged members of the Ossian Redevelopment Commission Monday night to not get caught up in the hype of an Ind. 1 bypass around Ossian.
In Vision 2035, Wells County officials have proposed one way to stimulate economic and population growth in northern Wells County is by expanding Ind. 1 from its current two-lane configuration to four lanes. That would include a bypass around Ossian.
It’s a proposal at this point, a sort of “What if?” that hasn’t progressed too much beyond that point, Kline said.
Bluffton is the only major satellite city around Fort Wayne that is not connected to the Summit City by a four-lane highway. That captured the attention of the Vision 2035 committee in more ways than one.
Kline asked what if the state decides to rectify that situation? Why not have the county get in ahead of time and make its own recommendations on what a four-lane Ind. 1 should look like so that the state doesn’t just go off and do its own thing without any local input he said.
Ultimately, it’s not Ossian or Bluffton that will decide how and when — or even if — a four-lane Ind. 1 south out of Fort Wayne will happen, Kline stressed. Why not have a plan in place that gives Wells County’s point of view? he said.
He wasn’t even before the commission to talk about a bypass or four-laning Ind. 1. His proposal to the commission was for hiring the Indianapolis law firm of Ice-Miller to initiate the legal steps required for extending the town’s economic target area from downtown to the Ossian Industrial Park.
Ice-Miller would serve as special council to the town for the town’s downtown revitalization project through the creation of a tax allocation area in order to offer incentives to a developer for the construction of a multi-use commercial and residential development.
An economic target area is the underlying piece for a tax increment financing district, Kline explained. The economic impact area does not capture increased assessed value through the entire area that is identified. “It just gives you the ability to create TIF districts within that area. You have to have an economic area first and then you could have a TIF allocation within that,” Kline said. “It will allow you to use funds from one to support another without having to make loans from one area to another.”
A downtown TIF area could be created if a development happens. If a development doesn’t happen then the TIF process could be terminated and the town will not owe Ice-Miller the full amount
The expansion of the industrial park area and creation of the TIF area could be accomplished as early as Aug. 8 or the final approval by the town council could be delayed to Sept. 12 or even later as determined by Ossian’s request for proposals.
The town is seeking requests for proposals from potential interested developers for the block of buildings bounded by Jefferson Street on the east, Craig Street on the south and Mill Street on the north.
Kline said that option agreements have been proposed for the building spaces. “We’re pulling together some final data, adding some traffic data, adding some workforce data around Ossian including the airport.
“Our hope is to have a developer by August,” Kline said.
That prompted Pursley to ask Kline why would a developer want to undergo a project in downtown Ossian — or anywhere in Ossian — if the potential is there that the town could be bypassed entirely? Pursley said a bypass around the town would “kill Ossian.”
“I own a business and I know of businesses that have lost 75 percent of their business when a bypass was put in,” Pursley said.
Kline reiterated that any talk now of a bypass is just in the investigative phase.
“Yeah, but you’re pushing it,” Pursley said.
Kline said the county isn’t pushing anything. It’s just trying to decide if it makes sense to push it.
“The next step is an economic impact study. If the economic impact study comes back negative, we’re certainly not going to push a project,” Kline said.
Commission member Josh Barkley added that it was his understanding that Ind. 1 wasn’t the only route to Bluffton under consideration for improvement. It could be Ind 116 or Ind. 124 or even 100N.
Commission president Jeff Kemper wondered why the state couldn’t just widen Ind. 1 through Ossian. “We’re handling the traffic now except maybe for school times,” Kemper said.
“Jeff you’re talking about a project that may never happen,” Kline responded. “A four-lane through Ossian? That would kill your downtown,” Kline added.
Commission member Jason House asked that if a developer does express an interest in downtown Ossian, will they be informed that the downtown could potentially be bypassed. Kline said yes, they would be informed.
He added that a potential developer may want a bypass to alleviate traffic through downtown. They may even encourage it, he said. “I really don’t know.”
Barkley redirected the conversation back to the issue at hand — employing Ice-Miller for legal services to initiate a TIF district.
“What this agreement is saying is I can work with Ice-Miller and you guys are going to work with Ice-Miller to create the legal documents necessary for the steps to create a TIF. There is still all of the approval processes to go through,” Kline said.
The commission then approved unanimously to employ Ice-Miller for an amount not to exceed $18,000 to initiate the legal process.
The commission also renewed its commitment to capturing incremental assessed valuation increases in existing TIF areas by passing Resolution 22-6-1. The resolution is a required legal step to proceed with doing what TIFs are designed to do — to capture increases in property tax dollars in the district above and beyond what was being collected prior to the creation of the TIF district and then focusing those captured revenues toward the betterment of the district.
The commission also reorganized since this was its first meeting of 2022.
Kemper stays president, Ealing stays vice president and Jason House remains secretary.
glenw@news-banner.com
