Toledo council approves economic development district at airport
Posted By: The Toledo Blade on June 6, 2024. For more information, please click here to read the source article.
The Joint Economic Development District surrounding Eugene F. Kranz Toledo Express Airport will expand by 40 acres.
Toledo City Council on Wednesday approved the contract which had been previously approved by Swanton and Monclova townships.
“It has been an important tool for fostering development in and around our airport,” said Brandon Sehlhorst, Toledo’s economic development director.
The airport’s JEDD was developed in 2014 and amended in 2021. The proposed amendment would expand the JEDD by incorporating nine new properties.
Mr. Sehlhorst said the property owners have requested that they be included within the district territory.
“The expansion represents a great opportunity for us to stimulate development on the parcels, leading to increased revenue for the City of Toledo,” Mr. Sehlhorst said.
The properties are primarily around the new Land Air Industrial Park north of the airport.
“There are two industrial buildings that have been built there, and there’s additional land around the industrial park that wasn’t technically a part of the JEDD. The property owners are requesting to be within the boundaries of the JEDD,” he said. “The owner of the industrial park plans to develop future industrial and commercial buildings that would align with the mission of the airport JEDD.”
City Councilman Mac Driscoll, a member of the Regional Growth, Development and Small Business Enterprise Committee, which met on Wednesday to discuss the matter, said he supported the JEDD expansion because it gives the city the opportunity to use land in outlying areas to do large scale industrial development.
“We all can reap the benefits from economic growth that happens in a JEDD. Glad to see the city of Toledo take the initiative to continue to attract jobs,” Mr. Driscoll said.
The JEDD is funded through net profits of businesses located within the district and through the collection of income taxes from employees working in the JEDD, according to Mr. Sehlhorst.
“Then those taxes are used to reinvest in the JEDD for economic development purposes. It most often takes the form of public infrastructure investment needed to facilitate additional development,” Mr. Sehlhorst said.
A portion also comes back as revenue to the City of Toledo, Swanton, and Monclova townships, he said.
The City of Toledo has additional JEDDs with other communities.
“All our JEDDs bring in nearly $2 million in revenue to the city of Toledo each year. This is a good source of revenue. These are strategic development sites throughout our region where we have partnerships in place that can invest in the areas to promote new development and generate revenue for the city,” he said.
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