Proposed age-restricted community will not include senior care services

by Kathleen Steele Gaivin
March 14 township trustees meeting
Sagamore Hills trustees answered questions about a proposed 55 and older housing development at the corner of West Aurora and Carter roads after hearing that some people mistakenly thought the building would be an elderly care facility.

The Sagamore Hills Zoning Commission approved the preliminary plan for the construction of senior apartments in that area in February. The proposal is now in the hands of the Summit County Planning Commission to approve or change.

Each of the 144, one-story apartments in the development must have at least one person that meets the age requirement. For example, a person younger than 55 can live there if their spouse meets the threshold.

By federal law, attorney Jeff Snell said, 80 percent of the units must be reserved for residents older than 55, but Sagamore Hills is taking the requirement further. The township has included a restriction that requires 100 percent of the units to have at least one person who meets the age requirement.

The 30-acre property is zoned for commercial purposes, so this is a legitimate use, according to Snell.

“It’s been that way for almost 50 years. This is a way to make it more residential than commercial,” he added.

Trustee Paul Schweikert said the owner of the development will be responsible for “everything on the inside,” meaning road maintenance, snow removal, trash pickup and the like.

According to Snell, the township has been discussing a tax incremental financing agreement with the developer to allow tax payments owed to Sagamore to be used for property improvements.

“We can only go 10 years at 75% of the taxes. Seventy-five percent of the tax revenue that would be generated for the next 10 years could be used to fund various things,” Snell said. This includes razing the medical building that currently sits on five acres of the parcel.

Additionally, Snell said the developer could use TIF funds to construct hiking trails that connect to existing township trails and the county and national parks.

In other action

Trustees authorized the purchase of a new SUV for the Sagamore Hills Police Department to replace a vehicle that is approaching 125,000 miles. The new completely outfitted vehicle with markings will cost $49,961.

Trustee David DePasquale suggested the order be placed sooner rather than later in order to receive the vehicle this calendar year.

“It’s probably going to take forever to get this,” he said.

Trustees also extended a moratorium on medical marijuana sales in the township for another six months. ∞