City eyes big chunk of UE site for well-field protection and other uses

In a stunning turnabout, the city of Athens is now actively pursuing the purchase of most of the site of the biggest proposed development in recent city history, University Estates.

The purchase, if it goes forward, could have significant consequences for the city's recreation and environment, housing, and tax revenues for local government, among other things. How it will affect UE's overall plans is uncertain. Officials for the development could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Athens City Council last week held a special session to adopt an ordinance to negotiate the purchase of 600 acres, mainly to protect the city's well fields and water supply. The city has put a bid in for the purchase, but the amount of the offer has not been announced.

Council President Bill Bias explained last Thursday that Mayor Paul Wiehl received a call from an organization called Silar Advisors that identified itself as the owner of a defaulted note on a major portion of University Estates, including the river flats where the well fields are located.

Many homes and condos have already been built in the development, though much of the proposed project, including a golf course and retirement facilities, has yet to be built. UE is located off Ohio Rt. 682 and Armitage Road on the city's northwest side.

Plans for University Estates had called for single-family homes, condominiums, luxury apartments, gated communities, an 18-hole golf course, hotel/convention center, equestrian center, day-care center, commercial properties, bike paths, assisted-living center, skilled nursing-care center and other facilities. While the golf course is part of the parcel sought by the city, it's uncertain which of the other proposed facilities and amenities would be affected by a land sale.

Bias confirmed that the 600 acres the city was contacted about include the proposed golf course, 29 building lots, and the project's third phase.

The economic downturn of the past year, with its adverse effects on real estate, apparently impacted UE's plans.

Bias explained how the issue of purchasing part of the property arose. "After multiple and extensive discussions with this organization, I was informed that there was another local bidder on this real estate, and that if we were to wish to become the owner of our own well field we needed to submit an offer immediately," Bias said. "After a discussion with senior members of council and two executive sessions with all members of council, I continued my discussions with Silar."

These discussions led to the ordinance that was adopted allowing Service-Safety Director Paula Moseley to enter into negotiations and put in a bid.

"There is no guarantee that the city will be successful in its negotiations to purchase this land," Bias told council during the special session last Thursday. "If we are successful, the array of possibilities for the improvement in our well-field protection, expansion of our recreation area, view-shed protection, and even housing options could be greatly enhanced."

Bias said it's unfortunate that City Council had to consider the ordinance under suspension of the rules and with an emergency clause, "but that is the only way we would be within the timeframe necessary to be able to be competitive with the other bids that have been put forth."

In an interview yesterday, Bias said that the city is in daily negotiations with owners of the University Estates mortgage, which is in default. He continued that City Council has four main goals with relation to the property, if the deal goes through. The first, Bias said, is protection of the well fields. The second is to protect the "view shed" so that all the trees are not cut down and the view lost. The third is to possibly increase the city's recreational area and facilities. The fourth goal, and possibly most important to the community currently owning property in the area, is to complete and repair the main road.

City Auditor Kathy Hecht, who researched and arranged financing for the issue, said Tuesday that she had not heard back yet about an agreement.

"We haven't actually borrowed any money because we don't have any kind of agreement yet," Hecht said.

She said an offer had been made by Bias and that all indications suggest that Silar Advisors will accept the offer for the land. "But until you get it in writing, you never know," Hecht said.

She said she has contacted banks and the city's bond counsel about financing, which wasn't a problem. "I'm just waiting for them to tell me to [get the financing], and they're waiting until they get some kind of agreement back."

Hecht predicted that the process will take a while because the property needs to be foreclosed on, at which point the city will purchase it. "I don't really know how long that takes," she said. "I understand that it doesn't take as long to foreclose on just property as it does to foreclose on property where somebody is living. But that process has to go through. The city's not interested in buying the mortgage and then foreclosing on anyone. We want the property to be free and clear and just purchase it outright."

She said she thinks the offer was good enough for Silar to go ahead and do the foreclosure proceedings, at which point the city will buy the property from them. "But I haven't heard there is actually a written agreement," she said. "This is a verbal agreement."

Asked whether there is a risk of contamination of the well fields at this point, Hecht said, "Absolutely.

"We have a plan, and there are rules and regulations about what can and can't be done there," she said.

These regulations come from the city's wellhead protection ordinance, passed in 2002, which developed a plan for protecting areas from water contamination. "But we can't have someone out there 24/7 watching what people do," Hecht said.

While the University Estates people were fully aware of the wellhead protection plan, Hecht said, when property changes hands, they haven't been involved in the protection process.

"If it changes hands, we just don't know what someone might do," she said. "And if it's contaminated, it's just ridiculously expensive to try to correct. And so we don't want to take any chances with that... If someone else purchases [the land], it would be hard for us to guarantee that they will follow the rules and we won't end up with an issue.... Development would put it at risk."