Painesville City Council has backed a request to annex about 28 acres in Painesville Township for a proposed Redwood USA apartment development, but the vote does not approve the project’s final design or settle a dispute over how the land should be used. Lake County commissioners still must consider the annexation, and Painesville council has left a proposed development agreement for further review, cleveland.com reported.
Annexation is one step in a longer process
Redwood currently proposes 97 single-story apartments near Ohio 86 and Bank Street. The proposed agreement would permit as many as 102 units, but the project would still face planning commission and city council review after annexation on matters including unit numbers, parking, building appearance, landscaping and separation from nearby properties. The agreement itself remains unresolved: council members paused consideration after a question about whether Redwood had signed and submitted it, according to cleveland.com.
The proposed division of responsibilities also remains part of the discussion. Painesville would provide municipal services, including police, fire, emergency medical, electric, water and sewer service, while Redwood would maintain private roads and internal utility lines within the development. Separate proposals would explore a property-tax reduction for up to 15 years, limited to no more than half the added value from construction, and reimburse Redwood for extending electric service using revenue generated by the development. These are proposed terms, not final approvals.
A past apartment dispute involved another property
Township Trustee Chuck Hillier opposes the Bank Street project, saying it would not fit the nearby residential area and accusing the city of putting tax revenue ahead of neighborhood planning. He has also pointed to a 2014 township decision involving an apartment proposal. But the documented 2014 case was not this parcel: The News-Herald reported that the township zoning commission unanimously declined to recommend rezoning for a Redwood proposal on Mentor Avenue, west of Fairfield Road. That was a zoning matter at a different site, not an annexation decision about Bank Street.
The distinction matters when comparing the two disputes: the earlier vote shows that a Redwood apartment proposal faced township zoning opposition elsewhere, but it does not establish what the township decided about the current property or determine how commissioners will rule on annexation. Painesville Township currently allows light industrial uses on the Bank Street land; the city says housing would better suit the surrounding area. The site has been vacant for more than a decade after stone-crushing operations there drew concerns about noise and dust, cleveland.com reported.
Neighborhood concerns and city policy remain disputed
Hillier has criticized the project’s proposed private streets and alleged that Painesville required developers seeking city water to annex their land. He said Mayor Jim Fodor told him he had directed the city manager to stop requiring annexation for water service. The city did not address Hillier’s account or the water-policy allegation in the reporting cited by cleveland.com, so that issue remains unverified.
Redwood executive Rad L. Schneider has described the planned units as market-rate apartments, typically with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and an attached two-car garage on one floor. The city has said single-story homes could suit the neighboring area and add housing choices; those arguments, like Hillier’s objections, do not resolve the pending annexation or later design review. The next major decision is whether Lake County commissioners approve the request; the development agreement and subsequent project reviews remain outstanding.
