Wooster expands with 245-acre annexation

Wooster is almost 250 acres larger.

“We now have 245.86 more acres, fantastic,” City Council President Craig Sanders said after council approved the annexation of land at Silver Road between the McAfee Road and Venture Boulevard area at the Feb. 17 council meeting.

“It’s a beautiful site,” said Jonathan Millea, development manager for Wooster. “When you’re coming into the city from the west, this is going to be the first part of the city you’re going to see.”

Now it’s undeveloped land, but it could eventually have 500 homes or more.

“It could be substantially more,” Millea said. “Five-hundred would be roughly average for what we’re seeing developed in the area, assuming that we’re not encroaching on the heavier terrain of the site.”

Millea said he expected the area of the property with the heavier terrain to stay as is, while the flatter parts would be where housing would be developed.

“If 10 years from now there are 650 homes, we didn’t lie,” Mayor Bob Reynolds said. “It all depends. Five-hundred is a good guess. What actually turns out is going to be in the hands of developers, the market and the owners.”

The property owners requested the annexation with the goal of residential development, said council member Steven Huszai, who introduced the annexation at the meeting and called for suspension of the rules to adopt it, which both motions were approved unanimously after Millea responded to questions from council members about the annexation.

“It will cut into the housing deficit that we have been experiencing, not just here in Wooster and Wayne County, but in the nation as well,” said Huszai, who added the annexation meets the goals of the city and its comprehensive plan, as well as the county’s comprehensive plan, and could easily develop hundreds of homes with the new zoning codes council adopted at its previous meeting.

Some of the concerns mentioned about the future of the property if it is developed included drainage issues, as well as how the city could handle snow removal, leaf pickup and emergency services.

Because there is no development on the land now, the city’s services won’t be strained financially by the annexation in the near future. If there ever is development, Millea said it shouldn’t strain the city much because residents pay for most of the leaf pickup and snow removal.

"Housing doesn’t really strain police much because there isn’t much crime going on in residential neighborhoods,” Millea said.

All the divisions of the city started reviewing the annexation request in September to make sure Wooster could handle possible development on it before reaching council for approval. The county also is in favor of residentially developing the land, according to Huszai.

A developer isn’t interested in the property yet, said Millea, who added the prime petitioner of the annexation request told him the property owners have consulted with five or more housing developers.

“We would like to market the site to national homebuilders,” Millea said. “Most national-based homebuilders typically want 100 acres minimum before they start investing time into analysis. We haven’t been able to market to those (national-based homebuilders) before.”

The next Wooster City Council meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday, March 2.