Council Member Objects to Proposed Residential, Retail Complex

On Monday, Cuyahoga Falls City Council members approved the 2013 Community Development Block Grant fund with roughly 20 percent of the money earmarked for French Mill Run, a proposed $18 million luxury loft apartment and retail complex.

Council members Carol Klinger and Mary Ellen Pyke casted dissenting votes against the $920,000 worth of prospective expenditures that would be divided among housing activities ($223,000), infrastructure improvements (275,000), economic development activities ($275,000-French Mill Run) and administrative activities ($146,000).

Cuyahoga Falls Planning and Zoning Director Fred Guerra told Patch the city has offered developer Martin Mehall about $275,000 as an incentive to consider building the commercial, residential and retail development on the corner of State and Bath Road.

The sprawling complex would include its own road, about 200 loft apartments and roughly 10,000 to 15,000 square feet of retail space, he said.

The most important aspect of the project was job creation, as it would bring in about 20 news jobs to the city, Guerra added.

Site plans for the development will likely go before the Cuyahoga Falls Planning Commission this June. 

In an April 4 email to Patch, Cuyahoga Falls Development Director Sue Truby wrote, "The French Mill Run project is not yet a reality. It is not a completed deal...The developer has not yet even made application to the City, which is the
beginning of the process."

During an April 1 city council meeting, Klinger questioned the French Mill Run project, saying CDBG money is typically used for low- to moderate-income residents in the city. 

"It's just a little hard to swallow taking CDBG money and pushing it...into something that has the word 'luxury' in it," said Klinger during last week's meeting. 

Given the initial details, do you think French Mill Run would benefit Cuyahoga Falls, or could the money be better spent elsewhere?