ONTARIO — The Shelby CIC was instrumental in bringing the Black Fork Commons Plaza to life and renovating different downtown buildings for business development.
Lexington’s Community Improvement Corporation took ownership of a blighted parcel west of Nickel & Bean and other undeveloped properties in November with the goal to build a village greenspace.
Community Improvement Corporations (CICs) exist to drive economic development, attract and retain business growth in a community, said Shelby CIC President Jake Penwell.
“The Black Fork Commons Plaza is probably the most tangible project publicly, but the inner workings of the Shelby CIC and its driving factor is economic development growth,” Penwell said.
“Our economic development plan that we follow is to attract and help companies grow, so that businesses can retain employees and those employees can have high-skilled, high-wage jobs so they can live here, work and play here and be able to afford to do it.”
Ontario officials are in the midst of establishing a Community Improvement Corporation, specifically focused on aiding the implementation of the city’s comprehensive plan and helping residents feel connected to the city, said mayor Kris Knapp.
“I think the CIC will be instrumental in implementing the city’s comprehensive plan,” Knapp said. “Old Ontario will be a focus near Park Avenue and the Shelby-Ontario, Lex-Ontario intersection. I hope the CIC can purchase that property and improve that whole area.”
Knapp also listed development at The Ontario Center or connectivity to the B&O bike trail as other possibilities for the CIC to help with.
“Once we get that board developed, we can go over our big picture goals as a board,” the mayor said. “I think we’ll get a lot of good people involved, so I’m very excited about that.”
Ontario City Council discussed potential executive board members at its March 19 meeting and made appointments for four individuals on April 30 — Beth DeLaney, Brett Baxter, Amy Hiner and Joel Fox.
Economic Development Committee Chair Josh Bradley said the CIC executive board plans to start meeting in May.
The executive board will also include the mayor, service-safety director and economic development committee chair. Jessica Gribben, economic and community development director for the Richland Area Chamber, said a CIC’s preliminary executive board usually votes to appoint other members.
City or elected officials must make up at least 40% of the CIC board.
“I think the most important part of getting this started is making sure that we have the right people in these positions,” Bradley said in March. “We definitely want go-getters — people who have invested in the community and are involved.”
Steps in Establishing a CIC
- File articles of incorporation with the Ohio Secretary of State
- Designate a statutory agent, location and purpose
- Receive Articles of Incorporation approval from the attorney general’s office
- Adopt a code of regulations
- A board of directors and officers will govern the CIC and its decisions
- File annual financial reports with the Auditor of State
Source: The Ohio Projects Group LLC
What is a CIC?
There are nearly 300 CICs in the State of Ohio, including those in Richland County, Shelby, Lexington, Ashland and Ontario.
Gribben, Ontario’s economic development liaison for the Chamber and Richland Community Development Group (RCDG), said the Ontario CIC’s executive board members don’t have to live in the city, but it can help when they’re involved in the community.
“It depends on the purpose of your CIC and how you want it to work,” she said. “For some municipalities, they have a small group and are focused on the tunnel vision of property acquisition.
“In Shelby, it’s very business- and community-led. So where the city has a strong role and are very supportive, the boots on the ground are your private citizens who are running businesses and want to better the community.
“It comes down to who is able to do the work and share the vision.”
Penwell, who also serves as RCDG board chair, echoed Gribben’s sentiments.
“It is flattering that Shelby’s CIC is an example for others, but I don’t think we’re unique,” Penwell said.
“If we’re looking at what made the CIC successful, the secret recipe isn’t necessarily just in what the charter and Ohio Revised Code allows, it was having people actively rowing the boat in the same direction to spark positive change.
“The city believing in us — which included the mayor, city council and the residents — was a big part of community buy-in.”
The Shelby CIC has 14 board members including elected officials, the police chief, education professionals and business owners. The board meets weekly on Fridays.
Penwell got involved with the CIC after he graduated from college. He said other leaders in Shelby often talked about what the city used to be and wanting to return to those days.
“I know that that’s natural, but a CIC is all about improving what you have now,” Penwell said. “I said, ‘If we are only ever going to look at what’s in the rearview mirror, we’re missing the windshield that’s right in front of us.’
“We can’t fix what’s in front of us if we talk about what we used to be instead of what we can improve.”
What does a CIC do?
Traditional CICs are economic development corporations, but some areas have also organized CICs as land banks, which allows governments to acquire vacant or “nonproductive” land and revitalize them to better neighborhoods or improve quality of life.
“The Richland County CIC has done a lot of industrial park transactions that allow the cities and municipalities involved to transfer property with development agreements in place,” Gribben said.
“There’s other CICs in Ohio — in Dublin for example, they’re being very strategic about acquiring property for development. It’s another tool in the toolkit for us to utilize in economic development.”
The Black Fork Commons Plaza represented more than $1.6 million in investment from major partners including The Shelby Foundation, Richland County, the State of Ohio, City of Shelby, Carton Service, ArcelorMittal, Karl and Jill Milliron, OhioHealth and Edward Jones.
“Our goal with this — although it appears and is very much a beautification project — if you do things like this right, then those investments follow,” Penwell said at the plaza’s groundbreaking. “We want these investments to encourage other people to make investments for themselves.”
CICs can also serve as administrative agents of the municipality or counties that established them. They can submit grant applications and issue bonds with approval from city councils.
The quasi-governmental institutions have meetings open to the public and are subject to Sunshine Laws and public records laws.
Gribben said the CIC’s public-private partnerships open opportunities that a municipality or government wouldn’t be able to take advantage of alone.
“It truly does have to be a partnership,” she said. “The CIC board and its vision and mission needs to really be in-hand with council’s vision and mission for moving a city forward.
“Finding ways to make sure everyone’s on the same page and you’re walking hand-in-hand are key to accomplishing what you want to accomplish.”
Gribben also said CICs throughout Ohio have completed many different projects for community enhancement, from marketing local businesses, site surveying and selection for industrial development, offering revolving loan funds for small businesses or establishing local food councils and farmers markets.
Hamilton CIC hosts residential rehabilitation, equipment grants
Tom Vanderhorst, the former treasurer for the Hamilton CIC and a current economic development consultant for the Richland Area Chamber, said the Hamilton CIC offered an equipment loan to a local restaurant while it was rehabilitating its kitchen.
“We also did an upper floor residential rehab grant program offering up to $20,000 per unit to renovate,” Vanderhorst said. “Much like downtown Mansfield, Hamilton had a lot of cool, historic downtown buildings with the second and third floors empty.
“Those can be as expensive to rent as they are to renovate. The first projects are going to be the hardest. But once people realized they were nice units, they trusted the process.”
Vanderhorst said the Hamilton CIC took ownership of vacant properties from the Butler County Land Bank and hosted requests for proposals to renovate or redevelop the properties, which the Shelby CIC did for the Shaw Building at Main and Gamble streets.
What can’t a CIC do?
Gribben noted that while CICs can accept donations from community members, they have to file as a nonprofit with the State of Ohio to do that.
“That’s an additional status they have to seek and it doesn’t take a lot of time, but you might not realize that going into it,” she said. “That status can also be helpful for tax purposes or different grants.”
A CIC can’t implement tax abatement agreements itself, that is up to the city or township that hosts the business or organization of the proposed abatement.
However, a CIC board can recommend tax abatements. CICs can’t levy taxes and don’t have eminent domain authority.
Penwell said he looks forward to Ontario’s CIC and other work Richland County can accomplish through partnerships with RCDG.
“I’m telling you, when you have wins, there’s nothing better,” he said. “Because it’s not just good for today, it’s good for the longevity of Shelby, the longevity of Richland County, it will be good for the longevity of Ontario and Mansfield and all these groups.”