ONTARIO — City of Ontario officials met Tuesday night to further formulate a plan for the former GM property, which the city acquired in early November.
During the lengthy discussion, the economic development committee prioritized bringing utilities, especially water and sewer service, to the 267-acre West Fourth Street property in an effort to increase its value and ultimately attract businesses.
“My biggest thing tonight is we have to decide on water and sewer, we have to get water and sewer to that building,” Mayor Randy Hutchinson said.
At previous meetings, the mayor shared early interests in the property’s nearly 40,000 square-foot “press prep” building, which was once used by GM for stamping preparation. However, utilities need to be brought to the space before a business could occupy it.
To get things moving in that direction, the committee authorized Hutchinson to hire an engineer for work relating to water and sewer services. Other items included identifying specifications for clean-up.
“Some of this stuff we”re going to have to wait for after the first of the year. We’ll line it up, have it ready to go the first of the year,” Hutchinson said.
He admits there’s “a lot to go” but believes the list of action items is a “good start.”
Already, Hutchinson has found several free options to guide the city in its early steps.
The committee hopes a concept plan will be helpful when looking at how to break up the property — those results may aid in making further decisions in January.
“My two cents is we make it an industrial park. We do 5- or 10-acre parcels that can be combined if someone wants more acreage,” said economic development committee chairperson Mark Weidemyre.
He doesn’t want to model the approach of the former property developers, the Adler Group of Miami, Florida.
“All I ever heard (was) ‘We want to wait for a big user. If we sell off these 5 or 10 acres and someone needs 269 acres … we don’t have it then,'” Weidemyre said.
When it comes to electric and fiber optic service, Hutchinson told the committee he is hopeful. He said his conversations with Spectrum, Century Link and First Energy have shown that both services should be able to easily connect to the property.
History
The city of Ontario officially acquired the former General Motors property on Nov. 6, less than two months after the city announced its intentions to take possession of the property from the Ontario Business Park.
Officials agreed to take control of the property rather than filing a lawsuit and fighting for $1 million in escrow.
In June 2017, city officials sent Ontario Business Park a notice of default of surety guaranty under the development agreement, where the city alleged the owners were in default because they had not created the required 500 jobs on the site within the first 5-year term of that agreement at the property.
The notice informed owners their $1 million in escrow must be forfeited to the city because of this. However, the Adler Group, the site’s developers, argued the notice was untimely and threatened legal action against the city.
A lengthy discussion in November 2017 left the city and the Adler Group at odds, but the two parties settled their differences. Both city officials and a representative from the Adler Group said they were on the same page in September.
In October, Ontario City Council held its first economic development committee meeting about the building’s future as a city-owned property. Tuesday’s meeting was the first since the property was acquired.
