Proposed White Pond development is 'best use' for property, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan says

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that this was not Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan's first media interview on the proposed White Pond development; it was his first interview with the Beacon Journal on the project.

Despite recent vocal opposition to the proposed White Pond residential and retail development, Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan still thinks it’s the best use for the wooded area in the northwest portion of the city.

In his first interview with the Beacon Journal on the proposed White Pond development, Horrigan and Akron City Council President Margo Sommerville discussed the project during a 45-minute walk-through of the property, accompanied by city staff and a Beacon Journal reporter and photographer.

“This still is the best use of this particular land,” he said. “We've I think spent a significant amount of money to get this site ready for development.”

A proposed development agreement between the city of Akron and private developer Triton Property Ventures LLC includes the $725,000 sale of 68 acres of land in Ward 4, bounded by Frank Boulevard, White Pond Drive and Interstate 77.

Latest:New plan for proposed White Pond development cuts retail space in half

The city, which has said the wetlands on the site aren’t proposed for redevelopment, expects that work on the project would begin next year and could be completed as early as 2026.

The development, which would take place on only 29 acres of the property due to a zoning change, would include 98 ranch-style houses, 90 townhomes and 40 to 50 loft-style apartments, with rent ranging from $1,600 to $2,300 per month. Retail stores would also be part of the plan.

In an updated development agreement released Monday, the total retail space in the development would be cut in half, from 60,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet. The developer also agreed in writing to pay $15,000 into the city’s tree fund.

Sommerville said she wants residents to know that their concerns have been heard, noting the changes made to the development agreement.

“I think some of the things that the developer has added to the development agreement really came about through residents’ feedback, right, and I think that's how we get better projects and better development when we have community engagement,” she said.

Horrigan, who said he “was elected to lead 193,000 people,” said he still respects the opinions of the people who don’t support the project, saying they just disagree on their visions for the space.

“They've highlighted some concerns, and there's some really good points that we've tried to adopt and get into not only the development agreement, but also conditions of how we'd like to see the property developed,” he said.

Sommerville said it’s about striking a balance of what residents want with plans from the mayor and City Council.

"We're trying to meet in the middle so that we get a meaningful project," she said.

Residents, including those in the Save White Pond group, have been voicing their opposition to the project in the last few months. They’ve said they feel the city isn’t listening to their concerns, including on environmental impacts at the site, traffic and affordability.

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They’re also frustrated that the city recently posted “no trespassing” signs, ahead of a planned tour of the site by concerned residents. They say the site has been previously used by the public for walking dogs and other recreational activities.

On no trespassing signs being posted, Horrigan said it’s a city property that comes with liability issues.

“If you would have told me that people are coming back here and recreating or walking their dogs, I've been back here dozens of times over the years and would not have thought that this is where I'm gonna go walk the dog or it's a park,” he said.

Over the years, the land was mined for peat and used to store concrete, asphalt and road construction debris, but it’s been brought into environmental compliance.

The White Pond site was previously considered for an office park, but with the COVID-19 pandemic shifting the nature of work to be more work-from-home friendly, the city pivoted to a residential vision for the space.

Triton Property Ventures, which was listed to do business in Ohio in June 2021, approached the city about a year ago with the development project, Alan Gaffney, the company's owner, told council last month. He’s priced the White Pond project as a $50 million to $55 million investment.

Mayor Horrigan wants housing in Akron

Horrigan said one of the primary focuses of his two terms as mayor has been better housing in the city, and the development fits into that vision.

“I still think it's the best use for this property,” he said. “In looking at all of the neighborhoods downtown, how we attract people, how we keep people here, how we get businesses to come here, how we take care of our residents, housing is a big piece of that. And so the notion that a lot of people can't afford it, well, that's one of the reasons why we'd like to have people make more money too per hour. And that's one of the reasons why we're trying to attract jobs here.”

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Sommerville said young people — like those who might consider moving to Akron — want “new, modern living spaces.”

“They like the idea and concept of being able to live and shop and be able to walk their neighborhoods, and so we don't have a whole lot of that type of development in Akron,” she said.

Horrigan also clarified that he’s never envisioned the site being like the First and Main development in Hudson.

On questions about the affordability of the proposed housing units, with rent estimated at from $1,600 to $2,300, Horrigan said there’s a need for different levels of housing in the city, noting the city also allocates parts of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME allocations from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development toward affordable housing, including home repairs.

“It is affordable to a lot of Akron residents, too,” he said. “Whether it's affordable to everybody, of course not. But you need a mix of high end housing, middle housing and affordable housing.”

Horrigan not concerned with traffic, competition with nearby businesses

The mayor also said he’s not concerned about traffic in the area or competition with nearby businesses in Wallhaven.

He said he believes “the notion that Akron has a traffic problem…is a myth,” adding that “with more people does come a few more cars, and maybe a few more bikes, and hopefully a lot more bus rides. I just don't think that there's a traffic issue.”

On the Wallhaven businesses, Horrigan said “competition is actually pretty good.”

“I think there are two really strong corridors in Wallhaven and on Market Street,” he said. “Whether there's a coffee shop or an ice cream store, somewhere to get breakfast, I don't think that's a bad thing to have more of those. Hopefully, you're gonna have more people to do those things too."

Horrigan said the city tries to “stay out of the market.”

“That's part of our role as a city, too, is to encourage economic development, so people have job opportunities, somewhere to live, not to say, if we add this grocery store, it's going to compete against that grocery store,” he said.

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Development not happening at the Innerbelt

Both Horrigan and Sommerville disagreed with a suggestion that the development happen at the decommissioned Akron Innerbelt instead of the White Pond area.

They said it’s important to include residents in what they want to see, rather than just deciding where a new development should go without community input.

“We need to foster some community support around what goes next,” Horrigan said. “To say, hey, just put it at the Innerbelt, there's a lot more thought and study that needs to go into the Innerbelt about what's the best use for that.”

Sommerville said the city wants to "create that real ownership in spaces” and include residents in the process, like has been done at Summit Lake, by “doing things with the community and getting their feedback.”

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Akron City Council hesitation on White Pond development

The development agreement is dated for 2022, but several council members, including some in favor of the project, say they’re unwilling to vote on the project and public land sale at the last regular council meeting of the year this Monday.

But Horrigan questioned why council members would need more time.

“I feel that we've answered and addressed, you know, a myriad of questions,” he said. “At the end of the day, you'll have to make a decision at some point, and we're all accountable to those. …We've addressed a number of concerns that we think were significant and modified the agreement and talked about these things. I think we've come that halfway. But if it's just I don't want anything, we're just going to disagree.”

Horrigan declined to discuss the city’s next steps if council doesn’t pass the development agreement, saying he’s “not going to speculate on hypotheticals.”

Sommerville declined to say whether she’s voting for the development agreement, saying “I have learned so much through this process and still evaluating all aspects of the project.”

Horrigan also disagreed with the characterization of some members of council and the public who called his engagement with the public on the project insufficient.

“I would push back on thinking that we didn't want to talk about it,” he said. “We did a number of discussions, both internally and externally, when it comes to answering the questions.”

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The mayor said he’s not pushing to get this done before he leaves office next year, after announcing he’s not running for a third term.

“That's the least of my considerations, the political side, to say I've got to get this moving before I leave office,” he said. "When there's a really good idea, which I think this is, we put the same full force and energy behind it as we would anything else.”

Horrigan also pushed back on concerns raised over campaign contributions the developer and its associates gave the mayor last year, just weeks before paperwork was filed in Ohio to create Triton Property Ventures LLC.

Horrigan said all of his campaign finance reports are publicly available, saying it’s “completely coincidental about whether they donated and whether they started a company.”

View interactive view of development

Drag the slider to see proposed White Pond Reserve footprint.

Contact Beacon Journal reporter Emily Mills at emills@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter @EmilyMills818.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Horrigan: Proposed White Pond development is 'best use' for property