If you take photos in Ohio’s cities as a hobby or as part of your profession, then GOPC is interested in featuring your work in future editions of reports, newsletters, memos, and on our website. GOPC is looking for high quality photos that showcase the beauty and vibrancy of Ohio’s cityscapes, neighborhoods, green infrastructure, shops and restaurants, and farmland. Please send any photos you are willing to share with us to Alex Highley at ahighley@greaterohio.org. If we decide to showcase your work, we will of course credit the photos and share with you the content we created.
Update on Recently Passed Bills by Ohio General Assembly
May 2016 was a busy month at the Ohio General Assembly with a number of bills passed, including several that GOPC has been tracking. The bills described will assist neighborhood and community revitalization efforts around the state.
- HB390-fast track mortgage foreclosure on blighted residential properties. This bill became the vehicle for HB463 (and the earlier iteration of HB134). The portion of the bill GOPC was closely following provides path to expedite mortgage foreclosure on blighted residential property. The bill requires properties for sale through the sheriff or a private auctioneer to be offered through a website as well as in person. This bill is on the way to Governor for signature.
- HB 233-Downtown Redevelopment Districts. This act authorizes municipal corporations to create DRDs and Innovation Districts, which are essentially TIF districts. The DRD TIF and the Innovation District TIF can be used for a range of activities, including funding downtown managers (i.e. operating costs) and investing in building rehabilitation. This act has been signed and will go into effect August 6, 2016.
- HB 182-Joint Economic Development Districts. This bill expands eligible uses of JEDD income tax to include redevelopment; allows retail businesses to apply for property tax exemption in Enterprise Zones; adjusts Ohio’s New Market Tax Credit to allow more businesses to apply; requires federal NMTC commitment to access state NMTC. The bill is on its way to the Governor for signature.
- HB 303- D.O.L.L.A.R. Deed Program. The bill creates a voluntary program whereby homeowner facing foreclosure can quit-claim deed their home to their lender (deed in lieu of foreclosure) and then lease back the property for a set period of time with the option to rebuy. The bill is on its way to the Governor for signature.
One Water Summit Showcases Innovative Solutions to 21st Century Water Challenges
By Jon Honeck, GOPC Senior Policy Fellow The U.S. Water Alliance is a coalition of water utilities, environmental engineering organizations, nonprofits, academics, and other groups interested in raising public awareness of challenges facing the U.S. water supply. The group held its “One Water Summit 2016” in Atlanta, GA, in June, attended by GOPC Senior Policy Fellow Jon Honeck. GOPC is engaged in a multi-year project to address water and sewer infrastructure needs in Ohio.
Conference programming reflected the diversity of water-related challenges across the country. Panelists at the opening plenary session discussed Atlanta’s attempt to address water supply and water quality issues brought about by decades of population growth, sprawl, and more recently, climate change. The Atlanta metropolitan planning commission took the lead by integrating water with land use and transportation planning. With changes in water pricing to promote conservation, the Atlanta metro region achieved a 10% water consumption decline in spite of population growth. Water audits are now required for buildings with 25,000 ft2. The Atlanta PACE program (Property Assessed Clean Energy) can provide commercial loans for water and clean energy efficiency that are paid back through property tax assessments. Current efforts are aimed at improving water quality through green infrastructure. The Turner Foundation is a major driver of this effort and a regional green infrastructure strategy is in the planning stages.
One of the panels discussed the possibilities for implementing green infrastructure on a larger scale. Green infrastructure has become a nationwide phenomenon with cities learning and sharing their experiences with each other. Federal rules now require EPA-funded Clean Water state revolving funds to set aside an amount equal to 10 percent of their annual capitalization grant for green infrastructure projects. Philadelphia has been considered a leader in this area as it implemented a plan to address combined sewer overflows under an EPA consent decree. Atlanta has completed its CSO projects, but wants to continue to make progress in water quality to protect drinking water sources and to enhance recreational opportunities in urban areas. Atlanta sent a large delegation to Philadelphia to learn from their experience. The delegation included a multiple city departments and private sector groups, illustrating the breadth of the partnerships needed to carry out its goal of reducing runoff by 225 million gallons per year. Panelists discussed the new mindset needed to implement green infrastructure, including treating natural vegetation as a capital asset and tracking long-term maintenance. Philadelphia has no ROI information yet on its extensive green infrastructure installations because it is too soon to understand long-term maintenance costs, but green infrastructure is receiving about 3.5% of its annual capital budget. In the Q&A session, other examples were brought up of cities moving ahead with green infrastructure, including the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District grants program, which provides assistance to private landowners with large surface parking lots (and large amounts of stormwater runoff), and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewage District, which aggressively pursuing green infrastructure for flood control and watershed management.
One of many interesting panels discussed “Building a New Business Model for Water.” Unlike most other countries, the U.S. water and wastewater industry is very fragmented, with 69,000 individual utilities nationwide. David St. Pierre, CEO of the Chicago Water Reclamation District, discussed opportunities to think about larger structures through mergers, including the potential for cross-state mergers of public utilities. This would entail putting in place a new regulatory structure that does not exist at present, but it would allow utilities to reap the benefits of economies of scale and learning that at present are only available to large international companies. Often times, drinking water and wastewater utilities remain separate even in the same municipality. Tony Parrot of the Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District discussed an inter-agency agreement to tie the operations of the MSD with the local drinking water utility, and how this led to the implementation of a new common billing system that will save operational costs. The next step is to move to a full merger of the two systems. Increasingly, some systems are turning to private companies to build or operate their facilities, and representatives of Veolia Water and MVP Capital discussed their experiences in partnering with public utilities.
It is clear from the One Water Summit that there is tremendous energy and creativity in addressing water-related issues, and that the formerly sedate world of water utilities is changing fast. Ohio cities have much that they can learn from their peers. Other legacy cities, such as Louisville, are facing that challenges brought about by managing an infrastructure built for higher levels of water use. Ohio’s capital city could also learn from growing cities like Atlanta that have combined land use and water infrastructure planning. The issue of aging infrastructure, which is GOPC’s main concern, was brought up repeatedly by conference participants in panels and in informal conversation. We are hopeful that GOPC’s forthcoming recommendations on financing mechanisms will not only be of use for Ohio but for other states across the nation.
Reflecting on a Successful Fellowship on Legacy City Revitalization at UChicago's Institute of Politics
By Lavea Brachman, GOPC Executive Director I have recently returned from a two month fellowship at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics, a new nonpartisan entity designed to ignite a passion in students for politics and public service, where I taught the seminar, “Can America’s Older Industrial Cities Pull Off a Second Act?” I drew heavily on the research and advocacy work that GOPC is doing with its many partners to drive economic prosperity in Ohio's legacy cities (or older industrial cities), where quality of life and regrowth are challenged.
The seminar raised questions such as: how to distribute scarce resources for neighborhood revitalization; what is the role of large anchor institutions, like universities and hospitals, in generating neighborhood or economic development when that is not their primary mission; how are massive transportation and sewer and water infrastructure needs going to be financed; and how do we tailor policies and practices to account for the differences between large and small legacy cities.
But the challenge – either implicit or explicit -- underlying all of these questions is that of the existing and growing economic divide in Ohio’s cities as well as other legacy cities, like Detroit, Gary, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Philadelphia, as the percentage and numbers of middle income residents continue to decline.
This phenomenon is not limited to legacy cities in this country, but the economic contrast is particularly stark in them and has profound societal and political consequences. For instance, UChicago, situated in the thriving Hyde Park neighborhood, is also a stone's throw from other parts of Chicago’s South Side with remnants of older industrial past-- closed manufacturing plants, some still operating factories -- resembling other Midwestern legacy cities. If you didn’t know you were in America’s third largest city – and the largest and most prosperous city in the Midwest – then you would think you were transported to a legacy city neighborhood with high levels of economic distress. Contrast that with Chicago's downtown and many of its adjacent neighborhoods with thriving commercial and residential districts. Like legacy cities, Chicago, too, is experiencing increasing extremes in residential income levels and neighborhood conditions.
This trend is of deep concern not only for the residents living in these neighborhoods but also for residents in the more prosperous areas in the rest of Chicago as well as in these other cities -- and our country. As our legacy cities rebound, let's demonstrate economic regrowth practices that intentionally address this increasing economic gap, so they can be the leaders in solving and reversing this growing, pernicious national trend.
A Great Year and a Heartfelt Farewell to Greater Ohio Policy Center
By Lindsey Gardiner At the beginning of April last year I embarked on a journey with GOPC, as Manager of Government Affairs, that would challenge me to think outside the box and learn about policies that would address issues communities face on a day-to-day basis. From foreclosure to abandoned gas stations, I never knew and truly understood the rippling effect they had on the overall health of a neighborhood and impact on business growth. In a little over a year’s time I have had the privilege to see a significant amount of development of economic development and revitalization policy within the Ohio Legislature. I have come to know numerous legislators who are just as passionate as GOPC in bringing Ohio communities back to pre-great recession levels, and I cannot wait to see the progress that is made over the next year. Unfortunately, the upcoming work that GOPC and the State accomplish together must be made from afar as I have accepted a position that is closer to my family in northeast Ohio. Nevertheless, I will most certainly cherish the relationships I’ve made and carry the lessons I’ve learned about community revitalization and economic development with me wherever my family and I go in Ohio and beyond.
You may have already observed the many legislative developments this month after browsing our May Legislative Update, and in that you might have noticed that the foreclosure reform bill (HB 463) made its way across the legislative “finish line” just before the House and Senate made a much-deserved return to their home districts for the Summer Recess. Like any bill, HB 463 was no easy task and required a lot of negotiation, compromise, and of course patience. A little over a year ago when I began working with GOPC I was invited to serve, per the Ohio State Bar Association, as one of the voices that would help craft legislation aimed at fixing Ohio’s deeply flawed foreclosure policy. Learning about foreclosure was quite the learning process, but as a former legislative staffer, lobbyist, and appointed local government official, I personally believe that Ohio has a lot of serious progress to be proud of.
My first job I served as a Legislative Aide and Clerk of the House Ways and Means Committee for the Ohio House of Representatives, and I have to admit I never thought I would learn so much about tax policy nor did I ever anticipate becoming so passionate about the subject. My experience at GOPC has been similar with fast-track foreclosure, but it is also the case for the remediation of brownfields. When the Clean Ohio Fund was implemented, brownfield cleanup was funded by the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF) making our state a leader in turning these unusable eyesores into functioning pieces of communities. The return of jobs and revenue goes unmatched by other remediation programs offered by the State today, and although CORF is no longer implemented I believe Ohio is making its way back to focusing on brownfields with the recent development of the Abandoned Gas Station Cleanup Program. There is so much opportunity when it comes to brownfield cleanup and after working on this particular subject for a little over a year I have learned that job creation, attracting/retaining the millennial workforce, and revitalizing communities are all interconnected with brownfields. GOPC’s unique place-based perspective seamlessly ties these various elements together in a way that I believe will help keep the Legislature moving in the right direction in brownfields cleanup.
Overall, my experience at GOPC has been something I will never forget. GOPC has tremendous leadership and staff, who are passionate about their cause and I thank them for their dedication to revitalizing communities and creating a stronger Ohio. I look forward to seeing GOPC’s research play an instrumental role in educating community leaders and seeing those efforts applied in the policy making process. Best of luck to GOPC and thank you for everything!!!
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Publishes GOPC Article on Revitalization of Legacy Cities
By Lavea Brachman, GOPC Executive Director and Torey Hollingsworth, GOPC Researcher The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has published a Greater Ohio Policy Center article on the revitalization of America's small- and medium-sized legacy cities. Beginning on page 7 of its Summer 2016 Communities and Banking magazine, the article describes several promising resilience strategies for legacy cities, based on GOPC's data analysis. The article also highlights Case Studies from Worcester, Massachusetts; Kalamazoo, Michigan; Syracuse, New York; and Akron, Ohio of recent economic recovery practices.
This article is part of broader research that GOPC is conducting on the health of small- and medium-sized legacy cities across the country.
To read the Article, please go Here
Ohio General Assembly Passes House Bill 512 to Reform Water Testing Procedures
By Jon Honeck, GOPC Senior Policy Fellow Before leaving on its summer break, the Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 512, a major reform to Ohio’s drinking water regulations that will tighten lead notification and testing requirements, tighten the requirements for lead-free plumbing fixtures, and provide more flexibility to the Ohio EPA and the Ohio Water Development Authority to support public drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure. The bill passed with strong bipartisan support in the wake of the well-publicized crises involving lead in drinking water supplies in Flint, MI, and Sebring, OH. The American Water Works Association estimates that there are 6.1 million lead service drinking water supply lines still in place across the nation, including many in Ohio. With proper corrosion control methods, many of the issues with lead pipes can be avoided, although the ultimate answer is to replace these lead lines over time. We hope that this same bipartisan spirit will carry forward into the fall and 2017 as the state grapples with important water infrastructure and water quality issues.
Under the bill, homeowners must be notified within two business days of lead laboratory test results received by a community water system. If the lab results show a lead level above the applicable threshold then the water system must provide information about the availability of health screening and lead blood level testing in the area to the homeowner and notify all customers that the system has exceeded acceptable lead levels within two business days, and provide information about lead testing to all customers within 5 business days. Within 18 months of the notification of about excessive lead levels, the system must submit a revised corrosion control treatment plan to the Ohio EPA. A revised corrosion control plan requirement is also triggered if a system changes sources of water supply, makes substantial changes to treatment, or operates outside the limits for certain metals or chemicals. Each water system is also required to map parts of its service area that are likely to contain lead lines.
Many Ohio cities are engaged in multi-year capital projects to fix combined sewer overflows and replacing aging water infrastructure. The Water Pollution Control Loan Fund, which is controlled by the Ohio EPA, provided over $700 million in revolving loans in 2015 for these purposes. The Fund receives an annual capitalization grant from the U.S. EPA so it can provide below-market interest rates to projects that are a high priority for the state and local partners. House Bill 512 broadened the scope of the WPCLF’s authority to match recent changes in federal law. New funding purposes include energy conservation and efficiency at wastewater treatment plants (which use enormous amounts of electric power), watershed management, recapture or treatment of stormwater, and decentralized sewer systems to assist smaller, more isolated rural areas. In addition, loan terms for the WPCLF are increased from 20 to 30 years, making them more affordable for borrowers. These changes make it easier to develop creative approaches to managing the water treatment system.
As Greater Ohio pointed out in Phase I of its ongoing infrastructure project, the state’s needs are vast and the financial capacity of many water utilities is stretched to its limit. We will make further policy recommendations on this point in 2016.