Dayton buys land for warehouse

Vandalia sells North Dixie Drive property for $625K; will be developed for commercial use.

The city of Dayton plans to buy land on North Dixie Drive from the city of Vandalia that will be used for the construction of a massive new warehouse.

Vandalia officials said they have concerns about traffic and infrastructure impacts from development around the airport but agreed to the $625,000 sale.

The land will be developed for commercial use. Rich Hopkins, Vandalia’s spokesman, said currently neither Dayton nor the developer knows who the occupant of the land will be.

“It’s no secret that Vandalia would like to come up with a way to temper the heavy truck traffic that comes through our downtown,” Hopkins said.

Vandalia’s Fire Station #3 sits on the nearly 1.6 acres of land. The fire station will continue to operate in its current location until the developer of the land has found someone to occupy the space.

The fire station is used for training, which produces a lot of fire and smoke and would be dangerous to perform with a new development directly behind it, Hopkins said.

Vandalia will get a 120-day notice to vacate the fire station property, located at 257 North Dixie Drive.

The legislation states that no employees of the fire station will be subject to Dayton city taxes.

The agreement Vandalia city council voted on at Monday’s meeting took more than a year and a half of discussions between the two cities to reach.

Hopkins said the agreement includes language to have curbcuts and driveways built that will keep commercial trucks from driving through Vandalia.

Contact Bonnie Meibers at 937-225-0719 or email Bonnie.Meibers@coxinc.com. Contact Cornelius Frolik at 937-225-0749 or email Cornelius.Frolik@coxinc.com.