City denies water service request for development
Councilmen say Dayton should be responsible for site near airport.
While opposing a request for water services by NorthPoint Development for a large warehouse development outside the city’s boundaries, several Vandalia councilmen said the City of Dayton should take responsibility.
Vandalia City Council voted 5-2 to reject the request, with a majority of council members saying Dayton should provide water services to the development as the land is considered Dayton property. They said by supplying the water for the development, Vandalia would be enabling Dayton to walk away from its responsibilities.
“I am aware that, one, the development will still go forward. Two, that cities primary function is to provide service to its citizens but in this case they’re outside the city,” said councilman Dave Lewis. “It’s not incumbent upon us to provide that service.”
NorthPoint Development is planning two new logistics buildings near Dayton International Airport in the next two years with construction set to begin this year.
Lewis said that Vandalia was ignored when they expressed their disapproval for having the development so close to the city.
Councilman Corey Follick voted in the developer’s favor saying that the city could face sequences in the future if it rejected the request.
“Turning down this request is in no way shape or form going to stop this development from happening, it’s just going to cost the developer more money to make it happen,” he said.
The Northern Area Water Authority (NAWA) system provides about 2.5 million gallons of water to citizens in Vandalia and Tipp City.
Follick said by voting down the request it could harm Vandalia in the long run in terms of development.
“I think that we are going to suffer in the eyes of development and potential development if we don’t start looking at things from a regional perspective,” he said.
He said the only one suffering from this is the developer which “may leave a bad taste in their mouths” and ruin a possible future relationship between them and Vandalia.
Lewis said that Dayton hasn’t considered the city of Vandalia when it makes decisions. “The city of Dayton has not moved in a direction to help the citizens of Vandalia unless until we’ve put enormous pressure on them,” he said.
Officials with NorthPoint Development or Dayton city officials did not respond to requests for comment.