Council OKs purchase of 5 parcels for Stoveworks housing redevelopment

Lorain will buy five parcels needed to redevelop the former Stoveworks site.

On April 5, Council approved an ordinance to spend up to $100,000 for the land.

The money will come from a Feb. 23 grant from the Nord Family Foundation.

The city Law Department still is inking the purchase agreement with owner Old Lake Properties LLC.

The Building, Housing and Planning Department is revising a site plan for new houses on the site, said Director Max Upton.

For years, the former National Vapor Stove Company was a dumping ground at 1200 Long Ave., bordered by Long Avenue, railroad tracks to the north and West 13th Street to the south.

“The whole area is a mess,” but the purchase allows the city to work with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development on housing there,” said Councilwoman-a-tLarge Mary Springowski.

The parcels involved in the purchase have frontage on Long Avenue and are owned by a company of Lorain contractor Don Buchs.

Springowski did not name Buchs, but said she did not like the person the city is working with on the purchase.

But, it works for the greater good of Lorain, and it is critical to get all the land to develop it at the same time, Springowski said.

Plans for new homes makes a potentially great project for the Second Ward and for the city, said Ward 2 Councilman Rob McFarland.

The site is the heart of the ward, potentially joining its north and south sections divided by nearby railroad tracks, McFarland said.

Controlling the land adds connectivity and will clean up that part of Lorain, he said.

If there is an area of Lorain that needs a jolt, the Stoveworks site is one of them, said Ward 6 Councilman Rey Carrion.

Downtown Lorain, the Stoveworks site and the former St. Joseph Community Center, now demolished, create a triangle in which the rest of the properties inside organically will change, Carrion said.

The city used federal money to clear the Stoveworks site, and is on the clock to redevelop it, he said.

The city also has 60 days to accept the grant money or lose it, according to the legislation.

Ward 3 Councilwoman Pamela Carter and Councilman-at-Large Mitch Fallis voiced support for the project.

Ward 5 Councilwoman JoAnne Moon asked for all Council members to get copies of blueprints, which are in the revision process.

Moon was part of a Feb. 18 meeting of the city’s Fair Housing Board, which examined a draft plan and suggested major changes to it to ensure the project is equitable and benefits current and future residents.

Council voted 10-0 for the purchase ordinance.

Ward 8 Councilman Joshua Thornsberry abstained, citing a potential conflict of interest.

PORT/LORAIN BUILDING, HOUSING AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT This aerial view shows what a potential new housing development could look like on Lorain’s former Stoveworks site. On April 5Lorain City Council voted 10-0to use up to $100,000 in grant money to buy five parcels to redevelop the site.

PORT/LORAIN BUILDING, HOUSING AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT This artist rendering shows a potential new public plaza within a new housing development that could be built on Lorain’s former Stoveworks site.