Move to drop JEDD appeal was good one

Never say die. Fight to the end. “No retreat baby, no surrender.” (From the Bruce Springsteen song “No Surrender,” 1984.) There’s a lot of old sayings that exhort us to refuse to give up at various things we pursue in life.

But sometimes, the smartest thing to do is walk away from a fight.

The government leaders in Painesville Township and Grand River Village took that approach recently when they ended a legal battle over a proposed joint economic development district.

And we think that they made a wise choice.

Those two communities on June 16 filed a motion to dismiss their appeal of Lake County commissioners’ decision to reject the formation of the JEDD. The dismissal motion ultimately was granted by Lake County Common Pleas Court Judge Richard L. Collins Jr.

If you missed the original stories, the events leading up to the legal action unfolded this way:

In August 2016, Lake County commissioners disapproved of the creation of a Joint Economic Development District between Painesville Township and Grand River.

In September, the township and village filed an appeal of that decision in Lake County Common Pleas Court.

Painesville Township and Grand River voted in July 2016 to create the JEDD and sent a packet of information to the commissioners Aug. 1.

Unlike cities and villages, townships do not have an income tax. A JEDD is a stateapproved “economic development tool” that serves as a sort of workaround for that.

A township partners with one or more municipalities to expand utilities and roads onto rural township land for new industrial and commercial businesses.

Meanwhile, the employees pay an income tax that is allocated toward future projects or sometimes given back to the townships, villages and cities involved. In this case, Painesville Township would have received 75 percent of the revenue and Grand River 25 percent.

Painesville Township Administrator Mike Manary told The News-Herald that the economic development tool was to be used to help pay for needed stormwater infrastructure projects that will total a few million dollars. He also said the industrial businesses included in the JEDD have heavy truck traffic, which requires greater road maintenance.

The JEDD was scheduled to go into effect Sept. 1, 2016, fewer than two weeks before an updated version of the law started that offers existing businesses included in JEDDs greater protections. Because of the timing, the Painesville Township-Grand River JEDD would have fallen under the rules of the old law.

Officials and attorneys from the businesses included in the JEDD showed up at several commissioners meetings in August to voice their disapproval of its creation.

PET Processors President Blaise Codispoti told the commissioners he didn’t find out his 1350 Bacon Road business was to be included in the JEDD until he received a certified letter from the township after the agreement was already in place.

Hardy Industrial Services (679 Hardy Road), R& R Motors (1588 Mentor Ave.), Avery Dennison (670 Hardy Road), Nova Chemicals (786 Hardy Road), Morton Salt (570 Headlands Road, Grand River) Giant Eagle and GetGO (1201 Mentor Ave.), and Marc’s (1585 Mentor Ave.) also were included in the JEDD.

Business representatives criticized what they considered “arbitrary” lines drawn by the JEDD. Codispoti, who was one of the most outspoken critics of the JEDD, said another nearby manufacturing business was not included in the district. The JEDD would have put his business at a disadvantage to similar businesses in the township that would not have a 2 percent income levied against their employees., he maintained

In October, Giant Eagle, PET Processors and Marc Glassman Inc. (Marc’s) filed motions to intervene in the appeal filed by Painesville Township and Grand River. Painesville Township Administrator Mike Manary said these other parties getting involved made the case “much bigger” than initially intended.

“The trustees thought it was time to let the case go,” Manary said.

We commend Painesville Township and Grand River for making that decision. As another old saying professes, “You’ve got to pick your battles carefully.” And this battle, in our opinion, would have been a bad one to choose for the aspiring JEDD partners