by Eric Marotta
Editor
Nordonia Hills -- The Wolstein Sports and Entertainment Group still plans to build a Major League Soccer stadium east of Route 8 on property in Macedonia and Northfield Center, according to the developer's front man.
Voter approval of a proposed countywide "sin tax" may not be necessary to make it happen, but approval of the school district's bond levy for athletic facilities in March could be a real setback, said Paul Garofolo, president of the Wolstein Sports and Entertainment Group.
However, Garofolo also said Dec. 19 the Wolstein Group may take the stadium to another county and build something else on the land it has under option east of Route 8 in Macedonia and Northfield Center.
"Three other counties have contacted us," Garofolo said, declining to identify them. "When there's a $12 billion economic impact, people stand up in other counties and take notice."
Even so, Garofolo said the Wolstein group is still seeking public support for the stadium in the form of a tax arrangement that would be approved by the Nordonia Hills Board of Education.
Authorized by state law as a Tax Increment Financing program, up to 30 years of property taxes on the 450-acre development area would be used to pay off money borrowed for the stadium's construction.
The Nordonia Hills school district initially dropped plans to ask voters for a tax hike to finance the schools' athletic improvements in 2006, after the Wolstein Group offered up to $8.5 million up front in exchange for the district's support of the TIF plan.
But the offer expired at the end of 2006, and school officials, not wanting to wait for the stadium plan to shake out, decided to put the bond levy on the ballot last month, which voters defeated. The Board recently voted to try the levy again this March.
Garofolo said the Board of Education may agree to renew the TIF contract if its tax issue fails again this spring.
"They're going to go back to the voters. If they're successful, they may not want to deal with us," Garofolo said, adding that if voters reject the district's proposed athletic facilities issue, "We're an option."
School officials did not return phone calls seeking comment by press time.
The stadium plans also took a hit late in the year when the Summit County Council removed a proposed countywide sales tax on tobacco and alcohol products from its agenda that would have provided $5 million per year for 30 years for the project.
"We're examining all of our options, including going forward without any Summit County funding," Garofolo recently said.
For more than two years, the development firm has been hoping to gain public support and financing for a covered stadium that could seat up to 20,000 and serve as home to a Major League Soccer franchise in the Cleveland area.
Along with the proposed stadium are plans for a 25-field sports complex, a retail area, including a possible medical and hotel complex, as well as an access road that has been proposed to bolster the area's traffic system after Route 8 is converted to a limited-access highway in the next few years (See related story Page 14).
Faced with mounting public opposition to the stadium project, Macedonia Mayor Don Kuchta said it would be up to the Wolstein Group to push the tax issue and stadium plans forward.
Kuchta said in September the issue was "dead" pending an economic development and environmental impact study of the entire area east of Route 8 from Highland Road to the Ohio Turnpike. Kuchta said Dec. 19 that a group comprising officials from the Summit County Port Authority, Akron Chamber of Commerce and city Finance Director Steve Brunot were seeking proposals from contractors who would perform the estimated $40,000 study.
Summit County Council President Kostandaras, who last fall removed consideration of the proposed tax by County Council, said Dec. 19, "As far as I'm concerned, the matter is closed as far as the stadium goes."
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