Public hearing held on proposed Timbers Town Center Community Authority

Maumee City Council on April 6 held a statutory public hearing on a petition to form the Timbers Town Center Community Authority, a special district the developer says would help finance and manage improvements at the Fallen Timbers town center.

Greg Daniels, counsel for the developer, told the council the community authority would be formed under Ohio Revised Code chapter 349 and would be governed by trustees appointed by the city and the developer. He said the hearing is a process step, not the final formation: "Just holding a hearing tonight is not the end of the process. It's just one more step in the process," Daniels said.

Tim Rowlands, representing the developer, described a two-phase plan. He said the initial phase is roughly a $50 million package that covers property acquisition, deferred maintenance, repopulating vacant storefronts and town-square improvements; about $8 million of that would be funded by bonds issued by the community authority. Rowlands said a second phase of about $40 million would bring a residential district behind the former J.C. Penney area.

Rowlands said revenue pledged to NCA bonds would come from incremental real estate assessments, incremental sales taxes and an additional hotel bed tax within the district. He also said NCAs can be structured to issue tax-exempt municipal debt when the bonds are sold in the municipal market, though taxable bonds are sometimes required depending on structure and market conditions.

Councilman Barrow asked whether the bonds would be municipal tax-exempt instruments; Daniels and Rowlands said the goal is tax-exempt bonds to stretch the dollars, although occasionally taxable bonds are necessary depending on the financing. No members of the public spoke in opposition during the hearing and council closed the public comment portion after questions.

The council approved a first reading of a resolution (Resolution 010-2026) finding the petition complies with Ohio Rev. Code §349.03 and directing further steps; Daniels and Rowlands and the city emphasized that a separate piece of legislation forming the authority and establishing details would come later, and that tonight’s hearing did not itself create the authority.

What happens next: council will receive any follow-up questions and proposed ordinance language to formally create the authority; bond issuance and exact financing terms will be developed later as the city and developer negotiate the authority’s structure and revenue pledges.