Granville Township Trustees voted Wednesday, Sept. 11, to approve a Joint Economic Development District Agreement, which has been a long-term goal for community leaders. 

The JEDD is an agreement between Granville Township and Granville Village that, if approved by the village council, would allow businesses in some areas of the township to receive water and sewer services from the village without being annexed — meaning the township properties would not become part of the village, but would still receive water and sewer. In exchange, employees of existing businesses would pay a 1.5% income tax, which would be split between the township and the village.

Existing businesses with a gross annual income below $1 million would be grandfathered and would not have to pay the tax on the business income. All new businesses and their employees would pay the 1.5% income tax. 

“Those taxes can be used for services in the community, so the community will have more money to put towards the schools, roads, whatever the village needs,” said Granville Township Trustee Bryn Bird. 

Typically, municipalities with utilities require landowners seeking water and sewer service to annex into the city or village selling the services. But a JEDD allows the land to stay in the township and remain regulated by township planning and zoning regulations.

Bird said township trustees started working on this iteration of the JEDD soon after she was elected in November 2017.   

Proposed-JEDD-Exhibit-1

Of particular interest to village and township officials is managing development along the South Main Street, River Road, Weaver Drive, and Columbus Road corridors on the south side of the village.

The JEDD process was created in 1993 by the Ohio General Assembly, allowing local communities to create special-purpose districts. 

“We found paperwork from the ’90s where they tried to do this,” Bird said. “But there were things that weren’t compromised.”

In the 1990s, the township and the council “mutually could not come into an agreement,” Bird said.

Additionally, Bird said people in the 1990s did not envision the level of development that has occurred in Licking County in recent years. 

In 2022, Intel announced plans to build the world’s largest computer chip manufacturing company in Licking County — a $28 billion project in what the company calls “the silicon heartland.” Since then, companies have been buying land in Licking County to build manufacturing facilities, data centers, and asphalt plants, among other developments. 

“It’s no longer, ‘will there be development?’” Bird said. “There’s going to be development. We want to control it.” 

Now that the township has approved the JEDD, the Granville Village Council will hold a public meeting at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at the Granville Village Hall for council members to vote and finalize the JEDD agreement. 

Donna Chang writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.