City launches Housing Development Accelerator; community meetings planned for three sites

City staff announced Aug. 27 that the Community Development Department has launched a Housing Development Accelerator project to encourage housing production on three priority sites and across infill parcels in Sandusky.

Miss Blair, a community development staff member, told the Planning Commission the city contracted OHA Advisors to carry out community engagement and produce development scenarios for three focus areas: city‑owned land in the Cold Creek neighborhood; the GNC foundry site on West Monroe; and city‑owned land in the South Side. The project will include a pattern book for small‑scale infill (duplexes, triplexes, four‑plexes) and public outreach to gather resident preferences for unit types and architectural character.

Staff said the first round of meetings is planned for October, with a second round targeted for February, and that the city will notify local residents and stakeholders. The engagement will seek co‑design input so resulting development scenarios reflect neighborhood preferences; the city also said it has Department of Development funds earmarked to support zoning changes if the project identifies regulatory barriers to the preferred forms of housing.

Miss Blair invited commissioners to participate and said the process will produce design guidance that prospective developers and landowners can use to produce plans that fit the city’s zoning or point to where zoning amendments may be needed.

The item was presented as an informational staff update; no formal commission action was requested.