Council holds first reading of development agreement for National Church Residences; neighbors urge delay and design changes

City Council held a first reading Aug. 18 of Ordinance 28-2025, the development-agreement package that would clear the way for National Church Residences (NCR) to redevelop its Northbank Drive campus with a corporate office and two age-restricted senior-housing buildings. The ordinance is limited to the economic incentives and the commitments between the city and the developer; BZAP and the school board will separately review land-use and design matters.

James Russell, a city staff member presenting the economics, summarized the incentives: the agreement would set up a parcel-by-parcel 30-year tax-increment financing (TIF) district, provide a $1,000,000 economic-development grant at certificate of occupancy, and use incremental tax revenues to help finance about $11.3 million in site-development costs. Russell said the TIF structure is effectively a 40–44% diversion of the increment to bondpaying infrastructure, and that the project is expected to generate additional revenue for Upper Arlington schools ($6.4 million over the TIF life) and the city ($2.6 million) that would not otherwise exist. “This project will generate additional revenue for UA schools and the city that would not have otherwise been realized without this project…